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Your reviews or mine? Exploring the determinants of “perceived helpfulness” of online reviews: a cross-cultural study

Author

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  • Baidyanath Biswas

    (International Management Institute)

  • Pooja Sengupta

    (International Management Institute)

  • Boudhayan Ganguly

    (International Management Institute)

Abstract

E-commerce platforms allow customers to post online reviews about their products, but many of these reviews remain non-voted by existing customers. Current literature on the perceived helpfulness of online reviews has overlooked the effect of these non-voted reviews. Additionally, current studies lack the cross-cultural perspective to help analyze the influence of cultural factors during an analysis of online reviews in an e-commerce platform. This study proposes a novel cross-cultural framework using online consumer reviews from a global e-commerce retailer to investigate these shortcomings. Our study has twofold contributions: firstly, we identified the significant predictors (such as review-title, review sentiments, star rating, social context, and temporal features) of the count of helpful votes received by online reviews – both voted and non-voted. Secondly, we identified a strong moderating effect of national culture on these predictors during the perception and evaluation of global consumers’ reviews. We also performed a quantile regression across the entire distribution of the count of helpful votes. Findings from our study will guide reviewers who publish helpful and comprehensive reviews. Additionally, customers and sellers from global e-commerce firms will learn to account for cross-cultural differences on the provided features to prevent the distortion of the information content of online reviews.

Suggested Citation

  • Baidyanath Biswas & Pooja Sengupta & Boudhayan Ganguly, 2022. "Your reviews or mine? Exploring the determinants of “perceived helpfulness” of online reviews: a cross-cultural study," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1083-1102, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:elmark:v:32:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s12525-020-00452-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s12525-020-00452-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Yun Wan & Makoto Nakayama & Chei Sian Lee & Simon Poon & Panagiotis Stamolampros, 2022. "The cultural impact in platform competition," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1033-1035, September.
    2. Rainer Alt, 2022. "Electronic Markets on platform culture," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1019-1031, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Online consumer reviews; Perceived helpfulness; Zero-inflated poisson distribution; Quantile regression; Hofstede’s cultural framework;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce

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