How to enhance online reputation? An empirical study from a joint customer–firm perspective

Abstract

Online reputation is critical for hotel firms, as evidenced by consumer ratings in online media. The present study aims to develop insights into the antecedents of the hotel firm's online reputation and thus make a dual contribution to the literature by (a) examining the strategies implemented via online media as antecedents and (b) combining the firm's perception of the value it has delivered with the market's perspective. A quantitative empirical study on hotel firms and their consumers was conducted. The results show that the firm's perception of the value it has delivered (“firm perceived value”)—the antecedents of which are strategic online reputation-management and the strategic use of revenue-management—has a positive and significant effect on online reputation (as measured from the customer perspective), and that strategic online reputation-management has a positive and significant effect on the strategic use of revenue-management.