Online consumers vary in their tendency to believe or disbelieve online reviews. Based on an Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM; , 1986), the present study tested the effects of consumer skepticism on online consumers. A total of 278 undergraduates expressed their attitudes about a product in an online experiment. Two findings emerged from the results. First, highly skeptical consumers tend to base their attitudes on intrinsic beliefs instead of situational factors; that is, they are biased against certain types of information and indifferent to the message quality. Second, consumers with low skepticism tend to adopt the peripheral route in forming attitude; that is, they are more persuaded by review quantity. These findings contribute to the ELM research literature by considering a potentially important personality factor in the ELM framework. Managerial implications are suggested.

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Does the form of organizations tend to show diversity or homogeneity? This paper begins with two contrasting questions: 'Why are there many organizational forms?' and 'Why are organizations similar?' Population ecology and institutional theory represent different lenses through which theorists use for interpreting these organizational phenomena. Each paradigm offers compelling concepts and arguments for supporting their own perspectives even though they seem to lead to contradictory results. This conceptual paper is an attempt to clarify the fundamental divergence of ecological and institutional approaches and proposes an integrated perspective for future empirical studies.