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Expert product reviews and conflict of interest

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  • Tom Hamami
  • James Bailey

Abstract

Many firms that produce expert product reviews benefit from increased sales of the products they review, resulting in a conflict of interest. We evaluate expert product reviews from a video game magazine owned by a game retailer. We find evidence of review inflation for lower‐quality games and in periods shortly following the release of a game's corresponding hardware. These results are consistent with theoretical predictions for a firm that optimizes the trade‐off between sales revenue and the reputational costs associated with biasing reviews.

Suggested Citation

  • Tom Hamami & James Bailey, 2021. "Expert product reviews and conflict of interest," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 170-176, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:42:y:2021:i:1:p:170-176
    DOI: 10.1002/mde.3221
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Vollaard, Ben & van Ours, Jan C., 2022. "Bias in expert product reviews," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 105-118.

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