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Open AccessOpen Access JUSTC Management 27 August 2024

The in-depth transmission and reception process of the factors influencing review helpfulness from the signaling timeline perspective

  • 1.

    Key Laboratory of Brain–Machine Intelligence for Information Behavior (Ministry of Education and Shanghai), School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 201620, China

  • 2.

    Mckelvey School of Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis 63130, United States

Cite this:
https://doi.org/10.52396/JUSTC-2023-0113
More Information
  • Author Bio:

    Mohan Wang is an Assistant Professor at School of Business and Management, Laboratory of Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Shanghai International Studies University, China. She received her Ph.D. degree in Information Systems from the Harbin Institute of Technology in 2015. Her research mainly focuses on electronic word of mouth, consumer behavior, and online marketing strategy

    Fei Wan is an Associate Professor at School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, China. She received her Ph.D. degree in Management Science and Engineering from Peking University in 2017. Her research mainly focuses on the impact of information technology on firm performance, social media marketing, and online consumer behavior

  • Corresponding author: E-mail: wanfei0304@shisu.edu.cn
  • Received Date: 25 July 2023
  • Accepted Date: 20 November 2023
    • Available Online: 27 August 2024
    Abstract

  • Abstract

    Many existing studies have considered the factors influencing review helpfulness, mainly focusing on reviewer impact, review informativeness, and managerial response, based on signaling theory. However, previous studies have simply regarded these factors as independent signals, thus ignoring their in-depth transmission and reception processes. The conclusions about the impact of reviewers on review helpfulness are also inconsistent due to the inaccurate measurement of variables. To fill the above gaps, we followed the signaling timeline theoretical framework used in signaling theory and employed a bootstrapping analysis to examine how reviewer impact, review informativeness, and hotel managerial responses interact to influence review helpfulness. In this study, we used a unique dataset that included official labels from one leading online travel agency. The results show that reviewer impact may affect review helpfulness sequentially through review informativeness and hotel managerial response. Furthermore, by using official labels, both reviewer expertise and reviewer experience significantly affect review helpfulness. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

    Graphical abstract

    Following the theoretical framework of the signaling timeline in signaling theory, this study examines how reviewer impact, review informativeness, and hotel managerial responses interact to influence review helpfulness.

    Abstract

    Many existing studies have considered the factors influencing review helpfulness, mainly focusing on reviewer impact, review informativeness, and managerial response, based on signaling theory. However, previous studies have simply regarded these factors as independent signals, thus ignoring their in-depth transmission and reception processes. The conclusions about the impact of reviewers on review helpfulness are also inconsistent due to the inaccurate measurement of variables. To fill the above gaps, we followed the signaling timeline theoretical framework used in signaling theory and employed a bootstrapping analysis to examine how reviewer impact, review informativeness, and hotel managerial responses interact to influence review helpfulness. In this study, we used a unique dataset that included official labels from one leading online travel agency. The results show that reviewer impact may affect review helpfulness sequentially through review informativeness and hotel managerial response. Furthermore, by using official labels, both reviewer expertise and reviewer experience significantly affect review helpfulness. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

    • Public Summary

    • Previous studies have simply regarded reviewer impact, review informativeness, and managerial response as independent signals, thus ignoring their in-depth transmission and reception processes.
    • We followed the theoretical framework of the signaling timeline in signaling theory and employed a bootstrapping analysis to examine how reviewer impact, review informativeness, and hotel managerial responses interact to influence review helpfulness.
    • Reviewer impact may affect review helpfulness sequentially through review informativeness and hotel managerial responses.

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    • References(65)
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    Figure  1.  Signaling timeline[28].

    Figure  2.  Signaling timeline in this study.

    Figure  3.  Research framework.

    Figure  4.  A snapshot of a review web page on Ctrip.com.