“I Believe More in Factual Reviews” – But Not so Much When the Reviewer is Similar to the Reader and the Product is Hedonic

Grabner‐Kräuter, Sonja; Waiguny, Martin

doi:10.1007/978-3-658-08132-4_7

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…This finding is in agreement with the findings of Lee and Koo [ 18 ] who showed that the credibility of online reviews with objective information was higher than that of online reviews with more emotional, subjective statements. The present findings also seem to be consistent with other research in the context of consumer products, which found that a more factual style is beneficial for the evaluation of the reviewer’s expertise and important for the generation of trust in the review [ 61 ]. Yet, in the current study the positive effect on perceived expertise as a dimension of source credibility did not translate into a more positive attitude toward the physician.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Insights Into the Impact of Online Physician Reviews on Patients’ Decision Making: Randomized Experiment

Grabner‐Kräuter¹,

Waiguny²

2015

J Med Internet Res

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BackgroundPhysician-rating websites combine public reporting with social networking and offer an attractive means by which users can provide feedback on their physician and obtain information about other patients’ satisfaction and experiences. However, research on how users evaluate information on these portals is still scarce and only little knowledge is available about the potential influence of physician reviews on a patient’s choice.ObjectiveStarting from the perspective of prospective patients, this paper sets out to explore how certain characteristics of physician reviews affect the evaluation of the review and users’ attitudes toward the rated physician. We propose a model that relates review style and review number to constructs of review acceptance and check it with a Web-based experiment.MethodsWe employed a randomized 2x2 between-subject, factorial experiment manipulating the style of a physician review (factual vs emotional) and the number of reviews for a certain physician (low vs high) to test our hypotheses. A total of 168 participants were presented with a Web-based questionnaire containing a short description of a dentist search scenario and the manipulated reviews for a fictitious dental physician. To investigate the proposed hypotheses, we carried out moderated regression analyses and a moderated mediation analysis using the PROCESS macro 2.11 for SPSS version 22.ResultsOur analyses indicated that a higher number of reviews resulted in a more positive attitude toward the rated physician. The results of the regression model for attitude toward the physician suggest a positive main effect of the number of reviews (mean [low] 3.73, standard error [SE] 0.13, mean [high] 4.15, SE 0.13). We also observed an interaction effect with the style of the review—if the physician received only a few reviews, fact-oriented reviews (mean 4.09, SE 0.19) induced a more favorable attitude toward the physician compared to emotional reviews (mean 3.44, SE 0.19), but there was no such effect when the physician received many reviews. Furthermore, we found that review style also affected the perceived expertise of the reviewer. Fact-oriented reviews (mean 3.90, SE 0.13) lead to a higher perception of reviewer expertise compared to emotional reviews (mean 3.19, SE 0.13). However, this did not transfer to the attitude toward the physician. A similar effect of review style and number on the perceived credibility of the review was observed. While no differences between emotional and factual style were found if the physician received many reviews, a low number of reviews received lead to a significant difference in the perceived credibility, indicating that emotional reviews were rated less positively (mean 3.52, SE 0.18) compared to fact-oriented reviews (mean 4.15, SE 0.17). Our analyses also showed that perceived credibility of the review fully mediated the observed interaction effect on attitude toward the physician.ConclusionsPhysician-rating websites are an interesting new source of information about the quality of he...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Insights Into the Impact of Online Physician Reviews on Patients’ Decision Making: Randomized Experiment

Grabner‐Kräuter¹,

Waiguny²

2015

J Med Internet Res

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“…Research shows that consumers use more signs of affect when evaluating hedonic services compared to utilitarian services (Jiang and Wang, 2006) and eWOM about these goods and services are more affectively processed (Klein and Melnyk, 2016). Thus, sWOM messages using an emotional tone of voice might match better with hedonic services (Grabner-Kräuter and Waiguny, 2015). We expect:…”

Section: Tone Of Voice Service Type and Consumer Responsesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…WOM in social media messages using an emotional tone of voice might match better with hedonic services (Grabner-Kräuter and Waiguny, 2015). We expect: H4.…”

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confidence: 96%

Don't be so emotional! How tone of voice and service type affect the relationship between message valence and consumer responses to WOM in social media

Keyzer

Dens

Pelsmacker

2017

OIR

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the boundary conditions of the effect of the valence of word-of-mouth on social networking sites (sWOM) on consumer responses (attitude toward the service provider, purchase intention and positive word-of-mouth intention). Specifically, the authors examine two moderators: the tone of voice (factual vs emotional) of the sWOM and service type (utilitarian vs hedonic) of the service that the sWOM is about. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (message valence: positive vs negative) × 2 (tone of voice: factual vs emotional) × 2 (service type: utilitarian vs hedonic) full-factorial between-subjects online experiment with 400 respondents was conducted and the data were analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro. Findings The results show that message valence exerts a greater impact on consumer responses with factual sWOM messages compared to emotional ones. Furthermore, the impact of message valence is stronger for hedonic services compared to utilitarian services. In contrast to the authors’ expectations, there is no significant impact of matching the tone of voice to the service type. Practical implications First, for sWOM senders, factual messages are found to be more influential: backing an sWOM up with arguments and specific details increases the chance of it affecting consumers’ responses. As a result, marketers, especially of predominantly hedonic services, should encourage their followers and customers to spread positive factual sWOM about their service. Originality/value The study tests two previously unstudied moderating variables that affect the relationship between message valence and consumer responses to sWOM messages. Moreover, this study provides interesting insights for marketers and bloggers or reviewers.

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The Relevance of Demographic Similarity and Factuality in Social Influencer Communication Culture – A Comparison Between Hedonic and Utilitarian Conditions

von Mettenheim,

Wiedmann

2024

ABR

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This work identifies differences in the success factors of influencers given consumers’ consumption goals (hedonic vs. utilitarian). Although practitioners have complained about the lack of know-how regarding this issue, research on the topic remains scarce. Hypotheses on the differing relevance of the demographic similarity of influencers and consumers and of the factuality of influencers’ communication are verified through an empirical investigation. The scenario is consumers’ selection of a hotel for (1) a holiday (hedonic consumption goal) or (2) a professional/university seminar (utilitarian consumption goal). The results are analyzed by structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis. We generate some surprising results. Counterintuitively, demographic similarity is more important under utilitarian than hedonic conditions. Factuality seems equally important in both conditions. Explanations and implications of these findings are provided.

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“I Believe More in Factual Reviews” – But Not so Much When the Reviewer is Similar to the Reader and the Product is Hedonic

Cited by 3 publications

References 40 publications

Insights Into the Impact of Online Physician Reviews on Patients’ Decision Making: Randomized Experiment

Insights Into the Impact of Online Physician Reviews on Patients’ Decision Making: Randomized Experiment

Don't be so emotional! How tone of voice and service type affect the relationship between message valence and consumer responses to WOM in social media

The Relevance of Demographic Similarity and Factuality in Social Influencer Communication Culture – A Comparison Between Hedonic and Utilitarian Conditions

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