Stamolampros, P orcid.org/0000-0001-8143-7244 and Nikolaos, K (2018) Exploring the behavioral drivers of review valence: The direct and indirect effects of multiple psychological distances. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30 (10). pp. 3083-3099. ISSN 0959-6119
Abstract
Purpose
Although the literature has established the effect of online reviews on customer purchase intentions, the influence of psychological factors on online ratings is overlooked. This paper aims to examine these factors under the perspective of construal level theory (CLT).
Design/methodology/approach
Using review data from TripAdvisor and Booking.com, the authors study three dimensions of psychological distances (temporal, spatial and social) and their direct and interaction effects on review valence, using regression analysis. The authors examine the effect of these distances on the information content of online reviews using a novel bag-of-words model to assess its concreteness.
Findings
Temporal distance and spatial distance have positive direct effects on review valence. Social distance, on the other hand, has a negative direct effect. However, its interaction with the other two distances has a positive effect, suggesting that consumers tend to “zoom-out” to less concrete things in their ratings.
Practical implications
The findings provide implications for the interpretation of review ratings by the service providers and their information content.
Originality/value
This study extends the CLT and electronic word-of-mouth literature by jointly exploring the effect of all three psychological distances that are applicable in post-purchase evaluations. Methodologically, it provides a novel application of the bag-of-words model in evaluating the concreteness of online reviews.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Emerald Publishing Limited 2018 Published by Emerald Publishing Limited Licensed re-use rights only. This is an author produced version of a paper published in International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Online reviews; Construal level theory; Review valence; Review text concreteness |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Management Division (LUBS) (Leeds) > Management Division Decision Research (LUBS) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 17 May 2019 12:58 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:49 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. |
Identification Number: | 10.1108/IJCHM-04-2017-0239 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:146145 |