Positive effects of negative reviews: an eye-tracking perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Luan ◽  
Jie Xiao ◽  
Pengfei Tang ◽  
Meng Li

PurposeA counterintuitive finding of existing research is that negative reviews can produce positive effects; for example, they can increase purchase likelihood and sales by increasing product awareness. It is important to continue highlighting this fact and to develop further insights into this positive effect, as a more thorough analysis can provide online retailers with a more comprehensive understanding of how to effectively manage and use negative reviews. Thus, by using an eye-tracking method, this paper attempts to provide a further thorough analysis of positive effects of negative reviews from a cognitive perspective.Design/methodology/approachAn eye-tracking experiment with two tests over a time delay was performed to examine whether negative reviews have some positive effects. Review valence (positive vs. negative), brand popularity (popular vs. unpopular) and advertising exposure (no repetition vs. repetition) were considered in the experiment.FindingsThe results show that a cognitive process of attention allocation happens when consumers deal with brand popularity cues and that arousal evoking and attention allocation occur when handling review valence. Allocation of more attention to unpopular brands helps improve brand awareness and enhance brand memory, and larger arousal from negative reviews narrows attention and leads to a better memory of products and brands. However, with the passage of time, the memory of review valence can dissociate and fade, and the remaining awareness of and familiarity with unpopular brands with negative reviews contribute to a positive reversion, which leads to the production of positive effects from negative reviews.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature on online reviews by examining the visual processing of review valence and brand popularity with an eye-tracking method and by revealing the cognitive mechanism of positive effects of negative reviews from a visual attention perspective.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziang Wang ◽  
Feng Yang

Purpose It has always been a hot topic for online retailers to obtain consumers’ product evaluations from massive online reviews. In the process of online shopping, there is no face-to-face interaction between online retailers and customers. After collecting online reviews left by customers, online retailers are eager to acquire answers to some questions. For example, which product attributes will attract consumers? Or which step brings a better experience to consumers during the process of shopping? This paper aims to associate the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model with the consumers’ attitude and provides a method to calculate the numerical measure of consumers’ product evaluation expressed in each word. Design/methodology/approach First, all possible pairs of reviews are organized as a document to build the corpus. After that, latent topics of the traditional LDA model noted as the standard LDA model, are separated into shared and differential topics. Then, the authors associate the model with consumers’ attitudes toward each review which is distinguished as positive review and non-positive review. The product evaluation reflected in consumers’ binary attitude is expanded to each word that appeared in the corpus. Finally, a variational optimization is introduced to calculate parameters mentioned in the expanded LDA model. Findings The experiment’s result illustrates that the LDA model in the research noted as an expanded LDA model, can successfully assign sufficient probability with words related to products attributes or consumers’ product evaluation. Compared with the standard LDA model, the expanded model intended to assign higher probability with words, which have a higher ranking within each topic. Besides, the expanded model also has higher precision on the prediction set, which shows that breaking down the topics into two categories fits better on the data set than the standard LDA model. The product evaluation of each word is calculated by the expanded model and depicted at the end of the experiment. Originality/value This research provides a new method to calculate consumers’ product evaluation from reviews in the level of words. Words may be used to describe product attributes or consumers’ experiences in reviews. Assigning words with numerical measures can analyze consumers’ products evaluation quantitatively. Besides, words are labeled themselves, they can also be ranked if a numerical measure is given. Online retailers can benefit from the result for label choosing, advertising or product recommendation.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoowha Jeon ◽  
Mi Sook Cho ◽  
Jieun Oh

PurposeThe study selected five small-scale food operations as visual stimuli and eye-tracking experiment was conducted with 36 female participants in a laboratory setting. Heat maps were used to visualize viewers' visual attention on the storefronts. The eye-movement data were analyzed using one-way repeated ANOVA to identify a significant difference between stimuli in terms of average fixation duration, fixation counts and revisits. An independent t-test was also used to examine statistical difference among text and image in menu board. The significance cut-off of p-value was set to <0.05.Design/methodology/approachThe exteriors of food-service establishments are major business representation. However, few studies have been conducted to examine customers' visual processing toward small-scale restaurants. The present study accordingly aims to discover customers' different levels of attention to the frontage in food stands through eye tracking, which would be practical for future owners to plan their exterior shop design.FindingsThe findings can be summarized as follows: First, upper board shows the highest level of attention, suggesting an optimal location of menu board for grasping customers' attention. Second, customers also gaze the inside of a store along with the food on display, which are related with food hygiene and the perception. Third, textual information on menu boards tends to attract more visual attention than those of images. Overall, the current study indicates various customers' attention toward the location of menu boards as well as the type of visual information on menu board.Originality/valueThe results of this study make a new insight into customers' viewing behavior toward exteriors of food-service establishments. This study is one of the first attempts to explore how customers distribute visual attention to the exterior images of food stand by using eye-tracking technology. The findings of this research thus enrich the food-service literature and offer meaningful discoveries on customers' visual behaviors. For example, this study suggests that customers tend to be attracted to textual information on menu boards rather than graphical ones.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Venkatesakumar ◽  
Sudhakar Vijayakumar ◽  
S. Riasudeen ◽  
S. Madhavan ◽  
B. Rajeswari

Purpose The star rating summarises the review content and conveys the message faster than other review components. Star ratings influence helpfulness of the reviews, and extreme reviews are considered as less helpful in the decision process. However, literature has rarely addressed variations in star ratings across product categories and variations between two online retailers. In this paper, the authors have compared the distribution of star ratings across 11 products and among the retailers. Design/methodology/approach Online reviews for 11 product categories have collected, and the authors compared the distribution of star ratings across 11 products and retailers. Correspondence analysis has been applied to show the association between star ratings and product categories for the e-retail firms. Findings The Amazon site contains proportionately more number of 1-star rated reviews than Flipkart. In Amazon reviews, few product categories are closely associated with 1-star and 2-star reviews, whereas no product categories are closely associated with 1-star and 2-star reviews in Flipkart reviews. The results indicate two distinct communication strategies followed by the firms in managing online consumer reviews. Research limitations/implications The authors did not analyse data across demographic details because of access restriction policies of the websites. Practical implications Understanding the distribution of review characteristics will improve the consumer’s decision-making ability and using online review content judiciously. Social implications This study’s results show significant insights on online retailing by providing cues in using shopping sites and online review characteristics of two prominent retailers. Originality/value This paper has brought out a distinct distribution pattern of online review between Amazon and Flipkart. Amazon allows a higher degree of negative contents, whereas Flipkart allows more number of positive reviews.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 899-921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Dai ◽  
Jingyi Zhang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interaction effect between customer satisfaction and monetary incentives on online reviews and test the moderating effect of personal characteristics, filling the research gap in online review behavior from the senders. Design/methodology/approach Using a project role-playing technique that is widely applied in the marketing field, the authors conducted two experimental studies in a laboratory setting with student subjects and collected 390 and 362 acceptable samples for analysis in Studies 1 and 2, respectively. Findings This research confirms the positive effects of satisfaction and incentives on review scores and tests the interaction effect between satisfaction and incentives on review scores with the moderating effects of moral judgment and sensitivity of promotion. Incentives could strengthen customers’ review scores except under small incentives situation where dissatisfied customers decrease scores instead. Additionally, the moderating effects of moral judgment and sensitivity of promotion are more significant in the case of dissatisfaction. Research limitations/implications As this study focuses exclusively on a single service context and uses student samples, limitations persist regarding the generalizability of the results. Practical implications The research provides new insights for marketers on designing effective incentive programs, as well as how to better balance costs and benefits in promotion strategies. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to explore the interaction effect between satisfaction and incentives on online reviews considering the moderating effects of moral judgment and sensitivity of promotion. As a result, a new model is forwarded.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-208
Author(s):  
Huan Xu ◽  
Yanping Gong ◽  
Qin Zhang ◽  
Julan Xie

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the relationship between social media activities and thinking styles, and its potential mechanism. Design/methodology/approach The current study conducted four studies using an experimental method and eye-tracking method to evaluate prediction. Findings Results from studies 1 and 2 showed that social media activities influence individuals’ self-construal, and the impact of self-construal on the relative reliance on cognitive vs affective thinking styles. Study 3 supports the hypothesis that social media activities influence individual’s thinking styles, and self-construal is a critical mediator in this process. Furthermore, the authors replicated these findings using an experimental method and eye-tracking method (Study 4), which enabled us to better understand the consumer’s psychological experience when using social media. Originality/value This paper contributes to the social media activity literature in the following ways. First, this research advances the knowledge of social media by demonstrating that social media activities can have significant effects on thinking styles. Second, the current research brings important insights to the literature on self-construal. Finally, using eye-tracking methods, the authors also provided some new insights on consumer thinking and behavior.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Ruiz-Mafe ◽  
Enrique Bigné-Alcañiz ◽  
Rafael Currás-Pérez

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.


2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 432-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sotelo ◽  
M. Lema ◽  
P. Soengas ◽  
M. E. Cartea ◽  
P. Velasco

ABSTRACTGlucosinolates (GSLs) are secondary metabolites found inBrassicavegetables that confer on them resistance against pests and diseases. Both GSLs and glucosinolate hydrolysis products (GHPs) have shown positive effects in reducing soil pathogens. Information about theirin vitrobiocide effects is scarce, but previous studies have shown sinigrin GSLs and their associated allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) to be soil biocides. The objective of this work was to evaluate the biocide effects of 17 GSLs and GHPs and of leaf methanolic extracts of different GSL-enrichedBrassicacrops on suppressingin vitrogrowth of two bacterial (Xanthomonas campestrispv. campestris andPseudomonas syringaepv. maculicola) and two fungal (AlternariabrassicaeandSclerotiniascletoriorum)Brassicapathogens. GSLs, GHPs, and methanolic leaf extracts inhibited the development of the pathogens tested compared to the control, and the effect was dose dependent. Furthermore, the biocide effects of the different compounds studied were dependent on the species and race of the pathogen. These results indicate that GSLs and their GHPs, as well as extracts of differentBrassicaspecies, have potential to inhibit pathogen growth and offer new opportunities to study the use ofBrassicacrops in biofumigation for the control of multiple diseases.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Ling-hsing Chang ◽  
Tung-Ching Lin

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to focus on the enhancement of knowledge management (KM) performance and the relationship between organizational culture and KM process intention of individuals because of the diversity of organizational cultures (which include results-oriented, tightly controlled, job-oriented, closed system and professional-oriented cultures). Knowledge is a primary resource in organizations. If firms are able to effectively manage their knowledge resources, then a wide range of benefits can be reaped such as improved corporate efficiency, effectiveness, innovation and customer service. Design/methodology/approach – The survey methodology, which has the ability to enhance generalization of results (Dooley, 2001), was used to collect the data utilized in the testing of the research hypotheses. Findings – Results- and job-oriented cultures have positive effects on employee intention in the KM process (creation, storage, transfer and application), whereas a tightly controlled culture has negative effects. Research limitations/implications – However, it would have been better to use a longitudinal study to collect useful long-term data to understand how the KM process would be influenced when organizational culture dimensions are changed through/by management. This is the first limitation of this study. According to Mason and Pauleen (2003), KM culture is a powerful predictor of individual knowledge-sharing behavior, which is not included in this study. Thus, this is the second limitation of this paper. Moreover, national culture could be an important issue in the KM process (Jacks et al., 2012), which is the third limitation of this paper for not comprising it. Practical implications – In researchers’ point of view, results- and job-oriented cultures have positive effects, whereas a tightly controlled culture has a negative effect on the KM process intention of the individual. These findings provide evidences that challenge the perspective of Kayworth and Leidner (2003) on this issue. As for practitioners, management has a direction to modify their organizational culture to improve the performance of KM process. Social implications – Both behavioral and value perspectives of the organizational cultural dimensions (results-oriented, tightly control, job-oriented, sociability, solidarity, need for achievement and democracy) should be examined to ascertain their effects firstly on KM culture and then on the KM process intention of the individual. It is hoped that the current study will spawn future investigations that lead to the development of an integrated model which includes organizational culture, KM culture and the KM process intention of the individual. Originality/value – The results-oriented, loosely controlled and job-oriented cultures will improve the effectiveness of the KM process and will also increase employees’ satisfaction and willingness to stay with the organization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (12) ◽  
pp. 2639-2654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoonhee Choi ◽  
Namgyoo K. Park

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the economic and psychological mechanisms in turnover at the managerial level. The paper investigates how (1) the ease of moving posed by alternative jobs (i.e. the economic mechanism) and (2) the desire to move due to low job satisfaction (i.e. the psychological mechanism) simultaneously influence top management team (TMT) turnover and these managers' subsequent job position and pay.Design/methodology/approachUsing 25 years of panel data on more than 2,000 top managers in the United States, the paper utilizes fixed-effects logistic regressions and the ordinary least squares model to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe authors find that CEO awards (an economic mechanism) and low compensation (a psychological mechanism) independently have positive effects on turnover. Turnover due to the economic mechanism leads to a higher position and pay, whereas turnover due to the psychological mechanism does not guarantee the same outcome. Further, when examining how pay dissatisfaction influences turnover simultaneously with CEO awards, the authors find that managers with the highest pay leave their firm, and not those with the lowest pay.Originality/valueThe paper employs the pull-and-push theory in the employee turnover literature and applies it to the top management team literature. By doing so, this paper contributes original insights to how economic and psychological mechanisms simultaneously affect managerial turnover and its subsequent outcomes.


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