IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v52y2020ics0969698918309160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Positive emotion bias: Role of emotional content from online customer reviews in purchase decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Guo, Junpeng
  • Wang, Xiaopan
  • Wu, Yi

Abstract

Abundant research has investigated the impact of review valence on purchase decisions, but has reported mixed findings. To reconcile these mixed findings, this study unearths the understanding of review valence from the perspective of the emotional content in online customer reviews. To explore the effect of emotional content on purchase decisions and the moderating role of emotional content on non-emotional content and purchase decisions based on a heuristic-systematic model, a laboratory experiment with 106 subjects was used to empirically test the research hypotheses. The results show that pleasant online customer reviews lead to a higher purchase likelihood compared to unpleasant ones. Perceived credibility and perceived diagnosticity have significant influence on purchase decisions, but only in the context of unpleasant online customer reviews. The findings demonstrate positive emotion bias for online customer reviews, and carry important practical implications for both sellers and customers.

Suggested Citation

  • Guo, Junpeng & Wang, Xiaopan & Wu, Yi, 2020. "Positive emotion bias: Role of emotional content from online customer reviews in purchase decisions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:52:y:2020:i:c:s0969698918309160
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101891
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698918309160
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101891?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. Aaker, Jennifer L, 2000. "Accessibility or Diagnosticity? Disentangling the Influence of Culture on Persuasion Processes and Attitudes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 26(4), pages 340-357, March.
    2. Bahn, Kenneth D. & Boyd, Eric, 2014. "Information and its impact on consumers׳ reactions to restrictive return policies," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 415-423.
    3. Herr, Paul M & Kardes, Frank R & Kim, John, 1991. "Effects of Word-of-Mouth and Product-Attribute Information on Persuasion: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(4), pages 454-462, March.
    4. Machleit, Karen A. & Eroglu, Sevgin A., 2000. "Describing and Measuring Emotional Response to Shopping Experience," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 101-111, August.
    5. Dennis, Charles & Newman, Andrew & Michon, Richard & Josko Brakus, J. & Tiu Wright, Len, 2010. "The mediating effects of perception and emotion: Digital signage in mall atmospherics," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 205-215.
    6. Xianghua Lu & Sulin Ba & Lihua Huang & Yue Feng, 2013. "Promotional Marketing or Word-of-Mouth? Evidence from Online Restaurant Reviews," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 596-612, September.
    7. Aaker, Jennifer L., 2000. "Accessibility or Diagnosticity? Disentangling the Influence of Culture on Persuasion Processes and Attitudes," Research Papers 1579, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    8. Mummalaneni, Venkatapparao, 2005. "An empirical investigation of Web site characteristics, consumer emotional states and on-line shopping behaviors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 526-532, April.
    9. Pan, Yue & Zhang, Jason Q., 2011. "Born Unequal: A Study of the Helpfulness of User-Generated Product Reviews," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 598-612.
    10. Eslami, Seyed Pouyan & Ghasemaghaei, Maryam, 2018. "Effects of online review positiveness and review score inconsistency on sales: A comparison by product involvement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 74-80.
    11. Purnawirawan, Nathalia & De Pelsmacker, Patrick & Dens, Nathalie, 2012. "Balance and Sequence in Online Reviews: How Perceived Usefulness Affects Attitudes and Intentions," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 244-255.
    12. Petrescu, Maria & O’Leary, Kathleen & Goldring, Deborah & Ben Mrad, Selima, 2018. "Incentivized reviews: Promising the moon for a few stars," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 288-295.
    13. Babin, Barry J. & Attaway, Jill S., 2000. "Atmospheric Affect as a Tool for Creating Value and Gaining Share of Customer," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 91-99, August.
    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. Hui-Ju Wang, 2022. "Understanding reviewer characteristics in online reviews via network structural positions," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1311-1325, September.
    2. Xian Wang & Huixian Li & Qingyi Wang & Alison Noble, 2023. "Consumers’ Concerns Regarding Product Quality: Evidence From Chinese Online Reviews," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    3. Olk, Stephan & Lindenmeier, Jörg & Tscheulin, Dieter K. & Zogaj, Adnan, 2021. "Emotional labor in a non-isolated service encounter - The impact of customer observation on perceived authenticity and perceived fairness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    4. Tan, Yingsi & Geng, Shuang & Katsumata, Sotaro & Xiong, Xiaojun, 2021. "The effects of ad heuristic and systematic cues on consumer brand awareness and purchase intention: Investigating the bias effect of heuristic information processing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Fernandes, Semila & Panda, Rajesh & Venkatesh, V.G. & Swar, Biranchi Narayan & Shi, Yangyan, 2022. "Measuring the impact of online reviews on consumer purchase decisions – A scale development study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    6. Kim, Da Yeon & Kim, Sang Yong, 2022. "The impact of customer-generated evaluation information on sales in online platform-based markets," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Pashchenko, Yana & Rahman, Mst Farjana & Hossain, Md Shamim & Uddin, Md Kutub & Islam, Tarannum, 2022. "Emotional and the normative aspects of customers’ reviews," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Blanca I. Hernández-Ortega & Michael A. Stanko & Rishika Rishika & Francisco-Jose Molina-Castillo & José Franco, 2022. "Brand-generated social media content and its differential impact on loyalty program members," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(5), pages 1071-1090, September.
    9. Duan, Yongrui & Liu, Tonghui & Mao, Zhixin, 2022. "How online reviews and coupons affect sales and pricing: An empirical study based on e-commerce platform," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    10. Fan, Liu & Zhang, Xiaoping & Rai, Laxmisha, 2021. "When should star power and eWOM be responsible for the box office performance? - An empirical study based on signaling theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    11. Wang, Zheng & Wang, Lun & Ji, Ying & Zuo, Lulu & Qu, Shaojian, 2022. "A novel data-driven weighted sentiment analysis based on information entropy for perceived satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Tomasz Lis & Paula Bajdor & Aleksandra Ptak, 2020. "Information Management and Relations between Polish Enterprises and Clients," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 1), pages 776-789.
    13. Shah, Adnan Muhammad & Abbasi, Amir Zaib & Yan, Xiangbin, 2023. "Do online peer reviews stimulate diners’ continued log-in behavior: Investigating the role of emotions in the O2O meal delivery apps context," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    14. Kordrostami, Elika & Rahmani, Vahid, 2020. "Investigating conflicting online review information:evidence from Amazon.com," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    15. Le Bo & Yimo Chen & Xiaoli Yang, 2023. "The Impact of Contradictory Online Reviews on Consumer Online Purchase Decision: Experimental Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, June.
    16. Petcharat, Thanatchaphan & Jattamart, Aungkana & Leelasantitham, Adisorn, 2023. "A conceptual model to imply a negative innovation assessment framework on consumer behaviors through the electronic business platforms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Wu, Jia-Jhou & Chang, Sue-Ting, 2020. "Exploring customer sentiment regarding online retail services: A topic-based approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    18. Yajie Hu & Huiwen Zhou & Yuangao Chen & Jianrong Yao & Jiangwu Su, 2023. "The influence of patient-generated reviews and doctor-patient relationship on online consultations in China," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 1115-1141, June.

    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. Jiménez, Fernando R. & Mendoza, Norma A., 2013. "Too Popular to Ignore: The Influence of Online Reviews on Purchase Intentions of Search and Experience Products," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 226-235.
    2. Zheng, Lili, 2021. "The classification of online consumer reviews: A systematic literature review and integrative framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 226-251.
    3. Bai, Yanzhuang & Li, Tingwu & Zheng, Chundong, 2022. "Is there any value in the online reviews of remedial satisfied customers? An empirical study in the hospitality industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Garaus, Marion & Wagner, Udo & Manzinger, Sandra, 2017. "Happy grocery shopper: The creation of positive emotions through affective digital signage content," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 295-305.
    5. Zhu, Yongmin & Liu, Miaomiao & Zeng, Xiaohua & Huang, Pei, 2020. "The effects of prior reviews on perceived review helpfulness: A configuration perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 484-494.
    6. Koushyar Rajavi & Tarun Kushwaha & Jan-Benedict E M Steenkamp, 2019. "In Brands We Trust? A Multicategory, Multicountry Investigation of Sensitivity of Consumers’ Trust in Brands to Marketing-Mix Activities," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 651-670.
    7. Duan, Yongrui & Liu, Tonghui & Mao, Zhixin, 2022. "How online reviews and coupons affect sales and pricing: An empirical study based on e-commerce platform," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Souheila Kaabachi & Mohamed Karim Kefi & Monyédodo Régis Kpossa & Ahmed Anis Charfi, 2021. "Celebrity Endorsement vs Influencer Endorsement for Financial Brands: What does Gen-Z think?," Post-Print hal-03767446, HAL.
    9. Hsiang-Ming Lee & Tsai Chen & Ya-Hui Hsu & Yu-Chi Wu, 2018. "Effect Of Complementary Product Fit And Brand Awareness On Brand Attitude After M&As: Word Of Mouth As A Moderator," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 12(1), pages 51-67.
    10. 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.
    11. Caroline L. Noblet & Laura A. Lindenfeld & Mark W. Anderson, 2013. "Environmental Worldviews: A Point of Common Contact, or Barrier?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(11), pages 1-18, November.
    12. Bibby, David N., 2011. "Sponsorship portfolio as brand image creation strategies: A commentary essay," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(6), pages 628-630, June.
    13. Alden, Dana L. & He, Yi & Chen, Qimei, 2010. "Service recommendations and customer evaluations in the international marketplace: Cultural and situational contingencies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 38-44, January.
    14. Nathalie Veg-Sala & Angy Geerts, 2021. "L'expérience d'achat dans les boutiques de luxe : Etude des dimensions selon les motivations d'achat des consommateurs de luxe," Post-Print hal-04154737, HAL.
    15. Rayburn, Steven W. & Voss, Kevin E., 2013. "A model of consumer's retail atmosphere perceptions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 400-407.
    16. Raffaele Filieri & Elisabetta Raguseo & Claudio Vitari, 2018. "What moderates the influence of extremely negative ratings? The role of review and reviewer characteristics," Post-Print halshs-01923196, HAL.
    17. Agnieszka Zablocki & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Michael J. Houston, 2019. "How valence, volume and variance of online reviews influence brand attitudes," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 9(1), pages 61-77, June.
    18. Bin Guo & Shasha Zhou, 2017. "What makes population perception of review helpfulness: an information processing perspective," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 585-608, December.
    19. Mazaheri, Ebrahim & Richard, Marie-Odile & Laroche, Michel, 2011. "Online consumer behavior: Comparing Canadian and Chinese website visitors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 958-965, September.
    20. Zhuolan Bao & Wenwen Li & Pengzhen Yin & Michael Chau, 2021. "Examining the impact of review tag function on product evaluation and information perception of popular products," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 517-539, June.

    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:eee:joreco:v:52:y:2020:i:c:s0969698918309160. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    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.