When Consistency Matters

The Effect of Valence Consistency on Review Helpfulness

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12449255
AutoresSimon Quaschning (Department of Marketing; Ghent University; Tweekerkenstraat 2 9000 Ghent Belgium, autor de correspondencia), Mario Pandelaere (0000-0001-9293-289X, Department of Marketing; Ghent University; Tweekerkenstraat 2 9000 Ghent Belgium), Iris Vermeir (0000-0003-0440-1381, Department of Marketing; Ghent University; Tweekerkenstraat 2 9000 Ghent Belgium)
Año2014
Volumen20
Número2
Páginas136-152
Fecha de publicación2014-11-10
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1083-6101 • E-ISSN: 1083-6101
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jcc4.12106
OpenAlexW2094800553
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas14
Referencias citadas32

When evaluating the helpfulness of online reviews, review valence is a particularly relevant factor. This research argues that the influence of review valence is highly dependent on its consistency with the valence of other available reviews. Using both field and experimental data, this paper show that consistent reviews are perceived as more helpful than inconsistent reviews, independent of them being positive or negative. Experiments show that this valence consistency effect is driven by causal attributions, such that consistent reviews are more likely to be attributed to the actual product experience, while inconsistent reviews are more likely to be attributed to some reviewer idiosyncrasy. Supporting the attribution theory framework, reviewer expertise moderates the effect of consumers' causal attributions on review helpfulness

Attribution · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Consistency (knowledge bases · Emotional valence · Helpfulness · Psychiatry · Valence (chemistry · Chemistry · Computer Science · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Psychology · Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining · Social Psychology · Technology Adoption and User Behaviour · Artificial Intelligence