Abstract
Understanding the generation of online reviews is fundamental work for retailers to better utilize them. Review rating is the most important component of an online review; therefore, our study tries to investigate the antecedents of online reviews by figuring out the relationship between a reviewer’s observed review rating and his/her rating. More specifically, this study aims to answer the following three research questions: (1) Does herding behavior exist in online ratings, i.e., is a reviewer’s rating affected by his/her observed ratings given by other reviewers? (2) Does the observed review number moderate the direct effect of observed review ratings on a reviewer’s rating behavior? (3) Does a reviewer’s popularity moderate the direct effect of observed review ratings on his/her rating behavior? To answer these research questions, we conduct multiple empirical analyses using online restaurant reviews obtained from the most popular review platform in China. The results show that herding behavior does exist in online rating behavior. To be more specific, a reviewer’s observed review rating while authoring reviews are positively related to his/her review rating; The observed review volume of the rated restaurant can mitigate the positive relationship between a reviewer’s observed review rating and his/her rating. A reviewer’s popularity can also mitigate the positive relationship between his/her observed review rating and his/her own rating. Our study makes contributions to both academic literature and managerial practice by demonstrating the presence of herding behavior in online review ratings. Our findings offer important implications for online review platform managers, product retailers, and consumers.
Recommended Citation
Xu, DaPeng and Hong, Hong, "Herding Behavior in Online Restaurant Ratings: Moderating Effects of Reviewer Popularity and Observed Review Volume" (2021). ICEB 2021 Proceedings (Nanjing, China). 43.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/iceb2021/43