Journal of Smart Tourism

Smart Tourism Research Center, Kyung Hee University (경희대학교 스마트관광연구소)
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Promotion or Prevention? The Moderating Effect of Embedded External Reviews on Consumer Evaluations

  • Ziqiong Zhang (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology) ;
  • Le Wang (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology) ;
  • Shuchen Qiao (College of Management, Shenzhen University) ;
  • Zili Zhang (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology)
  • Received : 2023.08.28
  • Accepted : 2023.10.10
  • Published : 2023.09.30
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Abstract

Given the increasing information overload among users of online review websites, understanding the manner in which cognitive costs are reduced and efficient information is made reliable has become increasingly important. This study targets a unique consumer review design and explores how reviews from an external peer-to-peer site embedded in an online travel agency (OTA) website influence subsequent evaluation behaviors. The empirical results indicate that (1) embedded external reviews with a high average valence tend to strengthen the influence of the positive evaluation ratio while diminishing the effect of the review volume, and (2) embedded external reviews with a large variance strengthen the positive effect of the review volume while weakening the effect of the positive evaluation ratio on subsequent positive evaluations. The findings provide practical insights for consumers and online platforms.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the support of research funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72131005 and 72171062), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (HIT.OCEF.2023045).

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