Roles of negative emotions in customers’ perceived helpfulness of hotel reviews on a user-generated review website

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 762-783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minwoo Lee ◽  
Miyoung Jeong ◽  
Jongseo Lee
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Text Mining ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Mining Method ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Consumer Reviews ◽  
Online Consumer ◽  
Perceived Helpfulness

Purpose This paper aims to explore how emotional expressions embedded in online hotel reviews influence consumers’ helpfulness perceptions. In particular, this study develops and tests hypotheses analyzing empirical data with a text-mining method in the context of hotels to investigate how review valence influences the perceived helpfulness of online hotel reviews and to examine the role of negative emotional expressions embedded in online consumer reviews with respect to perceived helpfulness. Design/methodology/approach This study collected 520,668 online reviews involving 488 hotels in New York City (NYC) on Tripadvisor.com. Of these reviews, 69,202 reviews (13.29 per cent) that had received helpfulness votes were analyzed by a text mining method and negative binomial regression. Findings This study demonstrates that negative reviews are considered more helpful than positive reviews when potential customers read online hotel reviews for their future stay. However, when intensively negative emotions were expressed, the degree of helpfulness regarding negative reviews was diminished. Originality/value While emotional expressions prevail in online consumer reviews, surprisingly little attention has been devoted to the consequences of emotional expressions in consumers’ information processing and decision-making. Due to the nature of service, given the inseparability of production and consumption, which often hinders the execution of flawless service, consumers tend to be more dependent on reviews to minimize any potential failures they may encounter later on. Therefore, this study fills a gap by demonstrating that negative reviews and emotional expressions play a more crucial role in consumers’ information processing and decision-making.

Effects of online consumer reviews on firm-based and expert-based communications

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjun Zhu ◽  
David K.C. Tse ◽  
Qiang Fei
Keyword(s):  
Information Sources ◽  
Communication Channels ◽  
The Other ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Consumer Reviews ◽  
Expert Opinions ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
Online Consumer

PurposeTo explain and empirically test how different marketing communication channels interact with each other and contribute to brands’ diverging marketplace performance.Design/methodology/approachWith a unique data set combining key variables of major passenger car brands, the paper takes a source-based perspective to investigate how firm-based communications, expert opinions and online consumer reviews interact and affect brands’ marketplace performance. Then the paper studies the three special boundary conditions under which online consumer reviews’ influence varies in competition with the other two established information sources. Lastly, a study was done to demonstrate the financial significance of investing in different information sources.FindingsThe results show that online consumer reviews mitigate the effectiveness of the other two information sources in driving brand sales. This mitigation effect is also magnified when the brand is weak, firm-based communications are modest and expert opinions are less favorable. The findings further suggest that in the emerging communication enterprise, firm-based and expert-based communications remain the core while user-based communication plays an indispensable competing and complementary role.Practical implicationsIn the new digital era, firms are facing the daunting task of understanding and integrating multiple communication channels. The study provides important implications for both researchers and practitioners with respect to brand management and integrated communications.Originality/valueExisting studies have demonstrated that each of the three communication efforts (by firms, experts and consumers) exerts a significant influence on product sales, but few studies have been conducted in settings marked by the coexistence of these efforts. In addition, the three communication efforts are likely to have different effects on brands with different market positions. The current study is contributing to the literature by filling the above gaps.

What about “U”? The influence of positive online consumer reviews on the individual's perception of consumption benefits

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 863-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanca Hernandez-Ortega
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Consumer Reviews ◽  
Functional Forms ◽  
Online Consumer ◽  
Positive Valence ◽  
Consumption Benefits

PurposeThis study examines the influence that the positive valence intensity of online consumer reviews (OCRs) has on the benefits that individuals perceive they have derived from consumption. A distinction is made based on whether the performance obtained during the consumption was high or low, that is, whether the product/service met the objectives set by the consumer.Design/methodology/approachThe study is a between-subjects experiment with two manipulations: the positive valence intensity of OCRs (highly positive vs neutral-indifferent) and the performance obtained by the consumer (high vs low). The manipulations were measured on 11-point Likert-type scales, the lowest perception being scored at 0 (strongly disagree) and the highest at 10 (strongly agree). A total of 249 useable questionnaires were returned.FindingsThe results demonstrated that the influence of positive OCRs on the consumer's perception of consumption benefits follows concave curvilinear functional forms for low performance (inverted U-shaped) and convex for high performance (U-shaped). Thus, highly positive OCRs not corroborated by performance lead to negative perceptions, whereas neutral-indifferent OCRs verified by performance create positive perceptions.Originality/valueThis study goes beyond the immediate influence of positive OCRs on purchases and argues that their influence remains important for the individual's final perception of the consumption benefits that she/he, in the event, received. In addition, the results of the present study show that OCRs are important reference points from which individuals make social judgments and comparisons during consumption. Finally, this study provides theoretical and empirical support to explain the U-shaped functional forms associated with the influence of OCRs.

scholarly journals The influence of e-word-of-mouth on hotel occupancy rate

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 2035-2051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giampaolo Viglia ◽  
Roberta Minazzi ◽  
Dimitrios Buhalis
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Occupancy Rate ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Consumer Reviews ◽  
Online Consumer ◽  
Occupancy Rates ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Online consumer reviews have become increasingly important for consumer decision-making. One of the most prominent examples is the hotel industry where consumer reviews on websites, such as Bookings.com, TripAdvisor and Venere.com, play a critical role in consumers’ choice of a hotel. There have been a number of recent studies analyzing various aspects of online reviews. The purpose of this paper is to investigate their effects in terms of hotel occupancy rates. Design/methodology/approach This paper measures through regression analysis the impact of three dimensions of consumer reviews (i.e. review score, review variance and review volume) on the occupancy rates of 346 hotels located in Rome, isolating a number of other factors that might also affect demand. Findings Review score is the dimension with the highest impact. The results suggest that after controlling for other variables, a one-point increase in the review score is associated to an increase in the occupancy rate by 7.5 percentage points. Regardless the review score, the number of reviews has a positive effect, but with decreasing returns, implying that the higher the number of reviews, the lower the beneficial effect in terms of occupancy rates is. Practical implications The findings quantify the strong association of online reviews to occupancy rates suggesting the use of appropriate reputational management systems to increase hotel occupancy and therefore performance. Originality/value A major contribution of this paper is its comprehensiveness in analyzing the relation between online consumer reviews and occupancy across a heterogeneous sample of hotels.

scholarly journals A Decision Support Model for Hotel Recommendation Based on the Online Consumer Reviews Using Logarithmic Spherical Hesitant Fuzzy Information

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Aziz Khan ◽  
Shougi S. Abosuliman ◽  
Saleem Abdullah ◽  
Muhammad Ayaz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Fuzzy Sets ◽  
Aggregation Operators ◽  
Weighted Averaging ◽  
Fuzzy Information ◽  
Hesitant Fuzzy Sets ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Online Consumer Reviews ◽  
Operational Laws ◽  
Online Consumer

Spherical hesitant fuzzy sets have recently become more popular in various fields. It was proposed as a generalization of picture hesitant fuzzy sets and Pythagorean hesitant fuzzy sets in order to deal with uncertainty and fuzziness information. Technique of Aggregation is one of the beneficial tools to aggregate the information. It has many crucial application areas such as decision-making, data mining, medical diagnosis, and pattern recognition. Keeping in view the importance of logarithmic function and aggregation operators, we proposed a novel algorithm to tackle the multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) problems. First, novel logarithmic operational laws are developed based on the logarithmic, t-norm, and t-conorm functions. Using these operational laws, we developed a list of logarithmic spherical hesitant fuzzy weighted averaging/geometric aggregation operators to aggregate the spherical hesitant fuzzy information. Furthermore, we developed the spherical hesitant fuzzy entropy to determine the unknown attribute weight information. Finally, the design principles for the spherical hesitant fuzzy decision-making have been developed, and a practical case study of hotel recommendation based on the online consumer reviews has been taken to illustrate the validity and superiority of presented approach. Besides this, a validity test is conducted to reveal the advantages and effectiveness of developed approach. Results indicate that the proposed method is suitable and effective for the decision process to evaluate their best alternative.

scholarly journals The impact of social influence on the perceived helpfulness of online consumer reviews

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 619-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Risselada ◽  
Lisette de Vries ◽  
Mariska Verstappen
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Consumer Reviews ◽  
Online Consumer ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Perceived Helpfulness

Purpose This study aims to study to what extent the helpfulness votes others attach to a review affect a consumer’s perceived helpfulness of that review. In addition, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether this social influence moderates the relationships among several content presentation factors and perceived helpfulness. Design/methodology/approach A choice-based conjoint experiment was carried out in which 201 respondents evaluated different reviews and chose the review they perceive as most helpful. Findings Consumers perceive reviews as more (less) helpful in the presence of clearly valenced positive (negative) helpfulness votes. In addition, helpfulness votes of others diminish the positive impact of structure and the negative impact of spelling errors. Research limitations/implications The experimental setup may limit the external validity of the study. Practical implications Providing a helpfulness button gives firms an instrument to offer content that consumers perceive as more useful and to exert some influence on the effects of content presentation factors on the review’s helpfulness. Social implications Consumers tend to follow other consumers’ opinions without forming their own opinion. Firms could misuse this tendency by hiring people to vote on reviews that are not necessarily helpful for consumers, but are helpful for the firm. Originality/value This study is the first to assess the extent to which social influence affects consumers’ evaluation of reviews. Given that consumers use helpfulness votes to distinguish reviews, it is important to understand to what extent these votes reflect the actual helpfulness of the information in the review and to what extent they reflect previous helpfulness votes.

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