Consumers frequently rely on online reviews, a prominent form of electronic word-ofmouth (eWOM), before taking a purchase decision. However, consumers are usually confronted with hundreds of reviews for a single product or service, as well as rich information cues on review websites (review texts, helpfulness ratings, author information, etc.). In turn, consumers face more information cues on online review websites than they can or want to process, and are likely to proceed selectively. This paper investigates selective processing of such eWOM information cues. Results of study 1, an exploratory study using verbal protocols, confirm that consumers display selective eWOM processing patterns and are able to articulate them. Study 2 develops and applies a measurement instrument to capture these patterns. A subsequent cluster analysis on members of a large-scale online panel (N=2,295) indicates five prominent eWOM processing types, termed "The Efficients", "The Meticulous", "The Quality-Evaluators", "The Cautious Critics", and "The Swift Pessimists". Insights of this study can help firms to better understand consumers' eWOM processing and improve the user-friendliness of online review websites.

This paper examines the impact of pre-existing brand attitudes on consumer processing of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). This topic is particularly important for brands that simultaneously possess strongly pronounced proponents as well as opponents. Two experimental studies using univalent (study 1, N= 538) and mixed (study 2, N= 262) sets of online reviews find indications for biased assimilation effects of eWOM processing. Consumers perceive positive (negative) arguments in online reviews as more (less) persuasive when having a positive (negative) attitude towards the brand. Perceived persuasiveness in turn influences behavioral intentions and acts as a mediator on the relationship between attitude and consumer intentions. We examine two moderators of this effect. When priming individuals to focus on other consumers (vs. a self-focus prime), the biased assimilation effect is weaker (study 3a, N= 131). In contrast, we show that biased assimilation becomes stronger under conditions of high (vs. low) cognitive impairment (study 3b, N= 124). Our findings contribute to the literature on the relationship between eWOM and brands and advance our understanding of potential outcomes of brand polarization.

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