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Illusions of truth—Experimental insights into human and algorithmic detections of fake online reviews

Author

Listed:
  • Daria Plotkina

    (Humanis - Hommes et management en société / Humans and management in society - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg)

  • Andreas Munzel

    (TSM - Toulouse School of Management Research - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - TSM - Toulouse School of Management - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse)

  • Jessie Pallud

    (Humanis - Hommes et management en société / Humans and management in society - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg)

Abstract

The issue of fake online reviews is increasingly relevant due to the growing importance of online reviews to consumers and the growing frequency of deceptive corporate practices. It is, therefore, necessary to be able to detect fake online reviews. An experiment with 1041 respondents allowed us to create two pools of reviews (fake and truthful) and compare them for psycholinguistic deception cues. The resulting automated tool accounted for review valence and incentive and detected deceptive reviews with 81% accuracy. A follow-up experiment with 407 consumers showed that humans have only a 57% accuracy of detection, even when a deception mindset is activated with information on cues of fake online reviews. Therefore, micro-linguistic automated detection can be used to filter the content of reviewing websites to protect online users. Our independent analysis of reviewing websites confirms the presence of dubious content and, therefore, the need to introduce more sophisticated filtering approaches.

Suggested Citation

  • Daria Plotkina & Andreas Munzel & Jessie Pallud, 2020. "Illusions of truth—Experimental insights into human and algorithmic detections of fake online reviews," Post-Print hal-02423585, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02423585
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.009
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-02423585
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    Cited by:

    1. Chatterjee, Sheshadri & Chaudhuri, Ranjan & Kumar, Ajay & Lu Wang, Cheng & Gupta, Shivam, 2023. "Impacts of consumer cognitive process to ascertain online fake review: A cognitive dissonance theory approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Salminen, Joni & Kandpal, Chandrashekhar & Kamel, Ahmed Mohamed & Jung, Soon-gyo & Jansen, Bernard J., 2022. "Creating and detecting fake reviews of online products," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Wu, Ruhai & Qiu, Chun, 2023. "When Karma strikes back: A model of seller manipulation of consumer reviews in an online marketplace," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).
    4. Josef Zelenka & Tracy Azubuike & Martina Pásková, 2021. "Trust Model for Online Reviews of Tourism Services and Evaluation of Destinations," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, March.
    5. Hajek, Petr & Sahut, Jean-Michel, 2022. "Mining behavioural and sentiment-dependent linguistic patterns from restaurant reviews for fake review detection," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    6. Banerjee, Snehasish & Chua, Alton Y.K., 2023. "Understanding online fake review production strategies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    7. Zaman, Mustafeed & Vo-Thanh, Tan & Nguyen, Chi T.K. & Hasan, Rajibul & Akter, Shahriar & Mariani, Marcello & Hikkerova, Lubica, 2023. "Motives for posting fake reviews: Evidence from a cross-cultural comparison," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Tim Kollmer & Andreas Eckhardt & Victoria Reibenspiess, 2022. "Explaining consumer suspicion: insights of a vignette study on online product reviews," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1221-1238, September.
    9. Mark Ryan & Josephina Antoniou & Laurence Brooks & Tilimbe Jiya & Kevin Macnish & Bernd Stahl, 2020. "The Ethical Balance of Using Smart Information Systems for Promoting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-22, June.

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