Noise or Quality? Cross-Nested Hierarchical Effects of Culture on Online Ratings

Abstract

Abstract:Previous feedback system research in a variety of contexts has focused on the impact that ratings (as proxies for quality) have on a variety of social and economic outcomes with equivocal findings. These mixed findings may be partially due to noise (factors not related to quality) embedded in aggregated or average positive and negative ratings. One significant source of ratings noise may come from culturally diverse raters' issuing ratings in virtual environments. Culture impacts how groups of individuals are socialized to behave and think, which may result in members' having different attitudes towards publicly downgrading (negative ratings) or praising (positive ratings) other members in the feedback system. In this paper, I investigate how culture influences rating practices specifically in public electronic knowledge sharing communities. Using a cross-nested hierarchical linear model, I demonstrate empirically that cultural differences at the community, occupation, and national levels interact in unique ways to increase or decrease an individual's propensity to give and receive a positive or a negative rating. My study contributes to the literature on rating systems along with having practical ramifications for the designers of feedback systems.

Bad Client Feedback on Digital Labor Platforms: How Freelancers Navigate the Peril Posed by Negative Reviews on Upwork

“…We used multiple coders to code our data consistent with the prior research (Mattson, 2017;Vaast et al, 2013). We first coded 50 free-form text responses together to develop a consistent process among the different coders.…”

Cross-cultural electronic word-of-mouth: a systematic literature review

“…This is because customers with higher uncertainty avoidance are more risk-averse; therefore, they tend to search for the attributes of the product and service, leading to higher expectations. The cultural distance was also found to be related to a negative review rate (Mattson, 2017;Stamolampros et al, 2019). Because when the cultural distance between customers and sellers is higher, there is a higher chance of cultural gaps and differences, and these differences may translate into consumers' dissatisfaction.…”

Is my doctor around me? Investigating the impact of doctors’ presence on patients’ review behaviors on an online health platform

“…Existing studies have primarily examined individual, product, platform, or social‐level antecedents of online reviewer behavior. At individual level, prior research shows that user characteristics such as gender, age and cultural background can affect their online review behaviors (e.g., Hong et al, 2016; Mattson, 2017). For example, Hong et al (2016) found that customers from collectivist cultures were unlikely to give a rating that significantly differed from the average prior rating.…”