Space Norms for Constructing Quality Reviews on Online Consumer Review Sites

High-quality online consumer reviews are valuable to e-commerce stakeholders. Extant research mainly focuses on what drives consumers to submit reviews, whereas little has been done to specifically theorize why review writers construct high-quality reviews versus post poor review content. To advance current theorizing on the behavior of writing quality reviews, we propose the concept of space norms, a distinct instantiation of social norms inferred from locally observing how others write reviews on the local digital space (i.e., the review site). Specifically, we theorize that the focal behavior is largely directed by space norms; space norms beget a sense of how one should do and induce conformity in the given social space. We tested the theory of space norms in a series of empirical studies, and the findings provide converging evidence. Study 1 used experimental methods and demonstrates—with large effect sizes—that review writers tend to act in accordance with the space norm of the local site. Post hoc text analyses rule out an alternative explanation and corroborate the findings. Study 2 used field data collected from two e-commerce websites to further triangulate the space norms proposition. Another post hoc study confirms the robustness of the results. This paper contributes to information systems research by developing and empirically validating a theory of space norms that pinpoints the role of local digital spaces in constructing the focal normative phenomenon. It also lends insights to digital platforms and the information technology practitioners. Managers looking to elicit quality reviewing behavior should devise the local digital space to nurture the space norms for the desired behavior.