TY - GEN
T1 - The Double-Edged Sword of Expert Reviewer Programs
T2 - 38th International Conference on Information Systems: Transforming Society with Digital Innovation, ICIS 2017
AU - Pu, Jingchuan
AU - Han, Sang Pil
AU - Kwark, Young
AU - Gu, Bin
AU - Ye, Qiang
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - As online reviews play an increasingly influential role in consumer decisions in e-commerce, large online retailers such as Amazon recently launched expert reviewer programs to supply high-quality reviews by selected experts. While prior studies examined the impact of online reviews written by experts on the product’s sales performance, our study investigates the effects of soliciting users to join expert reviewer programs and offering free products on their review generation processes and outcomes. Contrary to the common wisdom, our results reveal that, after reviewers participate in expert reviewer programs, they generate longer reviews but offer lower ratings for sponsored free products. However, they produce more reviews and higher ratings for non-sponsored regular products. Additional analyses offer theoretical underpinnings for the asymmetric effects of expert reviewer programs.
AB - As online reviews play an increasingly influential role in consumer decisions in e-commerce, large online retailers such as Amazon recently launched expert reviewer programs to supply high-quality reviews by selected experts. While prior studies examined the impact of online reviews written by experts on the product’s sales performance, our study investigates the effects of soliciting users to join expert reviewer programs and offering free products on their review generation processes and outcomes. Contrary to the common wisdom, our results reveal that, after reviewers participate in expert reviewer programs, they generate longer reviews but offer lower ratings for sponsored free products. However, they produce more reviews and higher ratings for non-sponsored regular products. Additional analyses offer theoretical underpinnings for the asymmetric effects of expert reviewer programs.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126493304&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85126493304&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85126493304
SN - 9780996683159
T3 - ICIS 2017: Transforming Society with Digital Innovation
BT - ICIS 2017
PB - Association for Information Systems
Y2 - 10 December 2017 through 13 December 2017
ER -