Moderate rating bias in interpersonal recommendations

Abstract

Tourists often convey ratings in interpersonal recommendations to close others. However, extant research offers limited insight into whether such recommendations are received as intended. This research uncovers a “Moderate Rating Bias,” where tourists systematically overestimate close others’ likelihood of accepting their moderately rated recommendations (e.g., 3 out of 5). We show that this bias stems from asymmetric evaluations of such recommendations: recommenders focus on shared preferences, interpreting moderate ratings through a social lens, while recipients emphasize their unique preferences, viewing them more objectively. This bias diminishes when ratings clearly indicate positive (e.g., 5 out of 5) or negative (e.g., 1 out of 5) experiential quality or when moderate ratings reflect divergent performance across experiential dimensions (e.g., “excellent food, poor service”). We present evidence from five experiments (four preregistered and one with an incentive-compatible design) to support our theorizing. These findings provide novel insights into how tourists interpret peer recommendations and offer guidance for managing tourism experiences.