How Firm Strategies Affect Consumer Biases in Online Reviews

Abstract

Online reviews have become increasingly important to both consumers and businesses and, as a result, have attracted considerable research attention. However, all reviews are not created equal as consumers may differ in their propensities to leave reviews, often as a function of their satisfaction. To ensure a more representative customer voice, companies often utilize different strategies to moderate the biases in online reviews. The strategies deployed by many hospitality firms differ dramatically in both how reviews are collected and where they are posted. This study investigates four review-collection strategies of major hospitality companies and analyzes how each strategy affects review ratings and length. We find that the effort required to post a review impacts review characteristics. We show that reviews collected through self-motivation methods tend to be lower rated and longer, whereas reviews solicited from companies through poststay emails tend to exhibit different characteristics.