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Reactivity without legitimacy? Online consumer reviews in the restaurant industry

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  • Jean-Samuel Beuscart
  • Kevin Mellet
  • Marie Trespeuch

Abstract

In recent years, web sites where individual consumers can rate and review goods and services have mushroomed all over the Internet. Restaurants are particularly affected by online reviewing. If the impact of online consumer reviews (OCRs) on the demand side of markets is now well understood and measured, few studies examine the reception of this new evaluation method by those who are assessed. Based on interviews with French restaurant managers, our research shows that OCRs systems reconfigure relations of accountability in the restaurant industry. We use the notion of reactivity to describe the mechanisms through which the new evaluation system transforms the activity of restaurants. We also examine the affects surrounding the reception of ratings and reviews by restaurant managers and the moral criteria that accompany their discourses on online reviews. Many restaurants consider online reviews as a brutal and hypocritical mode of judgment. The judgment produced by online ratings and reviews is not easily borne by restaurant managers, because it challenges the conventions of quality they had previously internalized as legitimate, that is, those produced by professional experts. We interpret this ambivalent reception as the unfinished movement of transforming a performative reputation device into a legitimate evaluation institution.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Samuel Beuscart & Kevin Mellet & Marie Trespeuch, 2016. "Reactivity without legitimacy? Online consumer reviews in the restaurant industry," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(5), pages 458-475, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jculte:v:9:y:2016:i:5:p:458-475
    DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2016.1210534
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lucien Karpik, 2010. "Valuing the Unique: The Economics of Singularities," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9215.
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    Cited by:

    1. Inda Premordia & Timea Gál, 2021. "Dear Customer, Thank You for Your Review: The Service Failure-recovery Dyadic Interactions in the Restaurant Industry," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 11(3), pages 49-57.
    2. Domingo Martin-Martin & Jose Maya Garcia & Isidoro Romero, 2022. "Determinants of Digital Transformation in the Restaurant Industry," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 24(60), pages 430-430, April.
    3. Ashlee Humphreys, 2021. "The textuality of markets," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(3), pages 304-315, December.
    4. Inda PREMORDIA & Timea GÁL, 2021. "Negative Online Customer Reviews In Restaurant Dining Experience: What Are The Determining Factors Of Service Failure Affecting Behavioral Intentions?," Network Intelligence Studies, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 17, pages 69-83, June.
    5. Clauzel, Amélie & Delacour, Hélène & Liarte, Sébastien, 2019. "When cuisine becomes less haute: The impact of expert ratings on consumers' legitimacy judgments," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 395-404.
    6. Amélie Clauzel & Hélène Delacour & Sébastien Liarte, 2019. "When cuisine becomes less haute : The impact of expert ratings on consumers' legitimacy judgments," Post-Print hal-02513471, HAL.

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