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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2451/14809
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| Title: | A Multi-Level Examination of the Impact of Social Identities on Economic
Transactions in Electronic Markets |
| Authors: | Forman, Chris
Ghose, Anindya
Wiesenfeld, Batia |
| Keywords: | Digital markets
Social identity
Online reviews
Internet retailing
Virtual communities
Social exchange |
| Issue Date: | 2006 |
| Publisher: | Stern School of Business, New York University |
| Series/Report no.: | CeDER-06-09 |
| Abstract: | Three of the most important uses of the Internet today are as an
economic marketplace, as a forum for social interaction, and as a source
of information. In this paper, we explore how these three activities
come together, in the form of emergent social communities built around
information exchanges within IT-enabled electronic marketplaces. Drawing
on social identity theory, we suggest that the relationship between
online consumer reviews and internet product sales is partially
explained by social identity processes. Using a unique dataset based on
both chronologically compiled ratings as well as reviewer
characteristics for a given set of products and geographical
location-based purchasing behavior from Amazon, we provide evidence at
the community level linking the prevalence of identity claiming behavior
in an online community with subsequent product sales. In addition, we
show that when reviewers claim to be from a particular geographic
location, subsequent product sales are higher in that region. At the
review level of analysis, we show that subsequent reviews conform to
identity-claiming norms set in previous reviews, and that identity
claiming that conforms to community norms elicits identity granting.
Furthermore, our results suggest that the prevalence of identity
granting has implications for economic exchange in the form of product
sales. Implications for research on word-of-mouth and electronic
communities are discussed. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2451/14809 |
| Appears in Collections: | CeDER Working Papers
IOMS: Information Systems Working Papers
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