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Article
Publication date: 21 July 2023

Chaofan Yang, Yongqiang Sun, Nan Wang and Xiao-Liang Shen

Although extant studies have investigated the antecedents of negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM), they treated it as a unidimensional concept without classification. To…

Abstract

Purpose

Although extant studies have investigated the antecedents of negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM), they treated it as a unidimensional concept without classification. To bridge this knowledge gap, this paper distinguishes rational negative eWOM (RNW) from emotional negative eWOM (ENW) and leverages the consumer value framework to investigate their drivers in the context of peer-to-peer accommodation platforms (PPAPs).

Design/methodology/approach

This study collected data through an online survey of 437 PPAP users. Partial least squares (PLS) were used to validate the proposed hypotheses. Further, the path coefficients comparison method was adopted to distinguish the different impacts of consumer values on RNW and ENW.

Findings

This research showed that self-presentation exerted a positive impact on RNW, but its relationship with ENW was insignificant. Anger and regret were, respectively, positively related to ENW and RNW. Besides, altruism exerted a positive effect on RNW, whereas it had a negative effect on ENW.

Originality/value

First, this paper makes a fresh attempt to categorize negative eWOM into RNW and ENW. Second, this paper draws upon the consumer value framework to dissect varied motivations for posting RNW versus ENW on PPAPs. Third, this paper empirically verifies the differential influences that consumer values exert on RNW and ENW.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 March 2024

Shu Zhang, Lixun Su, Weiling Zhuang and Barry J. Babin

Given resource constraints such as time and staffing, hotels cannot respond to all negative online reviews (NORs). Therefore, this study investigates (1) what types of NORs hotels…

Abstract

Purpose

Given resource constraints such as time and staffing, hotels cannot respond to all negative online reviews (NORs). Therefore, this study investigates (1) what types of NORs hotels should prioritize responding; and (2) what response strategies are more effective in handling different types of NORs to minimize the negative ramifications.

Design/methodology/approach

Four experiments in the context of hospitability were used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Our findings show that NORs with implicit conclusions (e.g. “I do not believe that is a good choice, you know what I mean.”) are more dissuasive than NORs with explicit ones (e.g. “Do not buy it.”) because the former NORs are perceived as more objective than the latter NORs. More importantly, our results show that firms do not need to respond to explicit NORs. When responding to implicit NORs, firms should prioritize those related to service failures caused by external (e.g. weather, technological misfunction) rather than internal (e.g. poor management, employee skills) factors.

Research limitations/implications

Our studies focus on the language styles of Chinese NORs, and future research should investigate how language styles influence dissuasion in other languages.

Practical implications

Our results show that NORs with implicit conclusions negatively impact consumer attitude and thus hurt performance more significantly than those with explicit conclusions. Therefore, firms should allocate limited staffing and resources to NORs with implicit conclusions. When responding to implicit NORs, firms should select NORs that can be attributed to external factors.

Originality/value

Our findings shed light on the importance of the language styles of NORs and provide marketers with insights into how to handle NORs. Our results reveal that consumers perceive higher objectivity of NORs when these reviews are implicit than when they are explicit. Furthermore, this study contributes to the online review literature by suggesting that firms should tailor their response strategies for NORs based on the reviewers’ language styles.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

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