Rate my firm: cultural differences in service evaluations

Abstract

Purpose Cross-cultural research constitutes a pivotal topic for marketing; however, the literature indicates that there are a few studies analyzing social media reviews from a cross-cultural perspective using cultural proximity (supra-national level) as a proxy of culture. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify cross-cultural differences in service evaluations and specifically, in hotel appraisals among tourists from Central, Eastern (including Post-Soviet States), Northern and Southern Europe. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach has been taken by studying online user-generated ratings of hotels on Trip Advisor. In total, 1,055 reviews of five hotels in Greece were used for the study. Findings Multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of variances results confirm cultural differences in overall service evaluations and attributes (value, location, sleeping quality, rooms, cleanliness and service) of tourists from various European regions. Specifically, Eastern Europeans uploaded more reviews than any other European group, whereas Northern Europeans were more generous in their appraisals than Eastern, Southern and Central Europeans. Practical implications The results of the study could be used for segmentation purposes of the European tourism market and for recognizing, which aspects of their services need to be improved based on the segments they serve. Moreover, managers should encourage Northern and Eastern Europeans to upload their reviews as both groups are more generous in their evaluations. Moreover, the findings are useful to marketers of other services. Originality/value To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examines cross-cultural differences in hotel appraisals from a supra-national perspective including developed (Northern and Western Europe), developing (Southern Europe) and emerging tourism markets (Eastern Europe).

Viewpoint: service research in Post-Soviet states and the former eastern bloc

“…Nasr et al (2018) suggest that various cultures and generations express positive customer feedback differently. As was previously presented in this paper, the historical background of the Post-Communist States and the low-trust societies of this region contribute, with a high degree of probability, to the reluctancy of customers to express compliments and gratitude towards service providers, despite the fact the customers from this region tend to engage more often on online evaluations than customers from other regions in Europe (Tsiotsou, 2019). Therefore, this study partly contributes to the literature on TSR by studying an overlooked area of the impact of positive customer feedback on the well-being of service entities (Nasr et al , 2014).…”

Marketing of Cultural Services: Social and Cultural Challenges of the Region

“…This approach in the marketing of cultural services is gaining relevance in the regional aspect, as the tourist and recreational complex of southern Russia is actively developing. Besides the permanent population, which is a multinational community of cultures, there is a constant increase in the flow of foreign tourists, who need to be offered, including cultural leisure, taking into account national traditions and customs [3,4,5,6,7,8].…”

Web and Social Media Presence in the Hospitality Industry: A Greek Island Case

“…1,055 reviews for five hotels in Greece were used for the study [13]. The third article explores the attitudes of tourists toward digital marketing applications related to peer-to-peer short-term rental services within the sharing economy in the tourism sector [14]. Finally, the fourth article investigates the relation between social media use and employee creativity by adopting a knowledge management approach in order to consider the influence of social networks and interactions on individuals' creativity.…”