How the reviewer's historical ratings influence the review helpfulness?: focus on the extremity and negativity
- Authors
- Jang, Moonkyoung; Lee, Saerom; Baek, Hyunmi
- Issue Date
- Jul-2024
- Publisher
- EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD
- Keywords
- Historical rating; Online review; Review helpfulness; Reviewer credibility
- Citation
- Industrial Management & Data Systems, v.124, no.8, pp 2613 - 2632
- Pages
- 20
- Journal Title
- Industrial Management & Data Systems
- Volume
- 124
- Number
- 8
- Start Page
- 2613
- End Page
- 2632
- URI
- https://scholarworks.bwise.kr/gachon/handle/2020.sw.gachon/92183
- DOI
- 10.1108/imds-06-2023-0375
- ISSN
- 0263-5577
1758-5783
- Abstract
- Purpose
As online reviews have become a potent marketing tool, the underlying motivation has come into question. Focus has shifted towards assessing reviewer credibility before appraising online review credibility. Guided by source credibility theory, this study investigates the effect of reviewers’ historical ratings on review helpfulness to gain insight into the role of reviewer credibility.
Design/methodology/approach
We explore readers’ underlying psychological processes using web data analysis (Study 1) and experiments (Study 2). Study 1 empirically examines the effect of reviewers’ historical ratings on review helpfulness using 100,621 reviews authored by 890 TripAdvisor reviewers. Study 2 involves two experiments with 328 participants to scrutinize the readers’ underlying mechanisms in establishing reviewer credibility, with a specific focus on the effect of reviewers’ historical ratings.
Findings
When a reviewer’s historical ratings are predominantly extreme, readers perceive the reviewer as less credible, leading to decreased helpfulness in reviews authored by that reviewer. Interestingly, high negativity in historical ratings does not have a significant effect on either reviewer credibility or review helpfulness.
Originality/value
This study offers two significant contributions to the existing literature. First, it extends previous research on review helpfulness by incorporating reviewers’ historical rating behavior. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence the perceived usefulness of reviews. Second, it integrates two distinct research methods: TripAdvisor web data analysis and experiments. This methodological synthesis enhances the robustness of the study by offering a more nuanced and well-rounded perspective on the dynamics between reviewers’ historical ratings and perceived helpfulness of reviews.
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