Start Date
10-12-2017 12:00 AM
Description
As online reviews play an increasingly influential role in consumer decisions in e-commerce, large online retailers such as Amazon recently launched expert reviewer programs to supply high-quality reviews by selected experts. While prior studies examined the impact of online reviews written by experts on the product’s sales performance, our study investigates the effects of soliciting users to join expert reviewer programs and offering free products on their review generation processes and outcomes. Contrary to the common wisdom, our results reveal that, after reviewers participate in expert reviewer programs, they generate longer reviews but offer lower ratings for sponsored free products. However, they produce more reviews and higher ratings for non-sponsored regular products. Additional analyses offer theoretical underpinnings for the asymmetric effects of expert reviewer programs.
Recommended Citation
Pu, Jingchuan; Kwark, Young; Han, Sangpil; Gu, Bin; and Ye, Qiang, "The Double-Edged Sword of Expert Reviewer Programs: The Effects of Offering Expert Reviewer Status on Review Generation" (2017). ICIS 2017 Proceedings. 10.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2017/DigitalPlatforms/Presentations/10
The Double-Edged Sword of Expert Reviewer Programs: The Effects of Offering Expert Reviewer Status on Review Generation
As online reviews play an increasingly influential role in consumer decisions in e-commerce, large online retailers such as Amazon recently launched expert reviewer programs to supply high-quality reviews by selected experts. While prior studies examined the impact of online reviews written by experts on the product’s sales performance, our study investigates the effects of soliciting users to join expert reviewer programs and offering free products on their review generation processes and outcomes. Contrary to the common wisdom, our results reveal that, after reviewers participate in expert reviewer programs, they generate longer reviews but offer lower ratings for sponsored free products. However, they produce more reviews and higher ratings for non-sponsored regular products. Additional analyses offer theoretical underpinnings for the asymmetric effects of expert reviewer programs.