How online reviewers and actual customers evaluate their shopping experiences. Evidence from an international retail chain

Titolo Rivista MERCATI & COMPETITIVITÀ
Autori/Curatori Daniele Dalli, Annamaria Tuan, David D’Acunto
Anno di pubblicazione 2018 Fascicolo 2018/3
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 18 P. 163-180 Dimensione file 90 KB
DOI 10.3280/MC2018-003009
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

Online reviews represent an important source of information for consumers and, on the other hand, an important contribution for corporate management. Consumers increasingly rely on other consumers’ reviews to make purchase decisions both offline and online. From a corporate perspective, reviews can be used to modify and adapt offerings, services, and to improve communication effectiveness. In this paper we are going to analyze online consumer reviews related to stores from an international retailer. Employing a qualitative and quantitative analysis, we have analyzed 80.910 online store reviews in Italy from April 1st, 2016 to March 31st, 2017. Then, in order to validate online reviews data, we conducted around 800 interviews with consumers at the shops and an online survey on 700 consumers: we want to measure the percentage of online reviewers on total customers and the differences between evaluations from reviewers and non-reviewers. We believe that this validation is necessary for accurate interpretation and further employment of online review data.

Keywords:Online reviews, consumer behavior, content analysis, shopping experience, non-reporting bias, customer satisfaction.

  1. Ahluwalia R., Shiv B. (1997). Special session summary the effects of negative information in the political and marketing arenas: Exceptions to the negativity effect. In: Brucks M. and MacInnis D.J. (eds). NA - Advances in Consumer Research, Volume 24. Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, 222.
  2. Andreason A.R. (1985). Consumer Responses to Dissatisfaction in Loose Monopolies. Journal of Consumer Research, 12(2): 135-41. DOI: 10.1086/208502
  3. Andreason A.R. (1984). Consumer Satisfaction in Loose Monopolies: The Case of Medical Care. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 2: 122-135. DOI: 10.1086/208502
  4. Andreason A.R., Manning J. (1990). The dissatisfaction and complaining behavior of vulnerable consumers. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 3(1):12-20.
  5. Giles H., Smith P. (1979). Accommodation theory: optimal levels of convergence. In: Giles H. and Clair R. (a cura di). Language and Social Psychology. Baltimore, MD, pp. 45565.
  6. Babi´c Rosario A., Sotgiu F., De Valck K., & Bijmolt T.H. (2016). The effect of electronic word of mouth on sales: A meta-analytic review of platform, product, and metric factors. Journal of Marketing Research, 53(3): 297-318.
  7. Bazarova N.N., Taft J.G., Choi Y.H., Cosley D. (2013). Managing impressions and relationships on Facebook: Self-presentational and relational concerns revealed through the analysis of language style. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 32(2): 121-141.
  8. Berger J. (2014). Word of mouth and interpersonal communication: A review and directions for future research. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24(4): 586-607.
  9. Berger J., Sorensen A.T., Rasmussen S.J. (2010). Positive effects of negative publicity: When negative reviews increase sales. Marketing Science, 29(5), 815-827.
  10. Bougie R., Pieters R., Zeelenberg M. (2003). Angry customers don’t come back, they get back: The experience and behavioral implications of anger and dissatisfaction in services. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31(4): 377-393. DOI: 10.1177/0092070303254412
  11. Boyd R.L., Pennebaker J.W. (2017). Language-based personality: a new approach to personality in a digital world. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 18: 63-68.
  12. Christopher M., Payne A. Ballantyne D. (2011). Relationship Marketing: Bringing Quality, Customer Service and Marketing Together. London: Butterworth.
  13. Clemons E.K., Gao G.G., Hitt L.M. (2006). When online reviews meet hyperdifferentiation: A study of the craft beer industry. Journal of Management Information Systems, 23(2):149-171.
  14. Corbin J.M., Strauss A. (1990). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Los Angeles, Calif.: Sage Publications, Inc.
  15. Cruz R.E., Leonhardt J.M., Pezzuti T. (2017). Second Person Pronouns Enhance Consumer Involvement and Brand Attitude. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 39: 104-116.
  16. De Pelsmacker P., Dens N., & Kolomiiets A. (2018). The impact of text valence, star rating and rated usefulness in online reviews. International Journal of Advertising, 1-20.
  17. Dellarocas C. (2003). The digitization of word of mouth: Promise and challenges of online feedback mechanisms. Management science, 49(10): 1407-1424.
  18. Dellarocas C. (2006). Strategic manipulation of internet opinion forums: Implications for consumers and firms. Management science, 52(10): 1577-1593.
  19. Dellarocas C., Wood C.A. (2008). The sound of silence in online feedback: Estimating trading risks in the presence of reporting bias. Management science, 54(3): 460-476.
  20. Dellarocas C., Zhang X.M., Awad N.F. (2007). Exploring the value of online product reviews in forecasting sales: The case of motion pictures. Journal of Interactive marketing, 21(4): 23-45.
  21. Ensing D. (2013). Reviews Site: An Upcoming Crisis of Confidence?. Research White Paper – July.
  22. Ettinger A., Grabner-Kräuter S., & Terlutter R. (2018). Online CSR communication in the hotel industry: Evidence from small hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 68, 94-104.
  23. Folse J.A.G., Porter III M., Godbole M.B., & Reynolds K.E. (2016). The effects of negatively valenced emotional expressions in online reviews on the reviewer, the review, and the product. Psychology & Marketing, 33(9): 747-760.
  24. Fradkin A., Grewal E., Holtz D., Pearson M. (2015). Bias and reciprocity in online reviews: Evidence from field experiments on airbnb. In: Proceedings of the Sixteenth ACM Conference on Economics and Computation, pp. 641-641.
  25. Gilly M. C., Graham J.L., Wolfinbarger M.F., & Yale L.J. (1998). A dyadic study of interpersonal information search. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 26(2): 83-100.
  26. Godes D., Mayzlin D. (2004). Using online conversations to study word-of-mouth communication. Marketing Science, 23(4): 545-560.
  27. Grönroos C. (1995). Relationship marketing: the strategy continuum. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23(4): 252-254.
  28. Harmon A. (2004). Amazon glitch unmasks war of reviewers. The New York Times, 1-1. -- Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/14/us/amazon-glitchunmasks-war-of-reviewers.html (accessed 02/02/2018).
  29. Hewett K., Rand W., Rust R.T., van Heerde H.J. (2016). Brand buzz in the echoverse. Journal of Marketing, 80(3): 1-24.
  30. Humphreys A. (2010). Megamarketing: The creation of markets as a social process. Journal of Marketing, 74(2): 1-19.
  31. Humphreys A., Wang R.J. (2017). Automated Text Analysis for Consumer Research. Journal of Consumer Research, ucx104.
  32. Jensen M.L., Averbeck J.M., Zhang Z., & Wright K.B. (2013). Credibility of anonymous online product reviews: A language expectancy perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 30(1): 293-324.
  33. Jones P., Hillier D., Comfort D. (2014), Sustainability in the global hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(1): 5-17.
  34. Kelley S.W. (1992). Developing customer orientation among service employees. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20(1): 27-36.
  35. Lee T.Y., Bradlow E.T. (2011). Automated marketing research using online customer reviews. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(5): 881-894.
  36. Luca M. (2011). Revenue: The Case of Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com. Harvard Business School Working Papers, 12(016).
  37. Luca M. (2015). User-Generated Content and Social Media. In: Anderson S., Waldfogel J., Strömberg D. (a cura di). Handbook of Media Economics. North-Holland Publishing Company.
  38. Ludwig S., De Ruyter K., Friedman M., Brüggen E.C., Wetzels M., Pfann G. (2013).
  39. More than words: The influence of affective content and linguistic style matches in online reviews on conversion rates. Journal of Marketing, 77(1): 87-103.
  40. Mason M.C., Moretti A., Raggiotto F. (2017). Service Quality, Behavioral Intentions and Lipstick effect. Evidence from a Masstige context. Mercati e competitività, 2: 123-147. DOI: 10.3280/MC2017-002007
  41. Mittal B., Lassar W.M. (1996). The role of personalization in service encounters. Journal of retailing, 72(1): 95-109.
  42. Moe W.W., Trusov M. (2011). The value of social dynamics in online product ratings forums. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(3): 444-456.
  43. Moore S.G. (2015). Attitude predictability and helpfulness in online reviews: the role of explained actions and reactions. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(1), 30-44.
  44. Pan Y., Zhang J.Q. (2011). Born unequal: A study of the helpfulness of user-generated product reviews. Journal of Retailing, 87(4): 598-612.
  45. Park D.H., Lee J., Han I. (2007). The effect of online consumer reviews on consumer purchasing intention: The moderating role of involvement. International journal of electronic commerce, 11(4): 125-148.
  46. Pennebaker J.W., Booth R.J., Francis M.E. (2007). Linguistic inquiry and word count: LIWC [Computer software]. Austin, TX: liwc. net. Pennebaker J.W., Mehl M.R., Niederhoffer K.G. (2003). Psychological aspects of natural language use: Our words, our selves. Annual review of psychology, 54(1): 547-577.
  47. Pera R., Viglia G., Dalli D. (2017). When silence is worth a thousand words: understanding reviewing biases through construal-level theory. Tourism and Hospitality Conference, Bournemouth University, 4-6th September.
  48. Ponder N., Holloway B.B., Hansen J. (2016). The mediating effects of customers’ intimacy perceptions on the trust-commitment relationship. Journal of Services Marketing, 30(1): 75-87,
  49. Resnick P., Zeckhauser R. (2002). Trust among strangers in Internet transactions: Empirical analysis of eBay’s reputation system. In: The Economics of the Internet and E-commerce. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 127-157.
  50. Resnick P., Zeckhauser R., Swanson J., Lockwood K. (2006). The value of reputation on eBay: A controlled experiment. Experimental economics, 9(2): 79-101.
  51. Risselada H., de Vries L., & Verstappen M. (2018). The impact of social influence on the perceived helpfulness of online consumer reviews. European Journal of Marketing, 52(3/4): 619-636.
  52. Romani S., Grappi S., Dalli D. (2012) Emotions that drive consumers away from brands: Measuring negative emotions toward brands and their behavioral effects. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(1): 55-67.
  53. Schindler R.M., & Bickart B. (2012). Perceived helpfulness of online consumer reviews: The role of message content and style. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 11(3): 234-243.
  54. Stephens N., & Gwinner K. P. (1998). Why don’t some people complain? A cognitiveemotive process model of consumer complaint behavior. Journal of the Academy of Marketing science, 26(3): 172-189. DOI: 10.1177/0092070398263001
  55. Tausczik Y.R., Pennebaker J.W. (2010). The psychological meaning of words: LIWC and computerized text analysis methods. Journal of language and social psychology, 29(1): 24-54.
  56. van Laer T., Escalas E., Ludwig J., van den Hende S. E. (2018). What Happens in Vegas Stays on TripAdvisor? Understanding the Role of Narrativity in Consumer Reviews. Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management Research Paper No. 2702484. -- Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2702484 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2702484 (forthcoming on Journal of Consumer Research).
  57. Villarroel Ordenes F., Ludwig S., De Ruyter K., Grewal D., & Wetzels M. (2017). Unveiling what is written in the stars: Analyzing explicit, implicit, and discourse patterns of sentiment in social media. Journal of Consumer Research, 43(6), 875-894.
  58. Willemsen L.M., Neijens P. C., Bronner F., De Ridder J.A. (2011). Highly recommended! The content characteristics and perceived usefulness of online consumer reviews. Journal of Computer_Mediated Communication, 17(1): 19-38.
  59. Ye Q., Law R., Gu B. (2009). The impact of online user reviews on hotel room sales, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28(1): 180-182.
  60. Zhang L., Pan B., Smith W., Li X. (2009). An exploratory study of travelers’ use of online reviews and recommendations: a qualitative approach. Information Technology and Tourism, 11(2): 157-167. DOI: 10.3727/109830509789994775

  • Premium private label: how product value, trust and category involvement influence consumers willingness to buy Giuseppe Bertoli, Bruno Busacca, Marta Imperato, in Italian Journal of Marketing /2020 pp.143
    DOI: 10.1007/s43039-020-00012-7
  • Determinants of switching intention from web-based stores to retail apps: Habit as a moderator Mohammad Iranmanesh, Connie Low Min, Madugoda Gunaratnege Senali, Davoud Nikbin, Behzad Foroughi, in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 102957/2022 pp.102957
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.102957

Daniele Dalli, Annamaria Tuan, David D’Acunto, How online reviewers and actual customers evaluate their shopping experiences. Evidence from an international retail chain in "MERCATI & COMPETITIVITÀ" 3/2018, pp 163-180, DOI: 10.3280/MC2018-003009