Misreading of consumer dissatisfaction in online product reviews: Writing style as a cause for bias

Product-Centered Language Style in Chinese Women Online Reviews

The relationship of language style and online review has drawn increasing academic attention recently as it can provide customers with a guide to make the purchase. Extant research attaches importance to the language style that is presented in the use of function words, instead of product-related content words. This study aimed to examine the language style generated by customers’ comments relating to the product based on content words, that is, product-centered language style (PCLS). We built a corpus of Chinese women clothes online reviews to explore the general picture and distinct features of PCLS and the distinct feature of PCLS. A content-word-centered Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) in terms of product performance is established. PCLS is calculated based on the language style matching (LSM) algorithm. Our results show that the PCLS in women clothes online review is featured by diverse and polarized language styles among three groups of women clothes buyers, and the prioritized arrangement of words of importance contributes to the PCLS. The findings benefit the women clothes industry in which it can help companies quickly find the distinctive and the transition of PCLS and offer an approach for companies to indiscriminately look into the significance of the product category from the linguistic perspective, which can help with product sale strategy and product design.

The Effects of Image-Based Online Reviews on Customers' Perception Across Product Type and Gender

Online vendors consider image online reviews as an important format to improve customers' buying decision. Prior research examined the influence of review presentation format, but did not focus on image format. Little is known about customers' perception on image online reviews. This study developed a theoretical model to analyze the effect of image reviews across product type and gender. The 2×2×2 between-subject experimental design was conducted to test hypotheses. The results demonstrated that compared to text review, the influence of image format on customers' perception was more significant, but in varying degrees across product type and gender. This study found that image format had more positive impact for experience product's understanding compared to search product. The result also showed that the effect of image format on experience product was not significant greater for females than males, but the perception improvement degree from text to image reviews was saliently different between genders. This study discussed theoretical and managerial contributions of these results.