Exploring the distribution regularities of user attention and sentiment toward product aspects in online reviews
ISSN: 0264-0473
Article publication date: 5 October 2021
Issue publication date: 4 November 2021
Abstract
Purpose
To better understand the online reviews and help potential consumers, businessmen and product manufacturers effectively obtain users’ evaluation on product aspects, this paper aims to explore the distribution regularities of users’ attention and sentiment on product aspects from the temporal perspective of online reviews.
Design/methodology/approach
Temporal characteristics of online reviews (purchase time, review time and time intervals between purchase time and review time), similar attributes clustering and attribute-level sentiment computing technologies are used based on more than 340k smartphone reviews of three products from JD.COM (a famous online shopping platform in China) to explore the distribution regularities of users’ attention and sentiment on product aspects in this paper.
Findings
The empirical results show that a power-law distribution can fit users’ attention on product aspects, and the reviews posted in short time intervals contain more product aspects. Besides, the results show that the values of users’ sentiment on product aspects are significantly higher/lower in short time intervals which contribute to judging the advantages and weaknesses of a product.
Research limitations/implications
This paper cannot acquire online reviews for more products with temporal characteristics to verify the findings because of the restriction on reviews crawling by the shopping platforms.
Originality/value
This work reveals the distribution regularities of users’ attention and sentiment on product aspects, which is of great significance in assisting decision-making, optimizing review presentation and improving the shopping experience.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 72074113 and 71974095).
Citation
Qin, C., Zhang, C. and Bu, Y. (2021), "Exploring the distribution regularities of user attention and sentiment toward product aspects in online reviews", The Electronic Library, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 615-638. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-11-2020-0324
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited