Online Review Helpfulness and Firms’ Financial Performance: An Empirical Study in a Service Industry

IF 4.2 3区管理学 Q2 BUSINESS

International Journal of Electronic Commerce Pub Date : 2020-10-01 DOI:10.1080/10864415.2020.1806464

Marcello M. Mariani, M. Borghi

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引用次数: 40

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to bridge a significant research gap in the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) literature: measuring the effect of the degree of online review helpfulness (ORH) on firms’ financial performance. As studies of the impact of ORH on firm performance in the context of service industries in general and more specifically in the hospitality sector are virtually nonexistent, this work intends to offer insights to eWOM researchers by analyzing if and to what extent ORH affects the financial performance of hospitality firms. Based on a re-visitation of the antecedents of ORH stemming from information adoption models, social influence theory and dual process theory, we analyze the moderating effects of the degree of ORH on the relationships between online review valence/volume and firms’ financial performance. Based on the examination of 395,964 online reviews related to 261 higher-end hotels located in London, the third most visited destination worldwide, we find that the degree of ORH positively moderates the positive effect of the reviews’ valence on financial performance, while it does not moderate significantly the positive effect of the reviews’ volume on financial performance. Theoretical contributions to the nascent research stream taking an outcome-oriented approach to the study of eWOM helpfulness and managerial implications are discussed.

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在线评论帮助与企业财务绩效:基于服务行业的实证研究

摘要本研究旨在弥合电子口碑（eWOM）文献中的一个重大研究空白：测量在线评论的有用程度（ORH）对企业财务绩效的影响。由于在一般服务业，更具体地说，在酒店业，几乎不存在关于ORH对公司业绩影响的研究，这项工作旨在通过分析ORH是否以及在多大程度上影响酒店公司的财务业绩，为eWOM研究人员提供见解。基于信息采纳模型、社会影响理论和双过程理论对ORH的前因的重新考察，我们分析了ORH程度对在线评论价/量与企业财务绩效之间关系的调节作用。基于对位于全球第三大旅游目的地伦敦的261家高端酒店的395964条在线评论的调查，我们发现ORH的程度正调节评论价对财务业绩的积极影响，而它并没有显著调节评论量对财务绩效的积极影响。讨论了对新兴研究流的理论贡献，该研究流采用了以结果为导向的方法来研究电子口碑的有用性和管理含义。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Electronic Commerce 工程技术-计算机：软件工程

CiteScore

7.20

自引率

16.00%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： The International Journal of Electronic Commerce is the leading refereed quarterly devoted to advancing the understanding and practice of electronic commerce. It serves the needs of researchers as well as practitioners and executives involved in electronic commerce. The Journal aims to offer an integrated view of the field by presenting approaches of multiple disciplines. Electronic commerce is the sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions by digital means over telecommunications networks. The Journal accepts empirical and interpretive submissions that make a significant novel contribution to this field.