Does the length of a review matter in perceived helpfulness? The moderating role of product experience

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Jia ◽  
Sumin Shin ◽  
Jinfeng Jiao
Keyword(s):  
Online Reviews ◽  
Product Type ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Level Of Involvement ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Product Experience ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Review Helpfulness ◽  
Product Ratings

PurposeThis paper aims to offer a framework explaining how product experience (i.e. think vs feel) and product involvement (high vs low) influence the helpfulness of online reviews. It also reexamined how online consumer review dimensions help to build online review helpfulness under different contexts.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using content analysis on 1,200 online customer reviews on 12 products from four categories to measure the relationships between online review dimensions and the helpfulness of reviews. The regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings indicate that the effectiveness of length of a review is moderated by product type; for think products, longer reviews yield higher helpfulness. Furthermore, the level of consistency between individual review ratings and overall product ratings is associated with review helpfulness. The length of product descriptions and product ratings is moderated by the level of involvement. For products with high involvement, longer descriptions yield higher helpfulness.Originality/valueA conceptual connection to customer interaction is proposed by online customer reviews that vary by product type. The findings provide implications for online retailers to better manage online customer reviews and increase the value of product ratings.

Can two-sided messages increase the helpfulness of online reviews?

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Yi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Past Research ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Review Literature ◽  
Product Type ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Dual Processing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Review Helpfulness ◽  
Message Sidedness

Purpose – Online reviews are increasingly available for a wide range of products and services. Several studies have demonstrated the benefits of the presence of customer reviews to an online retailer, but the issue of what makes online reviews helpful to a consumer in the process of making a purchase decision remains uninvestigated. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – Given the strategic potential of online reviews, this study drew on past research to develop a conceptual understanding of the components of helpfulness and to further empirically test the model using actual online review data from iPeen.com in Taiwan. A content analysis of 989 reviews across four products identified the interplay effects of review sidedness, reviewer’s expertise, and product type on the helpfulness of an online review. Findings – For search goods, consumers consider two-sided reviews to be more helpful than one-sided reviews when the reviewers are experts in writing such articles, whereas they consider two-sided reviews to be equally helpful as one-sided reviews when the reviewers are novices. Conversely, for experience goods, consumers consider one-sided reviews to be more helpful than two-sided reviews when the reviewers are experts in writing review articles, but they consider one-sided reviews to be equally helpful as two-sided reviews when the reviewers are novices. Practical implications – With an understanding of how review sidedness affects online review helpfulness, online retailers could establish the policy for promoting the helpfulness of reviews more effectively. Originality/value – This research yields at least three important contributions: first, it contributes to the message sidedness literature by showing which arguments (one- or two-sided) are deemed to be helpful; second, it contributes to the online peer review literature by demonstrating the importance of considering product type and heuristic cues (i.e. the reviewer’s expertise) when explaining helpfulness; and third, the results in this research demonstrate that people are drawn to dual-processing; that is, the judgment of online review helpfulness is determined by heuristic cues (e.g. the status of the reviewer) and systematic processing (e.g. review content).

Reviews’ length and sentiment as correlates of online reviews’ ratings

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 544-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Ghasemaghaei ◽  
Seyed Pouyan Eslami ◽  
Ken Deal ◽  
Khaled Hassanein
Keyword(s):  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Service Companies ◽  
Consumer Review

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify and validate reviews’ length and sentiment as correlates of online reviews’ ratings; and second, to understand the emotions embedded in online reviews and how they associate with specific words used in such reviews. Design/methodology/approach A panel data set of customer reviews was collected for auto, life, and home insurance from January 2012 to December 2015 using a web scraping technique. Using a sentiment analysis approach, 1,584 reviews for the auto, home, and life insurance services of 156 insurance companies were analyzed. Findings The results indicate that, since 2013, consumers have generally had more negative emotions than positive ones toward insurance services. The results also show that consumer review sentiment correlates positively and review length correlates negatively with consumer online review ratings. Furthermore, a two-way ANOVA analysis shows that, in general, short reviews with positive sentiment are associated with high review ratings. Practical implications The findings of this study provide service companies, in general, and insurance companies, in particular, with important guidelines that should be considered to increase consumers’ positive attitude toward their services. Originality/value This paper highlights the importance of sentiment analysis in identifying consumer reviews’ emotions and understanding the associations and interactions of reviews’ length and sentiment on online review rating, which can lead to improved marketing strategies.

The helpfulness of online reviews

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Yi Chen ◽  
Ching-I Teng ◽  
Kuo-Wei Chiou
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expression ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Causal Attribution ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Store Performance ◽  
Review Helpfulness

Purpose Online reviews are increasingly available for a wide range of products and services in e-commerce. Most consumers rely heavily on online reviews when making purchase decisions, so an important topic is that of understanding what makes some online reviews helpful in the eyes of consumers. Researchers have demonstrated the benefits of the presence of customer reviews to an online retailer, however, few studies have investigated how images in review content and the facial expressions of reviewers’ avatars influence the judgment of online review helpfulness. This study draws on self-construal theory, attribution theory and affect-as-information theory to empirically test a model of the interaction effects of images in review content and the facial expressions of reviewers’ avatars on online review helpfulness. Furthermore, the purpose of this paper is to identify an underlying mechanism of causal attribution toward store performance on the above effects. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted two online experiments. Study 1 is a 2 (images in review content: one person with a product vs a group of people with a product) ×2 (facial expression of the reviewer’s avatar: happy vs angry) between-subjects design. Study 2 is a 3 (image: product alone vs one person with a product vs a group of people with a product) ×2 (facial expression of the reviewer’s avatar: happy vs angry) ×3 (valence of the review: positive vs negative vs neutral) between-subjects design. Findings The results indicate that when consumers were exposed to a happy-looking avatar, they were likely to express higher perceptions of online review helpfulness in response to an image showing a group of people in a restaurant than they would for an image of one person in the same situation. In contrast, when consumers were exposed to an angry-looking avatar, their perceptions of online review helpfulness did not differ in response to images of either a group of people or of one person. Furthermore, cause attribution toward store performance mediated the interaction between images in content of reviews and the facial expression of a reviewer’s avatar on the perceptions of online review helpfulness. Practical implications The authors provide insights into how to develop guidelines on how online reviews should be written so that readers perceive them to be helpful, and how to design effective reward mechanisms for customer feedback. Originality/value Compared with previous studies, this study provides further contributions in three ways. First, it contributes to the literature on review content by showing which images in reviews are deemed to be helpful. Second, it extends previous findings from the literature relating to online peer reviews by demonstrating the importance of facial expressions in reviewers’ avatars (i.e. happy vs angry) when explaining helpfulness, rather than the strength of purchase intent. Third, this study contributes by further highlighting a novel mechanism which shows that a causal attribution toward store performance motivates the perceptions of online review helpfulness.

Predicting the helpfulness of online customer reviews: The role of title features

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Akbarabadi ◽  
Monireh Hosseini
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Model ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Machine Learning Techniques ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Importance Analysis ◽  
Review Helpfulness

Nowadays, many people refer to online customer reviews that are available on most shopping websites to make a better purchase decision. An automated review helpfulness prediction model can help the websites to rank reviews based on their level of helpfulness. This study examines the effect of review title features on predicting the helpfulness of online reviews. Moreover, a new method is proposed to categorize action verbs in a review text. Text, reviewer, readability, and title features are the four main categories that are used in this article. We examine our proposed prediction model on two real-life Amazon datasets using machine learning techniques. The results show a promising performance of the model. However, feature importance analysis reveals the low importance of title features in the predictive model. It means that the title characteristics cannot be a powerful determinant of online review helpfulness. The results of this study can be beneficial to both buyers and website owners to have a deep insight into online reviews helpfulness.

How to prevent negative online customer reviews: the moderating roles of monetary compensation and psychological compensation

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 3115-3134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
HengJin Zhang ◽  
JingJing Sun ◽  
NingXin Li ◽  
Anil Bilgihan
Keyword(s):  
Service Recovery ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Monetary Compensation ◽  
Beverage Industry ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Recovery Strategies ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Online Rating

Purpose This paper aims to clarify the effects of motivations on negative online customer reviews (OCRs) behavior in an integrative framework and to identify the moderating role of monetary compensation and psychological compensation in the Chinese food and beverage industry. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 377 consumers who posted a negative review online. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the research hypotheses. Findings The authors identified some characteristics of the consumers who posted negative online reviews in the Chinese food and beverage industry and found evidence that reveals the positive effects of emotional venting motivation and altruism motivation on posting negative customer online reviews. Economic motivation and self-enhancement motivation were not significantly connected to negative OCRs behaviors. Service recovery strategies can moderate the relationship between certain motivations and behaviors. The absence of psychological compensation will aggravate the influence of emotion venting motivation on consumers’ negative online reviews, while monetary compensation can restrain the influence of altruism motivation on negative online rating behavior. Research limitations/implications This paper did not explore the effect of the fairness and timeliness of service recovery on negative OCRs behavior. This paper did not consider the different restaurant types and customers' characteristics, and future research can test similar models with different and more diverse samples. Practical implications When implementing service recovery strategies, it is important to consider the psychological component of recovery. The absence of psychological compensation aggravates the influence of high levels of emotion venting motivation on consumers’ negative OCRs, leading to a lower rating, more word comments and negative photos. High levels of monetary compensation can restrain the influence of altruism motivation on negative online rating behavior. Originality/value The current paper contributes to the hospitality management literature by investigating the motivations behind consumer decisions to post negative OCRs in a food and beverage context. In addition, the moderating effect that service recovery strategies have on this relationship was also explored in depth.

Combined effects of valence and attributes of e-WOM on consumer judgment for message and product

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyo-Jin Jeong ◽  
Dong-Mo Koo
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Judgment ◽  
Product Experience ◽  
Intention To Purchase ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a model to test whether the combined effects of valence and objectivity/subjectivity of online review have an effect on consumer judgment and whether e-WOM platforms have a moderating effect. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 480 respondents participated in online experiments with a four (positive+objective, positive+subjective, negative+objective, and negative+subjective online review) by two (marketer-generated vs consumer-generated brand community web sites) between subject design. Findings – The experiment showed that: an objective negative online review was rated higher in terms of message usefulness compared to the other types of online reviews; positive reviews, whether they are objective or subjective, were rated higher in terms of attitudes toward and intention to purchase the reviewed product, and the effects of online reviews moderated by e-WOM platforms on consumer judgment were supported. Research limitations/implications – The present study, based on an established theoretical foundation, will help the research community to gain a deeper understanding of the combined effects of online review valence and attributes on consumer judgment and whether user-generated web community is better for consumers to consult product experience. Practical implications – The findings of this study can provide interested firms with useful strategies and tactics to enhance users’ acceptance of online reviews in terms of who operates the web sites. Originality/value – With increasing use of consumers’ online reviews, the present study proposed and tested a comprehensive research model integrating both the valence and objectivity/subjectivity of online review, which has rarely been addressed in previous research.

scholarly journals ARTI PENTING TINGKAT KEPUASAN PARA PELANGGAN DAN PEMANFAATAN ULASAN DARING

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dewanta Fachrureza
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Hotel Management ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Front Office

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>This research departs from the curiosity of researchers to find out the extent to which online customer reviews are used at the Ritz Carlton hotel, because hotel management responds well even to the extraordinary in responding to online customer reviews, especially from TripAdvisor. The purpose of this study is to develop and understand the extent to which online review customer reviews are used from TripAdvisor to the department of the front office at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Jakarta. Conclusions from this study are important for hotels to maintain and improve the level of customer satisfaction to improve the quality of hotel services. The researcher also gave several suggestions which stated that there must be a position of work that is responsible for ensuring that all online reviews will be answered and evaluated. In addition, the hotel must invite more guests to comment on TripAdvisor.<br />Keywords: Customer, Customer Satisfaction, Online Review, Front Office Department</p>

Study of E-Commerce Customer Review Capturing Process in the Indian Context

2022 ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya ◽  
Asmita Wani
Keyword(s):  
Research Work ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Customer Review ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Potential Customers

Online customer reviews provided by customers on e-commerce sites who had bought the products proved to be a key parameter. New and potential customers at the pre-purchase stage to vet the merits and demerits before buying new products listed on e-commerce sites referred to online customer reviews. However, there have been very few studies that focused on online customer review capturing process. Thus, this research work focused on the review capturing process of e-commerce websites from a customer's point of view to understand the online customer review process. A qualitative exploratory research was carried out. An open-ended semi-structured questionnaire was used to understand customer's stand on the e-commerce review capturing process. In-depth interviews were collected from customers. The data was analyzed thematic content. The study findings indicated what motivated customers to write online reviews, what inhibited them from writing reviews and what were their suggestions for the managers of e-commerce organizations towards designing better online review capturing.

When profile photos matter: the roles of reviewer profile photos in the online review generation and consumption processes

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-412
Author(s):  
Jong Min Kim ◽  
Miyea Kim ◽  
Sookyoung Key
Keyword(s):  
Sample Size ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Review Helpfulness

Purpose Many online review sites, such as TripAdivisor.com, encourage review posters to upload a profile photo to improve the perceived reliability of online reviews. This study aims to examine the roles of reviewer profile photos in the online review generation and consumption processes. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected via Amazon MTurk. Two experimental studies were conducted. Study 1 had a sample size of 106 respondents. In Study 1, this paper examined the role of a reviewer profile photo in the online review generation process. Study 2 had a sample size of 482 respondents. In Study 2, this paper examined the role of a reviewer profile photo in the online review consumption process under two different circumstances, namely, comprehensive and incomprehensive review text. Findings The findings show that reviewer profile photos play different roles when consumers generate online reviews versus when they consume reviews. In the review generation process, reviewers are more likely to upload a profile photo to improve the credibility of their reviews. On the other hand, in the review consumption process, reviewer profile photos do not contribute to an increase in the perceived review helpfulness. Originality/value If the readers have difficulty processing the review content, review profile photos play a critical role in determining perceived review helpfulness. This study provides both theoretical and managerial implications by indicating how reviewer profile photos play different roles in online review posting and consuming behavior.

scholarly journals An integrated model to explain online review helpfulness in hospitality

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sérgio Moro ◽  
Joaquim Esmerado
Keyword(s):  
Random Forest ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Integrated Model ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Forest Model ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Review Helpfulness

Purpose This study aims to propose a model to explain online review helpfulness grounded on both previously identified constructs (e.g. review length) and new ones, which have been analyzed in other online reviews’ contexts but not to explain helpfulness. Design/methodology/approach A total of 112,856 reviews published in TripAdvisor about 21 Las Vegas hotels were collected and a random forest model was trained to assess if a review has received a helpful vote or not. Findings After confirming the validity of the proposed model, each of the constructs was evaluated to assess its contribution to explaining helpfulness. Specifically, a newly proposed construct, the response lag of the manager’s replies to reviews, was among the most relevant constructs. Originality/value The achieved results suggest that hoteliers should invest not only in responding to the most interesting reviews from the hotel’s perspective but also that they should do it quickly to increase the likeliness of the review being considered helpful to others.

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