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The Digitization of Word-of-mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms

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Author Info
Dellarocas, Chrysanthos
Abstract

Online feedback mechanisms harness the bi-directional communication capabilities of the Internet in order to engineer large-scale word-of-mouth networks. Best known so far as a technology for building trust and fostering cooperation in online marketplaces, such as eBay, these mechanisms are poised to have a much wider impact on organizations. Their growing popularity has potentially important implications for a wide range of management activities, such as brand building, customer acquisition and retention, product development, and quality assurance. This paper surveys our progress in understanding the new possibilities and challenges that these mechanisms represent. It discusses some important dimensions in which Internet-based feedback mechanisms differ from traditional word-of-mouth networks and surveys the most important issues related to their design, evaluation, and use. It provides an overview of relevant work in game theory and economics on the topic of reputation. It discusses how this body of work is being extended and combined with insights from computer science, management science, sociology, and psychology in order to take into consideration the special properties of online environments. Finally, it identifies opportunities that this new area presents for OR/MS resear

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Paper provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management in its series Working papers with number 4296-03.

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Date of creation: 14 Apr 2003
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Handle: RePEc:mit:sloanp:1851

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Postal: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT), SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, 50 MEMORIAL DRIVE CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS 02142 USA
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Postal: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT), SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, 50 MEMORIAL DRIVE CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS 02142 USA

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Related research
Keywords: Online Feedback Mechanisms; Reputation Systems; E-commerce; Internet; Game Theory; Management Science; Operations Research;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Christopher Avery & Paul Resnick & Richard Zeckhauser, 1999. "The Market for Evaluations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 564-584, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Greif, Avner, 1993. "Contract Enforceability and Economic Institutions in Early Trade: the Maghribi Traders' Coalition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 525-48, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Bakos, Yannis & Dellarocas, Chrysanthos, 2003. "Cooperation Without Enforcement? A comparative analysis of litigation and online reputation as quality assurance mechanisms," Working papers 4295-03, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
  4. North, Douglass C, 1991. "Institutions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 97-112, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Alvin E. Roth, 2002. "The Economist as Engineer: Game Theory, Experimentation, and Computation as Tools for Design Economics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1341-1378, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Frank J. van Rijnsoever & Carolina Castaldi, 2008. "Knowledge base, information search and intention to adopt innovation," Innovation Studies Utrecht (ISU) working paper series 08-02, Utrecht University, Department of Innovation Studies, revised Feb 2008. [Downloadable!]
  2. JULLIEN, Bruno & PARK, In-Uck, 2009. "Seller Reputation and Trust in Pre-Trade Communication," IDEI Working Papers 564, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised Sep 2009. [Downloadable!]
  3. Dellarocas, Chrysanthos, 2003. "Efficiency and Robustness of Binary Feedback Mechanisms in Trading Environments with Moral Hazard," Working papers 4297-03, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
  4. W. Bentley MacLeod, 2006. "Reputations, Relationships and the Enforcement of Incomplete Contracts," IZA Discussion Papers 1978, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. James R. Wolf Jr. & Mark A. Myerscough, 2007. "Reputations in Markets With Asymmetric Information: A Classroom Game," Journal of Economic Education, Helen Dwight Reid Foundation, vol. 38(4), pages 393-405. [Downloadable!]
  6. Bruno Jullien & In-Uck Park, 2009. "Seller Reputation and Trust in Pre-Trade Communication," Levine's Working Paper Archive 814577000000000330, David K. Levine. [Downloadable!]
  7. Robert S. Gazzale & Tapan Khopkar, 2008. "Remain Silent and Ye Shall Suffer: Seller Exploitation of Reticent Buyers in an Experimental Reputation System," Department of Economics Working Papers 2008-22, Department of Economics, Williams College. [Downloadable!]
  8. Gary E Bolton & Claudia Loebbecke & Axel Ockenfels, 2007. "How Social Reputation Networks Interact with Competition in Anonymous Online Trading: An Experimental Study," Working Paper Series in Economics 32, University of Cologne, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Brosig, Jeannette, 2006. "Communication channels and induced behavior," MPRA Paper 14035, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  10. Eric Brousseau & Thierry Penard, 2007. "The Economics of Digital Business Models: A Framework for Analyzing the Economics of Platforms," Review of Network Economics, Concept Economics, vol. 6(2), pages 81-114, June. [Downloadable!]
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