scholarly journals Online Review Solicitations Reduce Extremity Bias in Online Review Distributions and Increase Their Representativeness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hülya Karaman
Keyword(s):  
Past Research ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Average Decrease ◽  
Online Word Of Mouth ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Internet Economy ◽  
Online Ratings ◽  
Extreme Distribution

Representative online customer reviews are critical to the effective functioning of the Internet economy. In this study, I investigate the representativeness of online review distributions to examine how extremity bias and conformity impact it and explore whether online review solicitations alter representativeness. Past research on extreme distribution of online ratings commonly relied solely on observed public online ratings. One strength of the current paper is that I observe the private satisfaction ratings of customers regardless of whether they choose to write an online review or not. I show that both extremity bias and conformity exist in unsolicited online word-of-mouth (WOM) and introduce online review solicitations as a mechanism that can partially de-bias ratings. Solicitations increase all customers’ engagement in online WOM, but if solicited, those with moderate experiences increase their engagement more than those with extreme experiences. Consequently, although extremity bias still exists in solicited online WOM, solicitations significantly increase the representativeness of rating distributions. Surprisingly, the results demonstrate that without conformity, unsolicited online WOM would be even less representative of the original customer experiences. Furthermore, I document that both solicited and unsolicited reviews equally overstate the average customer experience (compared with average private ratings) despite stark differences in their rating distributions. Finally, I establish that solicitations for reviews on the company-owned website, on average, decrease the number of one-star reviews on a third-party review platform. This paper was accepted by Eric Anderson, marketing.

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.

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.

Data-Driven Customer Segmentation Based On Online Review Analysis and Customer Network Construction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyoung Park ◽  
Harrison M. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Customer Segmentation ◽  
Market Analysis ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Network Construction ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Product Features ◽  
Review Analysis ◽  
Online Customer Reviews

Abstract Recently, many studies on product design have utilized online data for customer analysis. However, most of them treat online customers as a group of people with the same preferences while customer segmentation is a key strategy in conventional market analysis. To supplement this gap, this paper proposes a new methodology for online customer segmentation. First, customer attributes are extracted from online customer reviews. Then, a customer network is constructed based on the extracted attributes. Finally, the network is partitioned by modularity clustering and the resulting clusters are analyzed by topic frequency. The methodology is implemented to a smartphone review data. The result shows that online customers have different preferences as offline customers do, and they can be divided into separate groups with different tendencies for product features. This can help product designers to draw segment-based design implications from online data.

Profiling Reviewers’ Social Network Strength and Predicting the “Helpfulness” of Online Customer Reviews

2020 ◽  
pp. 101026
Author(s):  
Muhammad Bilal ◽  
Mohsen Marjani ◽  
Ibrahim Abaker Targio Hashem ◽  
Nadia Malik ◽  
Muhammad Ikram Ullah Lali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Network Strength

Fraud abroad

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-275
Author(s):  
Jake David Hoskins ◽  
Ryan Leick
Keyword(s):  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Level Of Economic Development ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Developed Nations

Purpose This study aims to investigate a sharing economy context, where vacation rental units that are owned and operated by individuals throughout the world are rented out through a common website: vrbo.com. It is posited that gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, a common indicator of the level of economic development of a nation, will impact the likelihood that prospective travelers will choose to book accommodations in the sharing economy channel (vs traditional hotels). The role of online customer reviews in this process is investigated as well, building upon a significant body of extant research which shows their level of customer decision influence. Design/methodology/approach An empirical analysis is conducted using data from the website Vacation Rentals By Owner on 1,940 rental listings across 97 countries. Findings GDP per capita serves as risk deterrent to prospective travelers, making the sharing economy an acceptable alternative to traditional hotels for the average traveler. It is also found that the total number of online customer reviews (OCR volume) is a signal of popularity to prospective travelers, while the average star rating of those online customer reviews (OCR valence) is instead a signal of accommodation quality. Originality/value This study adds to a growing agenda of research investigating the effect of online customer reviews on consumer decisions, with a particularly focus on the burgeoning sharing economy. The findings help to explain when the sharing economy may serve as a stronger disruptive threat to incumbent offerings. It also provides the following key insights for managers: sharing economy rental units in developed nations are more successful in driving booking activity, managers should look to promote volume of online customer reviews and positive online customer reviews are particularly influential for sharing economy rental booking rates in less developed nations.

EXPRESS: Hype News Diffusion and Risk of Misinformation: The Oz Effect in Healthcare

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224372110444
Author(s):  
Zijun (June) Shi ◽  
Xiao Liu ◽  
Kannan Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
News Agencies ◽  
Health Products ◽  
Tv Shows ◽  
Medical Recommendations ◽  
Textual Content

Consumers' choices about health products are heavily influenced by public information, such as news articles, research articles, online customer reviews, online product discussion, and TV shows. Dr. Oz, a celebrity doctor, often makes medical recommendations with limited or marginal scientific evidence. Although reputable news agencies have traditionally acted as gatekeepers of reliable information, they face the intense pressure of “the eyeball game.” Customer reviews, despite their authenticity, may come from deceived consumers. Therefore, it remains unclear whether public information sources can correct the misleading health information. In the context of over-the-counter weight loss products, the authors carefully analyze the cascading of information post endorsement. The analysis of extensive textual content with deep-learning methods reveals that legitimate news outlets respond to Dr. Oz's endorsement by generating more news articles about the ingredient; on average, articles after the endorsement contain a higher sentiment, so news agencies seem to amplify rather than rectify the misleading endorsement. The finding highlights a serious concern: the risk of hype news diffusion. Research articles react too slowly to mitigate the problem, and online customer reviews and product discussions provide only marginal corrections. The findings underscore the importance of oversight to mitigate the risk of cascading hype news.

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