Anger in Consumer Reviews: Unhelpful but Persuasive?

MIS Quarterly ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 1059-1086
Author(s):  
Dezhi Yin ◽  
◽  
Samuel Bond ◽  
Han Zhang ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Consumer Attitudes ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Purchase Decisions ◽  
Common Assumption ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Review Helpfulness ◽  
Interpersonal Effects

A common assumption in prior research and practice is that more helpful online reviews will exert a greater impact on consumer attitudes and purchase decisions. We suggest that this assumption may not hold for reviews expressing anger. Building on the theory of emotions as social information (EASI), we propose that although expressions of anger in a negative review tend to decrease reader perceptions of review helpfulness, the same expressions tend to increase the negative influence of the review on reader attitudes and decisions. Results from a series of laboratory experiments provide support for our claims. Our findings challenge the widely accepted assumption that more “helpful” reviews are ultimately more persuasive and extend the current understanding of the interpersonal effects of emotion in online communication. Our findings also suggest implications for review platforms, retailers, marketers, and manufacturers faced with the task of managing consumer reviews.

scholarly journals Tales from the Land of Consumer Reviews: Taking a Closer Look at Lurkers and Writers

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-45
Author(s):  
Alexander Mafael ◽  
Sabrina Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Rating System ◽  
Purchase Decisions ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Realistic Picture ◽  
Online Ratings ◽  
Informational Cues

AbstractWhile most consumers routinely read online reviews to inform their purchase decisions, the number of consumers who actively post reviews is astonishingly small. To find their way in the review jungle, readers process the information presented very selectively and pursue different objectives. They use different informational cues for their own decision-making, which often reflects rather stable patterns. Writers, too, are often less interested in presenting their experience as objectively as possible as contextual factors play an important role. Similar to the review readers, they act neither uniformly nor without biases. Whether they take up the pen at all depends, among other things, on whether they represent a majority or minority opinion and what image of themselves they want to convey. A profound understanding of the motives of readers and writers is important to improve one’s own rating system and requires special skills in the management of online ratings. Managers need to find ways to convert more lurkers into posters to get a more realistic picture of the experiences.

scholarly journals The role of cultural values in consumers' evaluation of online review helpfulness: a big data approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaele Filieri ◽  
Marcello Mariani
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Review Helpfulness

PurposeOnline consumer reviews are increasingly used by third-party e-commerce organizations to shed light on the positive and negative sides of the brands they sell. However, the large number of consumer reviews requires these organizations to shortlist the most helpful ones to cope with information overload. A growing number of scholars have been investigating the determinants of review helpfulness; however, little is known about the influence of cultural factors in consumer's evaluation of review helpfulness.Design/methodology/approachThis study has adopted Hofstede's cultural values framework to assess the influence of cultural factors on review helpfulness. We used a sample of 570,669 reviews of 851 hotels published by reviewers from 81 countries on Booking.com.FindingsFindings reveal that reviewers from cultural contexts that score high on power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and indulgence are more likely to write helpful reviews.Originality/valueThis is one of the first cross-cultural studies in marketing using a big data approach in examining how users of reviews from different countries evaluate the helpfulness of online reviews.

Business Data Analytics Applications to Online Product Reviews and Nationalism

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
Charles C. Willow
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Smart Phone ◽  
Consumer Preference ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Product Reviews ◽  
Purchase Decisions ◽  
Control Factors

This paper investigates the data analytics between consumer purchase decisions relative to the on-line reviews. The multi-attributes associated with purchase decisions are comprised of nationalism and consumer preference to be correlated with online reviews using big data analytics. By far, a small fraction of meaningful studies have sought to correlate nationalism and ethnocentrism with big data analytics to date. Globally accepted generic products are selected to expedite the process of data engineering. Two sets were arranged: passenger automobiles for transportation with an estimated $9 trillion global market and the smart phone, boosting its market size of approximately $5 billion. Both products provide minimized cultural, linguistic, gender, age, and/or custom barriers of entry for prospective digital consumers, thereby allowing relatively unrestricted engagement with online reviews and purchases. A series of hypothesis tests indicate that there is a positive correlation between nationalism and automobiles. As to smart cell phones, however, nationalism had nominal control factors. Multi-variate analytics were performed by using R and Tableau Public.

scholarly journals Explaining and Predicting Helpfulness & Funniness of Online Reviews on the Steam Platform

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Keyword(s):  
Applied Research ◽  
Online Shopping ◽  
Product Information ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Gradient Boosting ◽  
Related Data ◽  
Review Helpfulness ◽  
Display Content ◽  
The Impact

Online review is a crucial display content of many online shopping platforms and an essential source of product information for consumers. Low-quality reviews often cause inconvenience to the platform and review readers. This article aims to help Steam, one of the largest digital distribution platforms, predict the review helpfulness and funniness. Via Python, 480,000 game reviews related data for 20 games were captured for analysis. This article analyzed the impact of three categories of influencing factors on the usefulness and funniness of game reviews, which are characteristics of review, reviewer and game. Additionally, by using the Random Forest-based classifier, the usefulness of reviews could be accurately predicted, while for funniness, Gradient Boosting Decision Tree was the better choice. This article applied research on the usefulness of reviews to game products and proposed research on the funniness of reviews.

Focus Within or On Others: The Impact of Reviewers' Attentional Focus on Review Helpfulness

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanfei Lei ◽  
Dezhi Yin ◽  
Han Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Condition ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Controlled Experiments ◽  
Review Helpfulness ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Consistent Support

When reviewers write online reviews, they differ in the focus of their attention: some focus on their own experiences, whereas some direct their attention to others—prospective consumers who may read the reviews in the future. This paper explores how, why, and when reviewers’ attentional focus can influence the helpfulness evaluation of reviews beyond the impact of substantive review content. Drawing on the attentional focus and persuasion literatures, we develop a theoretical model proposing that reviewers’ attentional focus may influence consumers’ perception of review helpfulness through opposing processes, and that its overall effect is contingent on the review’s two-sidedness. Results of one archival analysis and five controlled experiments provide consistent support for our hypotheses. This work challenges the predominant view of the positive impact of other-focus (vs. self-focus), explores the interpersonal impact of a reviewer’s attentional focus on prospective consumers who are total strangers, and reveals an important, context-specific boundary condition.

Impact of Online Reviews on Purchasing Decisions

2016 ◽  
pp. 278-291
Author(s):  
Dhiraj Jain ◽  
Lovish Bhansali ◽  
K. Sanal Nair
Keyword(s):  
Online Reviews ◽  
Purchasing Decisions ◽  
Electronic Products ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Online Consumer Reviews ◽  
Online Sales ◽  
Purchasing Behaviour ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Informed Consumer ◽  
The Relationship

Internet has enabled today's consumer to transform himself from passive to an active and an informed consumer who can share his experiences, opinions about product or services with an infinite number of consumers around the globe. These reviews or opinions are further used by potential buyers of that particular product or service via electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM). The study on the impact of e-WOM on online sales has gradually emerged but a number of questions still remain unanswered. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of one type of e-WOM i.e., the online consumer reviews, on purchasing decisions of electronic products. This empirical study also focuses on the relationship between reviews and purchasing behaviour. An instrument was prepared to measure the proposed constructs, with questionnaire items taken from prior studies but adapted to fit the context of e-commerce. The survey was applied to academicians in India through internet. The results show that consumer reviews have a causal impact on consumer purchasing behaviour and they have an effect on choosing the products by consumer. Finally, the results and their implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Featuring Mistakes: The Persuasive Impact of Purchase Mistakes in Online Reviews

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taly Reich ◽  
Sam J. Maglio
Keyword(s):  
Field Data ◽  
Threshold Level ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Consumer Reviews ◽  
Expected Performance ◽  
Promotional Materials ◽  
Feature Positive

Companies often feature positive consumer reviews on their websites and in their promotional materials in an attempt to increase sales. However, little is known about which particular positive reviews companies should leverage to optimize sales. Across four lab studies involving both hypothetical and real choices as well as field data from a retailer’s website (Sephora), the authors find that consumers are more likely to purchase a product if it is recommended by a reviewer who has (vs. has not) made a prior purchase mistake. The authors define a purchase mistake as a self-identified suboptimal decision whereby people purchase a product that subsequently fails to meet a threshold level of expected performance. This persuasive advantage emerges because consumers perceive reviewers who admit a purchase mistake as having more expertise than even reviewers whose purchase experience has not been marred by mistakes. As a result, in marketers’ attempts to increase the persuasive influence of reviews featured in their promotional materials, they may inadvertently decrease it by omitting the very information that would lead consumers to be more likely to purchase recommended products.

Can Advertising Copy Make FSI Coupons More Effective?

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
France Leclerc ◽  
John D. C. Little
Keyword(s):  
Brand Loyalty ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Product Category ◽  
Consumer Attitudes ◽  
Separate Analysis ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Packaged Goods ◽  
Print Advertisement ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Impact

Packaged goods manufacturers distribute cents-off coupons in freestanding inserts (FSIs) in newspapers. Free-standing insert coupons are typically composed of two parts: the coupon per se and a print advertisement. Using two laboratory experiments and a separate analysis of coupon measurements from scanner panels, the authors investigate whether the content of the print advertisement influences the effectiveness of the coupon. Theoretical arguments suggest that the impact on consumer attitudes will depend on the executional cues of the copy, the brand loyalty of the consumers, and the consumer's involvement with the product category. The results support the theoretical framework and suggest that it is possible to make FSI coupons more effective by choosing appropriate executional cues for their advertising copy.

The impact of monetary rewards for online reviews

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1486-1515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongrui Duan ◽  
Chen Chen ◽  
Jiazhen Huo
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Monetary Reward ◽  
Product Reviews ◽  
Purchase Decisions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Monetary Rewards ◽  
Stage 1 ◽  
The Impact

Purpose To encourage buyers to contribute product reviews, some online sellers offer monetary rewards. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of monetary rewards on buyers’ purchase decisions and review contributions, as well as the impact on the seller’s price decisions and profit. Design/methodology/approach The authors consider an online seller in a two-stage setting. Prior to Stage 1, the profit-maximizing seller sets the price and decides whether to offer a monetary reward secretly to motivate online reviews. Then, a continuum of buyers arrives and makes purchase decisions at the beginning of each stage. First-stage buyers may contribute reviews if they are satisfied, which will affect demand in the second stage. Using this analytical framework, the authors analyze the impact of monetary rewards. Findings If the monetary reward is small, it decreases the seller’s profit and fails to generate more reviews. It also increases price, leading to a decline in total demand. Thus, when the reward is lower than a certain threshold, all buyers are worse off. Only when the reward exceeds the threshold are buyers who contribute reviews better off. Profit and total demand both increase in review quality, while the price may either increase or decrease in it. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to analyze theoretically the impact of monetary rewards on buyers’ purchase decisions, review contributions and on online sellers’ decisions.

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