IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/trosos/v14y2020i1d10.1007_s12626-019-00041-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Topic Features in Negative Customer Reviews: Evidence Based on Text Data Mining

Author

Listed:
  • Zhen Li

    (Toyo University)

  • Fangzhou Li

    (Kobe University)

  • Jing Xiao

    (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

  • Zhi Yang

    (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

Several studies have focused on the effects of online negative customer reviews on sales, especially pertaining to Internet shopping and e-retailing. However, there is mixed evidence and the theoretical studies have mainly focused on the volume and valence. To understand the effects of negative customer reviews on sales, the present study uses text data mining techniques to investigate how three factors, namely “content topic, proportion, and consistency,” bout the textual content of negative customer reviews influence online sales. Relevant data were collected from a large-scale online shopping platform. The results of content association and topic extraction reveal four topics—product quality, delivery service, cost performance, and taste. A new econometric model proposed in this study shows that different topics have different effects on sales. Negative customer reviews with a higher percentage or consistency about these four topics significantly jeopardize product sales. Theoretical and managerial implications and future research directions are also presented.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhen Li & Fangzhou Li & Jing Xiao & Zhi Yang, 2020. "Topic Features in Negative Customer Reviews: Evidence Based on Text Data Mining," The Review of Socionetwork Strategies, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 19-40, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:trosos:v:14:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s12626-019-00041-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s12626-019-00041-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12626-019-00041-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12626-019-00041-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gruen, Thomas W. & Osmonbekov, Talai & Czaplewski, Andrew J., 2006. "eWOM: The impact of customer-to-customer online know-how exchange on customer value and loyalty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 449-456, April.
    2. King, Robert Allen & Racherla, Pradeep & Bush, Victoria D., 2014. "What We Know and Don't Know About Online Word-of-Mouth: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 167-183.
    3. Zhang, Jason Q. & Craciun, Georgiana & Shin, Dongwoo, 2010. "When does electronic word-of-mouth matter? A study of consumer product reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(12), pages 1336-1341, December.
    4. Papathanassis, Alexis & Knolle, Friederike, 2011. "Exploring the adoption and processing of online holiday reviews: A grounded theory approach," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 215-224.
    5. Girard, Tulay & Dion, Paul, 2010. "Validating the search, experience, and credence product classification framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 1079-1087, September.
    6. Forsythe, Sandra M. & Shi, Bo, 2003. "Consumer patronage and risk perceptions in Internet shopping," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(11), pages 867-875, November.
    7. Chrysanthos Dellarocas, 2006. "Strategic Manipulation of Internet Opinion Forums: Implications for Consumers and Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(10), pages 1577-1593, October.
    8. Duan, Wenjing & Gu, Bin & Whinston, Andrew B., 2008. "The dynamics of online word-of-mouth and product sales—An empirical investigation of the movie industry," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 233-242.
    9. Dowling, Grahame R & Staelin, Richard, 1994. "A Model of Perceived Risk and Intended Risk-Handling Activity," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(1), pages 119-134, June.
    10. David Godes & Dina Mayzlin, 2004. "Using Online Conversations to Study Word-of-Mouth Communication," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 545-560, June.
    11. Dellarocas, Chrysanthos, 2003. "The Digitization of Word-of-mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms," Working papers 4296-03, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    12. Chrysanthos Dellarocas, 2003. "The Digitization of Word of Mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(10), pages 1407-1424, October.
    13. Stephen X. He & Samuel D. Bond, 2015. "Why Is the Crowd Divided? Attribution for Dispersion in Online Word of Mouth," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(6), pages 1509-1527.
    14. Chris Forman & Anindya Ghose & Batia Wiesenfeld, 2008. "Examining the Relationship Between Reviews and Sales: The Role of Reviewer Identity Disclosure in Electronic Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 291-313, September.
    15. Zhen Li & Aoi Shimizu, 2018. "Impact of Online Customer Reviews on Sales Outcomes: An Empirical Study Based on Prospect Theory," The Review of Socionetwork Strategies, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 135-151, December.
    16. Katherine J. Stewart, 2003. "Trust Transfer on the World Wide Web," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(1), pages 5-17, February.
    17. Floyd, Kristopher & Freling, Ryan & Alhoqail, Saad & Cho, Hyun Young & Freling, Traci, 2014. "How Online Product Reviews Affect Retail Sales: A Meta-analysis," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 217-232.
    18. Seshadri Tirunillai & Gerard J. Tellis, 2012. "Does Chatter Really Matter? Dynamics of User-Generated Content and Stock Performance," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 198-215, March.
    19. Xinxin Li & Lorin M. Hitt, 2008. "Self-Selection and Information Role of Online Product Reviews," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(4), pages 456-474, December.
    20. Garrett P. Sonnier & Leigh McAlister & Oliver J. Rutz, 2011. "A Dynamic Model of the Effect of Online Communications on Firm Sales," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 702-716, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fan Zou & Yupeng Li & Jiahuan Huang, 2022. "Group interaction and evolution of customer reviews based on opinion dynamics towards product redesign," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1131-1151, December.
    2. Monica Fait & Dirk Meissner & Gian Luca Gregori & Filippo Monge & Valentina Cillo, 2022. "To act or to react? The role of responsiveness in corporate social performance disclosure in preventing plastic pollution in the travel and tourism sector," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(6), pages 2065-2082, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kick, Markus, 2015. "Social Media Research: A Narrative Review," EconStor Preprints 182506, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Marchand, André & Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten & Wiertz, Caroline, 2017. "Not all digital word of mouth is created equal: Understanding the respective impact of consumer reviews and microblogs on new product success," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 336-354.
    3. King, Robert Allen & Racherla, Pradeep & Bush, Victoria D., 2014. "What We Know and Don't Know About Online Word-of-Mouth: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 167-183.
    4. Dominik Gutt & Jürgen Neumann & Steffen Zimmermann & Dennis Kundisch & Jianqing Chen, 2018. "Design of Review Systems - A Strategic Instrument to shape Online Review Behavior and Economic Outcomes," Working Papers Dissertations 42, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    5. Zhen Li & Aoi Shimizu, 2018. "Impact of Online Customer Reviews on Sales Outcomes: An Empirical Study Based on Prospect Theory," The Review of Socionetwork Strategies, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 135-151, December.
    6. Khim-Yong Goh & Cheng-Suang Heng & Zhijie Lin, 2013. "Social Media Brand Community and Consumer Behavior: Quantifying the Relative Impact of User- and Marketer-Generated Content," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 88-107, March.
    7. Ana Babić Rosario & Kristine Valck & Francesca Sotgiu, 2020. "Conceptualizing the electronic word-of-mouth process: What we know and need to know about eWOM creation, exposure, and evaluation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 422-448, May.
    8. Juan Feng & Xin Li & Xiaoquan (Michael) Zhang, 2019. "Online Product Reviews-Triggered Dynamic Pricing: Theory and Evidence," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 1107-1123, December.
    9. Akbari, Morteza & Foroudi, Pantea & Zaman Fashami, Rahime & Mahavarpour, Nasrin & Khodayari, Maryam, 2022. "Let us talk about something: The evolution of e-WOM from the past to the future," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 663-689.
    10. Tao Lu & May Yuan & Chong (Alex) Wang & Xiaoquan (Michael) Zhang, 2022. "Histogram Distortion Bias in Consumer Choices," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(12), pages 8963-8978, December.
    11. Bin Gu & Jaehong Park & Prabhudev Konana, 2012. "Research Note ---The Impact of External Word-of-Mouth Sources on Retailer Sales of High-Involvement Products," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 182-196, March.
    12. Gobinda Roy & Biplab Datta & Rituparna Basu, 2017. "Effect of eWOM Valence on Online Retail Sales," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 18(1), pages 198-209, February.
    13. Yucheng Zhang & Zhiling Wang & Lin Xiao & Lijun Wang & Pei Huang, 2023. "Discovering the evolution of online reviews: A bibliometric review," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-22, December.
    14. Yabing Jiang & Hong Guo, 2012. "Design of Consumer Review Systems and Product Pricing," Working Papers 12-10, NET Institute.
    15. Pauwels, Koen & Aksehirli, Zeynep & Lackman, Andrew, 2016. "Like the ad or the brand? Marketing stimulates different electronic word-of-mouth content to drive online and offline performance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 639-655.
    16. Hyunwoo Hwangbo & Jonghyuk Kim, 2019. "A Text Mining Approach for Sustainable Performance in the Film Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-16, June.
    17. Hailiang Chen & Prabuddha De & Yu Jeffrey Hu, 2015. "IT-Enabled Broadcasting in Social Media: An Empirical Study of Artists’ Activities and Music Sales," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 513-531, September.
    18. Wang, Fang & Menon, Kalyani & Ranaweera, Chatura, 2018. "Dynamic trends in online product ratings: A diagnostic utility explanation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 80-89.
    19. Christoph Schneider & Markus Weinmann & Peter N.C. Mohr & Jan vom Brocke, 2021. "When the Stars Shine Too Bright: The Influence of Multidimensional Ratings on Online Consumer Ratings," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3871-3898, June.
    20. Yabing Jiang & Hong Guo, 2015. "Design of Consumer Review Systems and Product Pricing," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 714-730, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:trosos:v:14:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s12626-019-00041-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.