Abstract
Reviewers can describe their experience with a product or service from their own perspective or from the perspective of review readers (or prospective consumers). The present paper investigates how and why reviewers’ perspective taking may influence review readers’ perception of review helpfulness. Drawing on the perspective taking literature, we posit that reviews that take (vs. do not take) the perspective of prospective consumers are more likely to be perceived helpful, and that this effect can be explained through greater reviewer attractiveness perceived by consumers. In Study 1, real app reviews from Apple’s App Store were collected to examine the relationship between perspective taking and review helpfulness. In Study 2, experimental methodology was utilized to identify and explain the effect of perspective taking in terms of perceived reviewer attractiveness. The findings provide converging evidence for the important role of perspective taking in online reviews.
Recommended Citation
Lei, Zhanfei; Yin, Dezhi; and Zhang, Han, "Should Reviewers Stand in the Shoes of Review Readers? The Role of Perspective Taking in Online Reviews" (2015). SIGHCI 2015 Proceedings. 15.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/sighci2015/15