IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/elcore/v25y2025i3d10.1007_s10660-023-09752-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of explained actions and reactions in the helpfulness of online reviews

Author

Listed:
  • Mengmeng Zhan

    (Wuhan University)

  • Liping Liu

    (Nanjing Normal University)

  • Xiaoxue Wang

    (Nanjing Normal University)

  • Ran Ju

    (The Ohio State University)

Abstract

Online review helpfulness has been a hot topic of discussion among academics and practitioners. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the two types of explanation content, explained actions and explained reactions, on online review helpfulness, along with the moderating effects of product type and sentiment polarity. We developed and empirically examined the proposed hypotheses with data collected from 57,491 product reviews and 415 experimental participants. The word-of-bag was used for measuring the explanation content (explained actions and explained reactions), and negative binomial regression results showed that both explained actions and explained reactions in the reviews have positive effects on review helpfulness. The main results were further verified by three experiments with strict controls. The current study could help online retailers identify the most helpful review, thereby reducing consumer search costs and helping reviewers contribute more valuable online reviews.

Suggested Citation

  • Mengmeng Zhan & Liping Liu & Xiaoxue Wang & Ran Ju, 2025. "The role of explained actions and reactions in the helpfulness of online reviews," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 2067-2096, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:elcore:v:25:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10660-023-09752-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10660-023-09752-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10660-023-09752-y
    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/s10660-023-09752-y?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. Sarah G. Moore, 2012. "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid: How Word of Mouth Influences the Storyteller," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(6), pages 1140-1154.
    2. Rae Yule Kim, 2021. "When does online review matter to consumers? The effect of product quality information cues," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1011-1030, December.
    3. Zhanfei Lei & Dezhi Yin & Han Zhang, 2021. "Focus Within or On Others: The Impact of Reviewers’ Attentional Focus on Review Helpfulness," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 801-819, September.
    4. Fred D. Davis & Richard P. Bagozzi & Paul R. Warshaw, 1989. "User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(8), pages 982-1003, August.
    5. Ahluwalia, Rohini & Gurhan-Canli, Zeynep, 2000. "The Effects of Extensions of the Family Brand Name: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(3), pages 371-381, December.
    6. Meek, Stephanie & Wilk, Violetta & Lambert, Claire, 2021. "A big data exploration of the informational and normative influences on the helpfulness of online restaurant reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 354-367.
    7. Zablocki, Agnieszka & Makri, Katerina & Houston, Michael J., 2019. "Emotions Within Online Reviews and their Influence on Product Attitudes in Austria, USA and Thailand," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 20-39.
    8. Yi, Jisu & Oh, Yun Kyung, 2022. "The informational value of multi-attribute online consumer reviews: A text mining approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Robyn A. LeBoeuf & Michael I. Norton, 2012. "Consequence-Cause Matching: Looking to the Consequences of Events to Infer Their Causes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(1), pages 128-141.
    10. R. Filieri & Elisabetta Raguseo & Claudio Vitari, 2019. "What moderates the influence of extremely negative ratings? The role of review and reviewer characteristics," Post-Print hal-04779104, HAL.
    11. Raffaele Filieri & Elisabetta Raguseo & Claudio Vitari, 2019. "What moderates the influence of extremely negative ratings? The role of review and reviewer characteristics," Post-Print hal-03511270, HAL.
    12. Yani Wang & Jun Wang & Tang Yao, 2019. "What makes a helpful online review? A meta-analysis of review characteristics," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 257-284, June.
    13. Hengchen Dai & Cindy Chan & Cassie Mogilner & Darren W. Dahl & Margaret C. Campbell & Cait Lamberton, 2020. "People Rely Less on Consumer Reviews for Experiential than Material Purchases [The Role of (Dis)Similarity in (Mis)Predicting Others’ Preferences]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(6), pages 1052-1075.
    14. Xiang, Zheng & Du, Qianzhou & Ma, Yufeng & Fan, Weiguo, 2017. "A comparative analysis of major online review platforms: Implications for social media analytics in hospitality and tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 51-65.
    15. Sarah G. Moore, 2015. "Attitude Predictability and Helpfulness in Online Reviews: The Role of Explained Actions and Reactions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 42(1), pages 30-44.
    16. 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).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Moradi, Masoud & Dass, Mayukh & Kumar, Piyush, 2023. "Differential effects of analytical versus emotional rhetorical style on review helpfulness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Raoofpanah, Iman & Zamudio, César & Groening, Christopher, 2023. "Review reader segmentation based on the heterogeneous impacts of review and reviewer attributes on review helpfulness: A study involving ZIP code data," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Jonah Berger & Grant Packard & Reihane Boghrati & Ming Hsu & Ashlee Humphreys & Andrea Luangrath & Sarah Moore & Gideon Nave & Christopher Olivola & Matthew Rocklage, 2022. "Marketing insights from text analysis," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 365-377, September.
    4. Hai-Anh Tran & Yuliya Strizhakova & Bach Nguyen & Samuel G. B. Johnson, 2025. "Expressions of customer rumination in online posts and firm responses," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 825-853, May.
    5. Yang Liu & Xingchen Ding & Maomao Chi & Jiang Wu & Lili Ma, 2024. "Assessing the helpfulness of hotel reviews for information overload: a multi-view spatial feature approach," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 59-87, March.
    6. 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.
    7. Meek, Stephanie & Wilk, Violetta & Lambert, Claire, 2021. "A big data exploration of the informational and normative influences on the helpfulness of online restaurant reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 354-367.
    8. Wen Zhang & Qiang Wang & Jian Li & Zhenzhong Ma & Gokul Bhandari & Rui Peng, 2023. "What makes deceptive online reviews? A linguistic analysis perspective," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    9. Kong, Juan & Lou, Chen, 2023. "Do cultural orientations moderate the effect of online review features on review helpfulness? A case study of online movie reviews," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    10. Mariani, Marcello M. & Borghi, Matteo & Laker, Benjamin, 2023. "Do submission devices influence online review ratings differently across different types of platforms? A big data analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    11. Jakub Kubiczek & Bartłomiej Hadasik & Dominika Krawczyńska & Kornelia Przedworska & Erika Zsuzsanna Madarász & Aleksandra Ryczko, 2024. "Perspective of Created Value in Consumer Choice: Comparison of Economic and Ecological Dimensions," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(1), pages 21582440241, March.
    12. Wendy Hui, 2010. "Self-generated Validity, Framing Effects, and Survey Research in IS," ICBBR Working Papers 11, International Centre for Behavioural Business Research.
    13. Kübler, Raoul V. & Lobschat, Lara & Welke, Lina & van der Meij, Hugo, 2024. "The effect of review images on review helpfulness: A contingency approach," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 5-23.
    14. Colmekcioglu, Nazan & Marvi, Reza & Foroudi, Pantea & Okumus, Fevzi, 2022. "Generation, susceptibility, and response regarding negativity: An in-depth analysis on negative online reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 235-250.
    15. Chuanmei Zhou & Shuiqing Yang & Yuangao Chen & Shasha Zhou & Yixiao Li & Atika Qazi, 2023. "How does topic consistency affect online review helpfulness? The role of review emotional intensity," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 2943-2978, December.
    16. Zhu, Qingyun & Wang, Yiru & Xu, Xun & Sarkis, Joseph, 2025. "How loud is consumer voice in product deletion decisions? Retail analytic insights," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. 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).
    18. Jonah Berger & Matthew D Rocklage & Grant Packard, 2022. "Expression Modalities: How Speaking Versus Writing Shapes Word of Mouth [Affective and Semantic Components in Political Person Perception]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(3), pages 389-408.
    19. Ravula, Prashanth & Jha, Subhash & Biswas, Abhijit, 2022. "Relative persuasiveness of repurchase intentions versus recommendations in online reviews," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 724-740.
    20. Zhang, Ruonan & Yu, Zhaoyang & Yao, Weiran, 2024. "Navigating the complexities of online opinion formation: An insight into consumer cognitive heuristics," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    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:elcore:v:25:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10660-023-09752-y. 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.