Location
260-055, Owen G. Glenn Building
Start Date
12-15-2014
Description
Individuals exhibit different behaviors between mobile and non-mobile devices, for multiple reasons. For example, mobile devices enable ubiquitous access, being portable, yet they also constrain users because of the smaller form factor. Little work to date has examined these differences holistically; the work that does exist has generally focused on approaches to location-based advertising. One particularly important aspect of mobile usage behavior is user content generation. Bearing this in mind, we aim to improve our understanding of device-dependent user behavior by examining differences in content generated on mobile and non-mobile devices, in the context of electronic word of mouth. We demonstrate a variety of important differences in reviews that are submitted via mobile devices; they exhibit lower and more varied star ratings, contain more concrete and emotional text, and are generally perceived as more helpful. We discuss the implications for both service providers and the management of online review platforms.
Recommended Citation
Burtch, Gordon and Hong, Yili, "What Happens When Word of Mouth Goes Mobile?" (2014). ICIS 2014 Proceedings. 49.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2014/proceedings/EBusiness/49
What Happens When Word of Mouth Goes Mobile?
260-055, Owen G. Glenn Building
Individuals exhibit different behaviors between mobile and non-mobile devices, for multiple reasons. For example, mobile devices enable ubiquitous access, being portable, yet they also constrain users because of the smaller form factor. Little work to date has examined these differences holistically; the work that does exist has generally focused on approaches to location-based advertising. One particularly important aspect of mobile usage behavior is user content generation. Bearing this in mind, we aim to improve our understanding of device-dependent user behavior by examining differences in content generated on mobile and non-mobile devices, in the context of electronic word of mouth. We demonstrate a variety of important differences in reviews that are submitted via mobile devices; they exhibit lower and more varied star ratings, contain more concrete and emotional text, and are generally perceived as more helpful. We discuss the implications for both service providers and the management of online review platforms.