“When you write review” matters: The interactive effect of prior online reviews and review temporal distance on consumers’ restaurant evaluation
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 12 February 2019
Issue publication date: 30 April 2019
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how prior reviews posted by other consumers affect subsequent consumers’ evaluations and to what extent the review temporal distance can increase or reduce the social influence of prior reviews. In this study’s restaurant context, review temporal distance refers to the duration between dining time and review time of a dining experience.
Design/methodology/approach
The data of paired online restaurant reservations and reviews are analyzed using Ordered Logit Model. Two robustness checks are conducted to test the stability of the main estimation results.
Findings
The empirical results demonstrate that consumers’ restaurant evaluation is socially influenced by both the prior average review rating and number of prior reviews; review temporal distance has a direct negative effect on consumers’ restaurant evaluation; and review temporal distance increases the social influence of prior reviews.
Practical implications
This study suggests that online review matters. Both restaurants and the online review platforms should encourage consumers to share their experiences and post online reviews immediately after their consumption.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature on electronic word-of-mouth, social influence and psychological distance. First, the bi-directional nature of social influence on electronic word-of-mouth for experience-oriented product is documented. Second, for the first time, this study examines how review temporal distance could affect the social influence on consumers’ restaurant evaluation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the support of research funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71671049, 71772053, 71322202, 71490722, and 71503060), the Humanities and Social Science Research Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (17YJA630136), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-13-0179) and Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation for Young Teachers in the Higher Education Institutions of China (151082).
Citation
Li, H., Zhang, Z., Meng, F. and Zhang, Z. (2019), "“When you write review” matters: The interactive effect of prior online reviews and review temporal distance on consumers’ restaurant evaluation", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 1273-1291. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-01-2018-0058
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited