Tit for tat: understanding the responding behavior of property hosts on peer-to-peer rental platforms

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 1105-1126
Author(s):  
Sai Liang ◽  
Xiaoxia Zhang ◽  
Chunxiao Li ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
Xiaoyu Yu
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Tit For Tat ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Due to their very different contexts, the responses made by property hosts to online reviews can differ from those posted by hotel managers. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of the responding behavior of hosts on peer-to-peer property rental platforms. Design/methodology/approach This study applied a comprehensive framework based on the theory of planned behavior. Empirical models are constructed based on 89,967 guest reviews with their associated responses to reveal the responding pattern of property hosts. Findings Unlike hotel managers, property hosts are more likely to reply to positive than to negative reviews; moreover, when they do choose to respond to negative reviews, they are likely to do so negatively, in a “tit-for-tat” way. This study also finds that one reason for the difference of responding patterns between property hosts and hotel managers is the hosts’ lack of experience of consumer relationship management and service recovery. Research limitations/implications This study provides a good start point for future theoretical development regarding effective responding strategy on peer-to-peer property rental platforms, as well as some useful implications for practitioners. Originality/value This study is an early attempt to analyze the impact of the particularity of emerging platforms on the responding behavior of service providers based on a comprehensive conceptual framework and empirical model thus provides a good starting point for the further investigation of effective response strategies on these emerging platforms.

Hotels’ online reputation management: benefits perceived by managers

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 615-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Perez-Aranda ◽  
María Vallespín ◽  
Sebastian Molinillo
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Model ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Reputation Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Order Construct ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
Relationship Benefits ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study aims to develop a measurement model to help hotels manage their reputation within the context of online reviews and ratings platforms and evaluate the impact of this reputation management on the benefits derived by the hotels, as perceived by their managers.Design/methodology/approachPartial least squares was used to assess the model and make a causal predictive analysis, using data from a survey of a random sample of 335 Spanish hotel managers and personnel involved in reputation management.FindingsThis study shows the operationalization of hotel reputation management as a superordinate second-order construct affecting six individual first-order dimensions, strongly impacting on three key benefits as perceived by hotel managers (i.e. financial benefits, customer relationship benefits and customer-based brand benefits), within the context of online review platforms.Practical implicationsBased on the results of this study, hotel managers can improve the effectiveness of their management of ratings and reviews. They can also learn which aspects they should focus on when managing ratings and reviews.Originality/valueBased on the opinions of hotel managers, a causal model for managing online reviews was developed and validated. This study shows how reputation management affects the benefits derived by hotels as perceived by their managers.

scholarly journals “We(b)care”

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 486-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Dens ◽  
Patrick De Pelsmacker ◽  
Nathalia Purnawirawan
Keyword(s):  
Service Provider ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Internal Validity ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceived Trust ◽  
Patronage Intentions

Purpose – Consumers often discuss brands and companies online, but no research details how service providers’ responses to online reviews influence other readers’ perceptions of the reviews and responses. Based on justice theory and the accountability principle, both integrated in equity theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine how service providers should react to different degrees of negative reviews to enhance readers’ attitudes, patronage intentions, and intentions to spread positive word of mouth. Design/methodology/approach – A 3 (review set balance: positive, neutral, negative) × 6 (response strategy) full-factorial between-subjects experiment included 973 respondents. Findings – More negative balance demands more effort from the service provider to create positive attitudes and encourage behavioural intentions. If a minority of reviewers are dissatisfied, no response is necessary; if the review set is neutral, the service provider should apologize and promise to resolve the problem; if a majority of reviewers are dissatisfied, the most effective response includes both an apology, promise and compensation. These effects are mediated by readers’ perceived trust in the response. Word of mouth also requires more effort than favourable attitudes or patronage intentions. Research limitations/implications – This research reflects the authors’ choices with regard to review set balance and managerial responses, which ensure internal validity but may limit external validity. Originality/value – This study applies offline service recovery strategies to an online review context. It also explicitly incorporates the bystander (potential customer) perspective.

Customer responses towards disabled frontline employees

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Scott Rosenbaum ◽  
Rojan Baniya ◽  
Tali Seger-Guttmann
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Frontline Employees ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Word Clouds ◽  
Disabled Employees ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of disabled service providers on customers’ evaluations of service quality and behavioural intentions. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a qualitative analysis of online reviews from samples collected in a “dining-in-the-dark” restaurant, which employs blind waiters, and from a restaurant that employs deaf servers. The authors also put forth three quantitative analyses that use survey methodology. Findings Based on word clouds generated by online data, the findings show that customers treat the hiring of disabled service providers as the most prominent clue in their perceptions of organizational service quality. The quantitative results further illustrate that customers who hold more favourable attitudes towards disabled employees are more likely than other customers to spread positive word-of-mouth (WOM). Another analysis reveals that attitudes towards disabled employees are a separate construct from human compassion. Research limitations/implications Customers’ attitudes towards disabled frontline service employees represent a service quality driver. The authors offer researchers an exploratory scale on consumer attitudes towards the hiring of disabled employees to further refine and develop for future validation. Practical implications Retail organizations may be able to obtain a competitive advantage by employing frontline disabled people through customer WOM communications. These communications are linked to positive organizational outcomes. Originality/value Retail and service researchers know considerably little about customers’ perceptions of interacting with disabled employees. This paper represents original research that encourages retail and service organization to employ disabled frontline employees.

scholarly journals Do online reviews still matter post-purchase?

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongfei Liu ◽  
Chanaka Jayawardhena ◽  
Victoria-Sophie Osburg ◽  
Mujahid Mohiuddin Babu
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Comparison Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumption Experience ◽  
Monitoring Process ◽  
Post Purchase ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The influence of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) information, such as online reviews, on consumers’ decision making is well documented, but it is unclear if online reviews still matter in post-purchase evaluation and behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which online reviews (aggregate rating (AR) and individual reviews (IR)) influence consumers’ evaluation and post-purchase behaviour by considering the valence congruence of online reviews and consumption experience (CE). Design/methodology/approach Following social comparison theory and relevant literature, the authors conduct an online experiment (pre-test: n=180; main study: n=347). The authors rely on a 2 (CE valence) ×2 (AR valence) ×2 (IR valence) between-subjects design. Findings Congruence/incongruence between the valences of CE, AR and IR affects consumers’ post-purchase evaluation at the emotional, brand and media levels and review-writing behaviour. In comparison to aggregated rating, IR are more important in the post-purchase stage. Similarly, consumers have a higher eWOM-writing intention when there is congruence between the valences of CE, AR and IR. Practical implications The authors demonstrate the importance of service providers continually monitoring their business profiles on review sites to ensure consistency of review information, as these influence consumers’ post-purchase evaluation and behaviours. For this reason, the authors illustrate the utility of why media owners of review sites should support the monitoring process to facilitate the engagement of both businesses and customers. Originality/value The authors break new ground by empirically testing the impact of online review information post-purchase seen through the theoretical lens of social comparison. The approach is novel in breaking down and testing the dimensions of post-purchase evaluation and behavioural intentions in understanding the social comparison elicited by online reviews in the post-purchase phase.

Hotel’s online reviews and ratings: a cross-cultural approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 2054-2073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona Diana Leon
Keyword(s):  
Power Distance ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Uncertainty Avoidance ◽  
Hospitality Management ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of cultural specificity on hotel’s online reviews and ratings. Design/methodology/approach Using Hofstede’s scale of cultural differences, it analyzes 1,821 comments about the Catalonia Sagrada Familia Hotel across 77 countries. Logistic regression is used for data analysis. Findings It is found that detailed reviews tend to be provided by the guests who belong to a low-power distance culture, are collectivistic, are masculine, have a low uncertainty avoidance, are long-term orientated or are indulgent. On the other hand, the customers who tend to deviate from the prior average ratings come from high-power distance societies, are individualists, are feminists, belong to a high uncertainty avoidance culture, are long-term oriented or are indulgent. Originality/value These findings extend the hospitality management literature and potentially help the hotel managers to better understand their customers’ behavior in a web-based environment.

scholarly journals Direct and indirect negatively valenced engagement behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 967-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaylan Azer ◽  
Matthew Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Behavioral Intentions ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Customer Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Engagement Behavior ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to show the impact of direct and indirect customers’ negatively valenced influencing behavior (NVIB) on other actors in online social networks. Design/methodology/approach Four experiments were conducted in an online review setting that encompasses both restaurant and hotel reviews. The first study compares the impact of direct and indirect NVIB. The second, third and fourth studies measure this impact moderated by aggregate ratings, the volume of positive reviews and managerial responses. Findings Drawing on recent literature of customer engagement behavior, online reviews and social influence theory, this paper provides the first empirical results of the impact of direct and indirect NVIB, revealing the significant difference in their impact and the moderating role of the aggregate ratings, number of positive reviews and managerial responses on the cause-effect relationship between direct and indirect NVIB and other actors’ attitudes and behavioral intentions toward service providers. Research limitations/implications TripAdvisor reviews were selected for the reason of appropriateness rather than representativeness, using two service providers, hotels and restaurants. Practical implications This paper provides managers with new insights, which capture not only what customers say about service providers but also the impact of how they say it, suggesting that managers move beyond framing NVIB in generalized terms to considering the differences in the impact of its direct and indirect facets. Originality/value This paper is the first to provide empirical results about the significant difference in the impact of direct and indirect NVIB on other actors’ attitudes and behavioral intentions toward service providers, moderated by different heuristics, namely, ratings, volume of positive reviews and managerial responses.

Staying in a hotel or peer-to-peer accommodation sharing? A discrete choice experiment with online reviews and discount strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shixuan Fu ◽  
Xusen Cheng ◽  
Ying Bao ◽  
Anil Bilgihan ◽  
Fevzi Okumus
Keyword(s):  
Discrete Choice Experiment ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Product Service ◽  
Positive Valence ◽  
Selection Of

PurposeThis study aims to elicit the preferences of potential travelers for different property listings' attributes (online review number, positive valence rate of reviews and discount strategy) when selecting hotels and peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation sharing on online booking platforms.Design/methodology/approachA discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted with 291 respondents with accommodation needs. They were asked to choose between pairs of listings.FindingsThe authors found that when booking accommodation online, complex discount strategies were not determinant both in selecting hotels and P2P accommodations. Positive valence rate of reviews has a higher impact on the selection of traditional hotels than P2P accommodations, while the number of online reviews has a higher impact on the selection of P2P accommodations than traditional hotels. The authors further discuss the effect of each attribute on online accommodation selection in terms of price ranges of the property listings.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings provide suggestions for platform operators and product/service providers to improve their marketing strategies and optimize their management efforts.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies that investigate the role of property listings' attributes on the selections between hotels and P2P accommodations. The findings from this research study could be generalized to other online platforms and electronic commerce-related transactions.

Factors contributing to the helpfulness of online hotel reviews

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 2156-2177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linchi Kwok ◽  
Karen L. Xie
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
Hospitality Managers ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to examine the factors contributing to the helpfulness of online hotel reviews and to measure the impact of manager response on the helpfulness of online hotel reviews. Design/methodology/approach This investigation used a linear regression model that drew upon 56,284 consumer reviews and 10,797 manager responses from 1,405 hotels on TripAdvisor.com for analysis. Findings The helpfulness of online hotel reviews is negatively affected by rating and number of sentences in a review, but positively affected by manager response and reviewer experience in terms of reviewer status, years of membership, and number of cities visited. Manager response moderates the influence of reviewer experience on the helpfulness of online hotel reviews. Research limitations/implications Using the data from hotels in five major cities in Texas, the results may not be necessarily generalized to other markets, but the important role that manager response plays in online reviews is assessed with big data analysis. Practical implications The results suggest hospitality managers should strategically identify opinion leaders among reviewers and proactively influence the helpfulness of the reviews by providing manager response. Additionally, this study makes recommendations to webmasters of social media platforms in terms of advancing the algorithm of featuring the most helpful online reviews. Originality/value This study is at the frontier of research to explain how hotel managers can proactively identify opinion leaders among consumers and use manager response to influence the helpfulness of consumer reviews. Additionally, the results also provide new insights to the influence of reviewer demographic background on the helpfulness of online reviews. Finally, this study analyzed a large data set on a scale that was not available in traditional guest survey studies, responding to the call for big data applications in the hospitality industry.

The effect of emotions, eWOM quality and online review sequence on consumer intention to follow advice obtained from digital services

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Ruiz-Mafe ◽  
Enrique Bigné-Alcañiz ◽  
Rafael Currás-Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Structural Model ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Bias Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Services ◽  
Information Cues ◽  
Cognitive Information ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis paper analyses the interrelationships between emotions, the cognitive information cues of online reviews and intention to follow the advice obtained from digital platforms, paying special attention to the moderating effect of the sequencing of review valence.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 830 Spanish Tripadvisor users. In a two-step approach, a measurement model was estimated and a structural model analysed to test the proposed hypotheses. SmartPLS 3.0 software was used. The moderating effect of sequencing of reviews is tested.FindingsThe data analysis showed a bias effect of review sequence on the impact of online information cues and emotions on intention to follow advice obtained from Tripadvisor. When the online reviews of a restaurant begin with positive commentaries, their perceived persuasiveness is a stronger driver of the pleasure and arousal elicited by online reviews than when they begin with negative reviews. On the other hand, the perceived helpfulness of online reviews only triggers arousal when the user reads negative, followed by positive, comments. The impact of pleasure on intention to follow the advice provided in an online travel community is higher with positive-negative than with negative-positive sequences.Originality/valueWhile researchers have demonstrated the benefits of customer reviews on company sales, a largely uninvestigated issue is the interplay between emotions and cognitive information cues in the processing of online reviews. This is one of the first studies to examine the moderating effect of conflicting reviews on the impact of emotions and cognitive information cues on consumer intention to follow the advice obtained from digital services.

Reducing transportation emissions

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 674-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Pålsson ◽  
Ola Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Freight Transportation ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Logistics Service Providers ◽  
Minor Influence ◽  
Transportation Emissions ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the intention of companies to reduce transportation emissions by 2020 and the barriers and the discriminating factors that affect the reduction. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review identified potential logistical and technical actions and their barriers, and discriminating factors for reducing transportation emissions. A survey of freight transport-intensive industries in Sweden examined the effects of, intention for implementation of and barriers to 12 actions to reduce CO2 emissions from freight transportation. In total, 172 logistics managers responded, representing a response rate of 40.3 per cent. Findings – Logistics service providers (LSPs) and freight owners are likely to reduce a considerable amount of CO2 emissions from freight transportation by 2020 using a combination of actions. The lowest level of confidence was for reducing CO2 emissions by changing logistics structures, while there was greater confidence by means of operational changes. The actions have few barriers, but there is often a combination of barriers to overcome. Three discriminating factors influence the intention of a firm to reduce transportation emissions: perceived potential, company size and LSP/freight owner. The industrial sector of a freight owner has minor influence. Companies that are particularly likely to reduce emissions are LSPs, large companies, and those that perceive a large reduction potential. Research limitations/implications – Logistical and technical barriers appear to hinder companies from implementing actions, while organisational barriers and external prerequisites do not. Barriers cannot be used to predict companies’ intentions to reduce transportation emissions. The authors examined the impact of three discriminating factors on reduction of transportation emissions. The research is based on perceptions of well-informed managers and on companies in Sweden. Practical implications – The findings can be used by managers to identify firms for benchmarking initiatives and emissions-reducing strategies. Originality/value – The study provides insights into intended CO2 reductions in transportation by 2020. It presents new knowledge regarding barriers and discriminating factors for implementing actions to reduce transportation emissions.

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