Measuring and Managing the Externality of Managerial Responses to Online Customer Reviews
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Eller Coll ManagementIssue Date
2019-03Keywords
online interactions with customersmanagerial responses
customer reviews
externality
volume
valence
mechanisms
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
INFORMSCitation
Chen, W., Gu, B., Ye, Q., & Zhu, K. X. (2019). Measuring and managing the externality of managerial responses to online customer reviews. Information Systems Research.Journal
INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCHRights
© 2019 INFORMS.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Managerial responses to online customer reviews not only affect customers who receive the responses but may also influence subsequent customers who observe the responses. This externality arises because of the public nature of online interactions. However, prior studies were mainly in offline settings where such externality rarely exists. In this study, we assess the magnitude of such externality. Using a difference-in-difference-in-differences framework and matched hotels across two large travel agencies, we find that managerial responses indeed have a significant and positive impact on the volume of subsequent customer reviews. The impact on the review valence is not evident, which can be attributed to the unique design of identity disclosure in our research context. Furthermore, our results suggest nuances that were not known in the prior literature. For example, responding to positive and negative reviews may have different effects on future reviews, and managers should provide detailed responses to negative reviews but brief ones to positive reviews. Our results offer managerial implications to service providers on how to improve customer engagement in the interconnected online environment.Note
12 month embargo; published Online: 29 Jan 2019ISSN
1047-70471526-5536
Version
Final accepted manuscriptSponsors
National Science Foundation of China [71225003, 71490724, 71532004, 71620107005, 71328102]; 111 project [B18043]Additional Links
http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/isre.2018.0781ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1287/isre.2018.0781