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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2451/27748
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| Title: | Examining the Relationship Between Reviews and Sales: The Role of
Reviewer Identity Disclosure in Electronic Markets |
| Authors: | Forman, Chris
Ghose, Anindya
Wiesenfeld, Batia |
| Keywords: | digital markets
information processing
social identity
online reviews
internet retailing
virtual communities
identity disclosure
user-generated content |
| Issue Date: | 6-Nov-2008 |
| Series/Report no.: | CeDER-PP-2008-01 |
| Abstract: | Consumer-generated product reviews have proliferated online, driven by
the notion that consumers’ decision to purchase or not purchase a
product is based on the positive or negative information about that
product they obtain from fellow consumers. Using research on information
processing as a foundation, we suggest that in the context of an online
community, reviewer disclosure of identity-descriptive information is
used by consumers to supplement or replace product information when
making purchase decisions and evaluating the helpfulness of online
reviews. Using a unique data set 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 that community norms are an antecedent to reviewer
disclosure of identity-descriptive information. Online community members
rate reviews containing identity-descriptive information more
positively, and the prevalence of reviewer disclosure of identity
information is associated with increases in subsequent online product
sales. In addition, we show that shared geographical location increases
the relationship between disclosure and product sales, thus highlighting
the important role of geography in electronic commerce. Taken together,
our results suggest that identity-relevant information about reviewers
shapes community members’ judgment of products and reviews.
Implications for research on the relationship between online
word-of-mouth (WOM) and sales, peer recognition and reputation systems,
and conformity to online community norms are discussed |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2451/27748 |
| Appears in Collections: | CeDER Published Papers
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