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Article
Publication date: 5 February 2024

Yong Liu, Chang-Xue Lin and Gang Zhao

The paper attempts to discuss the optimal pricing decisions under the decentralized and centralized decision and analyze the influence of online reviews and in-sale service on…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper attempts to discuss the optimal pricing decisions under the decentralized and centralized decision and analyze the influence of online reviews and in-sale service on dual-channel supply chain. Finally, the authors design a two-part tariff coordination mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

To deal with this pricing conflict problems of dual-channel supply chain consisting of dominant manufacturer and a retailer, considering the fact that online reviews and in-sale service are important factors on consumers’ purchase decisions, the authors establish some basic models and exploit them to discuss the optimal pricing decisions under the decentralized and centralized decision and analyze the influence of online reviews and in-sale service on dual-channel supply chain. Finally, the authors design a profit-sharing coordination mechanism.

Findings

The results show that the optimal online direct selling price is positively correlated with product perceived quality obtained from online reviews and negatively correlated with the in-sale service. The traditional retail price is positively correlated with the in-sale service and weakly correlated with online reviews. For the manufacturer and retailer, whether decentralized decision or coordination contract, their profits increase with the increase of the in-sale service in a certain range and quality perceived from spontaneous online reviews. Online reviews and in-sale service are important factors on consumers’ purchase decisions. Positive in-sale services and online reviews can provide consumers with a better shopping experience, thereby promoting their enthusiasm for shopping and improving their quality of life. The two-part tariff coordination mechanism improves the profits of the manufacturer and the traditional retailer, respectively, through the transfer fee.

Originality/value

The proposed approach can well analyze the channel conflicts and pricing problems between retailers and manufacturers with respect to product offline price and online price. The analysis and results can inform decision-making for manufacturers and retailers.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 January 2024

Xiao Peng, Hessam Vali, Xixian Peng, Jingjun (David) Xu and Mehmet Bayram Yildirim

The study examines the potential moderating effects of repeating purchase cues and product knowledge on the relationship between the varying consistency of the review set and…

Abstract

Purpose

The study examines the potential moderating effects of repeating purchase cues and product knowledge on the relationship between the varying consistency of the review set and causal attribution. This study also investigates how causal attribution correlates with the perceived misleadingness of the review set.

Design/methodology/approach

A scenario-based experiment was conducted with 170 participants to explore the relationship between the consistency of the review set and causal attribution and how repeating purchase cues and product knowledge moderates this relationship.

Findings

Findings suggest that inconsistent review sets lead to more product (vs reviewer) attribution than consistent review sets. The repeating purchase cues mitigate the negative relationship between the consistency of the review set and product attribution, whereas product knowledge mitigates the positive relationship between the consistency of the review set and reviewer attribution. Furthermore, the results indicate that high product attribution and low reviewer attribution are associated with low perceived misleadingness.

Originality/value

This study is novel because it examines the moderating effects of repeating purchase cues and product knowledge on the relationship between the consistency of the review set and causal attribution. It adds to the literature by shedding light on the causal attribution process underlying the formation of perceived misleadingness of online reviews. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for managers on how to enhance the positive effects of consistent review sets and mitigate the negative effects of inconsistent review sets.

Details

Internet Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 November 2023

Madhuri Prabhala and Indranil Bose

While there has been extensive research on understanding the effects of online reviews on product sales, there is not enough investigation of the inter-relationships between…

Abstract

Purpose

While there has been extensive research on understanding the effects of online reviews on product sales, there is not enough investigation of the inter-relationships between online reviews, online search and product sales. The study attempts to address this gap in the context of the Indian car market.

Design/methodology/approach

The research uses text mining and considers six important review features volume, valence, length, deviation of valence, sentiment and readability within the heuristic and systematic model of information processing. Panel data regression is used along with mediation analysis to study the inter-relationships between features of reviews, online search and sales.

Findings

The study finds that numerical heuristic features significantly affect sales and online search, numerical systematic feature affects sales and the textual heuristic and systematic features do not affect sales or online search in the Indian car market. Further, online search mediates the association between features of reviews and sales of cars.

Research limitations/implications

Although only car sales data from India is considered in this research, similar relationships between review features, online search and sales could exist for the car market of other countries as well.

Originality/value

This research uncovers the unique role of online search as a mediator between review features and sales, whereas prior literature has considered review features and online search as independent variables that affect sales.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 124 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 December 2022

Zhangxiang Zhu, Yaxin Zhao and Jing Wang

This study aims to explore the relationship between the content characteristics of destination online reviews and travel intention under three individual circumstances: temporal…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the relationship between the content characteristics of destination online reviews and travel intention under three individual circumstances: temporal distance, social distance and experiential distance.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on construal-level theory (CLT), this study divides online travel reviews into concrete and abstract reviews. Three experiments were conducted to test the moderating effects of temporal distance, social distance and experiential distance on the influence of review content characteristics on tourists' travel intentions.

Findings

The results show that abstract reviews would lead to higher travel intentions than concrete reviews. Furthermore, tourists' travel intentions differed depending on social distance and were significantly affected by reviews posted by reviewers similar to review recipients. In addition, the study contributes by discovering that the moderating effects of temporal distance, social distance and experiential distance were not significant, which differs from most of the previous research conclusions.

Originality/value

This study focused on review content characteristics, which provided a novel perspective for constructing online travel reviews. Furthermore, this research defined the concept of experiential distance in the context of online travel and expanded the research on psychological distance.

Details

Aslib Journal of Information Management, vol. 76 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-3806

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 February 2024

Qiuli Su, Aidin Namin and Seth Ketron

This paper aims to investigate textual characteristics of customer reviews that motivate companies to respond (sentiment negativity and sentiment deviation) and how aspects of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate textual characteristics of customer reviews that motivate companies to respond (sentiment negativity and sentiment deviation) and how aspects of these company responses (response intensity, length and tailoring) affect subsequent customer review quality (comprehensiveness and readability) over time.

Design/methodology/approach

Leveraging a large data set from a leading app website (Shopify), the authors combine text mining, natural language processing (NLP) and big data analysis to examine the antecedents and outcomes of online company responses to reviews.

Findings

This study finds that companies are more likely to respond to reviews with more negative sentiment and higher sentiment deviation scores. Furthermore, while longer company responses improve review comprehensiveness over time, they do not have a significant influence on review readability; meanwhile, more tailored company responses improve readability but not comprehensiveness over time. In addition, the intensity (volume) of company responses does not affect subsequent review quality in either comprehensiveness or readability.

Originality/value

This paper expands on the understanding of online company responses within the digital marketplace – specifically, apps – and provides a new and broader perspective on the motivations and effects of online company responses to customer reviews. The study also extends beyond the short-term focus of prior works and adds to literature on long-term effects of online company responses to subsequent reviews. The findings provide valuable insights for companies (especially those with apps) to enhance their online communication strategies and customer engagement.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 41 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 March 2024

Jing Li, Xin Xu and Eric W.T. Ngai

We investigate the joint impacts of three trust cues – content, sentiment and helpfulness votes – of online product reviews on the trust of reviews and attitude toward the…

Abstract

Purpose

We investigate the joint impacts of three trust cues – content, sentiment and helpfulness votes – of online product reviews on the trust of reviews and attitude toward the product/service reviewed.

Design/methodology/approach

We performed three studies to test our research model, presenting participants with scenarios involving product reviews and prior users' helpful and unhelpful votes across experimental settings.

Findings

A high helpfulness ratio boosts users’ trust and influences behaviors in both positive and negative reviews. This effect is more pronounced in attribute-based reviews than emotion-based ones. Unlike the ratio effect, helpfulness magnitude significantly impacts only negative attribute-based reviews.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should investigate voting systems in various online contexts, such as Facebook post likes, Twitter microblog thumb-ups and up-votes for article comments on platforms like The New York Times.

Practical implications

Our findings have significant implications for voting system-providers implementing information techniques on third-party review platforms, participatory sites emphasizing user-generated content and online retailers prioritizing product awareness and reputation.

Originality/value

This study addresses an identified need; that is, the helpfulness votes as an additional trust cue and the joint effects of three trust cues – content, sentiment and helpfulness votes – of online product reviews on the trust of customers in reviews and their consequential attitude toward the product/service reviewed.

Details

Internet Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 February 2024

Maria Petrescu, John Gironda and Kathleen Bay O'Leary

This paper aims to evaluate and structure the basic heuristics consumers use in evaluating word-of-mouth (WOM) about luxury hotel brands while analyzing the impact of deception in…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to evaluate and structure the basic heuristics consumers use in evaluating word-of-mouth (WOM) about luxury hotel brands while analyzing the impact of deception in online consumer reviews.

Design/methodology/approach

The research used a two-study mixed-methods approach, using interpersonal deception theory and social proof theory as lenses to conduct our analysis. For the first study, a qualitative conceptual mapping analysis was conducted, examining online consumer reviews to identify key concepts and their relationships in the context of luxury hotel brands. In the second study, the themes were further examined using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to analyze their causal complexity and association between variables to determine how they influence the perceived helpfulness of online reviews for luxury hotel brands.

Findings

The results underline the importance of functional, objective variables, such as the number of reviews and stars, as social proof heuristics and other factors, including clout, authenticity and analytic tone, as interpersonal communication heuristics. Therefore, consumers use a combination of social and interpersonal communication heuristics to extract information from reviews and manage deception risk.

Research limitations/implications

The paper contributes to the consumer–brand relationship literature by assessing the heuristics consumers use in evaluating online reviews and provides additional information for research in online reputation management.

Practical implications

This study’s results can help marketing practitioners and brand managers manage their online reputations better. It can also aid managers in improving their messaging on hotel websites to entice consumers to complete bookings. Heuristics play an essential role in such messaging and understanding them can help marketers appeal directly to their target market.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on consumer–brand relationships by providing a framework of heuristics that consumers use when evaluating luxury service brands and contributes to WOM and online reputation research by highlighting factors that may make online reviews more helpful.

Details

Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1061-0421

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 December 2022

Jun Yang, Demei Kong and Hongjun Huang

Nowadays, online platforms which provide products or services try to implement their homegrown communities to facilitate users' social interactions. Reviewers' activities in these…

Abstract

Purpose

Nowadays, online platforms which provide products or services try to implement their homegrown communities to facilitate users' social interactions. Reviewers' activities in these communities can reflect their interests. Based on the theory of homophily, the authors aim to explore the impacts of the reviewer preference similarity and opinion similarity on the rate of product diffusion.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the authors construct reviewer similarity network based on their common interests and propose typical network metrics to measure reviewer preference similarity. Second, the authors measure reviewer opinion similarity with natural language processing. Finally, based on a panel data from an online video platform in China, both the fixed-effect and random-effect panel data models are constructed.

Findings

The authors find that reviewer preference similarity has a positive effect on the product diffusion, whereas reviewer opinion similarity has a negative effect on the diffusion. Furthermore, temporal distance moderates the relationship between reviewer similarity and the product diffusion. As a double-edged sword, review preference similarity hinders product diffusion in the initial phase, whereas benefits it in the later phase. Reviewer opinion similarity is always detrimental to product diffusion, especially in the initial phase.

Originality/value

This paper extends the understanding of homophily from the micro peer level to the group level by constructing reviewers' similarity network and highlights the important role of reviewer preference similarity and opinion similarity in product diffusion. The results also provide important insights for managers to design and implement diversity strategies for better product adoption in the community context.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 March 2024

Monika Rawal, Jose Luis Saavedra Torres, Ramin Bagherzadeh, Suchitra Rani and Joanna Melancon

This study aims to understand the effect of cultural dimension (individualism/ collectivism) on promotional rewards (social or economic) resulting in incentivizing consumers to…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to understand the effect of cultural dimension (individualism/ collectivism) on promotional rewards (social or economic) resulting in incentivizing consumers to engage in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), further impacting their repurchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

In Study 1, a 2 (culture: individualism vs collectivism) × 2 (promotional rewards: social vs economic) between-subjects design was used. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. In Study 2, culture was measured instead of just being manipulated. The authors used regression analysis in this study.

Findings

Owing to the characteristics of collectivistic individuals, consumers in collectivistic cultures were more likely to respond to social rewards as an incentive to engage in eWOM. However, consumers in individualistic cultures were more motivated to engage in eWOM when economic rewards were offered.

Originality/value

Despite the global nature of eWOM, little research has explored the effects of cultural traits on consumer response to amplified eWOM strategy. Additionally, though many organizations now offer various promotional incentives to reviewers, little research has explored the effects of promotional offers on a reviewer’s subsequent behavior, and no research has explored the relationship between cultural dimensions and current and future response to promotional eWOM rewards.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 May 2023

Juan Luis Nicolau, Zheng Xiang and Dan Wang

This paper aims to investigate the links between daily review sentiment and the hotel performance measures of occupancy rate (OR), average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the links between daily review sentiment and the hotel performance measures of occupancy rate (OR), average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted review sentiment analyses in three moments (−1, −7 and −14 days) before arrival time using a data set of budget hotel performance and online reviews. The aim was to identify the effect of review sentiment in the budget hotel market on the three performance metrics.

Findings

Daily sentiment positively affects ADR and negatively affects OR and RevPAR, but only up to a certain threshold, after which the trend reverses. Prices increase with the level of sentiment, and high prices lead to low OR and RevPAR only when the sentiment scores are low. When they are high, they are associated with low rates, which lead to high OR and RevPAR.

Research limitations/implications

Daily review sentiment can be viewed as a valuable “barometer” indicating a hotel’s daily operational effectiveness. Daily sentiment can thus allow hotel managers to adjust their dynamic pricing strategies more accurately.

Originality/value

This study identifies daily sentiment as an alternative predictor of hotel performance. In addition to the roles of valence and volume in the decision-making process, the authors found that daily review sentiment can be an “in-the-moment” factor with a high impact, encouraging consumers to complete their transactions. This study suggests that aggregated measures such as the total number of reviews and overall ratings of the hotel should not be the sole consideration in reputation management.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 36 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

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