Reviewing from a Distance: Uncovering the Negativity Bias of Psychological Distance in Online Word-of-Mouth

How does reviewing consumption experiences from a psychological distance affect one's online ratings? Prior literature has found a positivity bias in the reviewing behaviors of consumers when they evaluate an experience from a spatial or a temporal distance. However, these results do not fully account for the unique context of online reviews, which involves publicly associating oneself with a potentially negative experience in front of others. Analyzing a data set from a large review platform, which enables identification of reviewers' spatial and temporal distance, we found that the positivity bias is not present for consumption experiences that are characterized by a negative sentiment. Instead, ratings for negative experiences reviewed from a spatial distance - that is, reviews by travelers - are systematically lower than ratings given in spatial proximity - that is, reviews by locals. These findings can be attributed to spatial distance, enabling travelers to distance themselves from these experiences and thus publicly associate themselves with lower ratings. For temporal distance, we found patterns consistent with prior literature that highlighted a disparity between spatial and temporal distance. These results improve our theoretical understanding of reviewing behavior and help platforms in their efforts to de-bias ratings.