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The power of beauty: Be your ideal self in online reviews—an empirical study based on face detection

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  • Hu, Xin
  • He, Liuyi
  • Liu, Junjun

Abstract

Beauty can increase people's self-confidence and offer premium benefits in social activities. Unlike natural appearance, beauty on the internet depends greatly on people's ideal selves. Different from previous research, this study investigated the relationship between profile image's facial beauty and online reviews. Based on 25,322 face detection results, our findings showed that people's behaviors corresponded to their created beautiful self-image, which resulted in posting negative and detailed online reviews. Moreover, beauty diminished the inhibiting effect caused by clear facial disclosure. Our results enrich the understanding of online beauty, self-presentation, self-disclosure, and rating bias in online shopping platforms. The practical implications for online platforms are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Hu, Xin & He, Liuyi & Liu, Junjun, 2022. "The power of beauty: Be your ideal self in online reviews—an empirical study based on face detection," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:67:y:2022:i:c:s0969698922000686
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.102975
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    1. Du, Jiangang & Zhu, Liya & Ma, Yuanning & Zhang, Yu, 2024. "Beyond weekdays: The impact of the weekend effect on eWOM of hedonic product," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Zhang, Ning & Fan, Xing & He, LiFeng & Cheng, Xin & Zhang, Liang & Liu, Rong, 2024. "The impact of the Seller's facial image on consumer purchase behavior in peer-to-peer accommodation platforms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Ganguly, Boudhayan & Sengupta, Pooja & Biswas, Baidyanath, 2024. "What are the significant determinants of helpfulness of online review? An exploration across product-types," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

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