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Are Consumers More Likely to Contribute Online Reviews for Hit or Niche Products?

Authors:

Chrysanthos Dellarocas,

Ritu NarayanAuthors Info & Claims

Journal of Management Information Systems, Volume 27, Issue 2

Pages 127 - 158

https://doi.org/10.2753/MIS0742-1222270204

Published: 01 October 2010 Publication History

Abstract

User-generated content has been hailed by some as a democratizing force that enables consumers to discuss niche products that were previously ignored by mainstream media. Nevertheless, the extent to which consumers truly prefer to use these new outlets to discuss lesser-known products as opposed to spending most of their energies on discussing widely marketed or already successful products has so far remained an open question. We explore this question by investigating how a population's propensity to contribute postconsumption online reviews for different products of the same category (motion pictures) relates to various indicators of those products' popularity. We discover that, ceteris paribus, consumers prefer to post reviews for products that are less available and less successful in the market. At the same time, however, they are also more likely to contribute reviews for products that many other people have already commented on online. The presence of these two opposite forces leads to a U-shaped relationship between a population's average propensity to review a movie postconsumption and that movie's box office revenues: moviegoers appear to be more likely to contribute reviews for very obscure movies but also for very high-grossing movies. Our findings suggest that online forum designers who wish to increase the contribution of user reviews for lesser-known products should make information about the volume of previously posted reviews a less-prominent feature of their sites.

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Cited By

Sen AGrad TFerreira PClaussen J(2024)(How) Does User-Generated Content Impact Content Generated by Professionals? Evidence from Local NewsManagement Science10.1287/mnsc.2023.496270:9(6045-6068)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4962
Zheng JYin GTan YDing J(2024)Does Help Help? An Empirical Analysis of Social Desirability Bias in RatingsInformation Systems Research10.1287/isre.2020.040635:3(1052-1073)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1287/isre.2020.0406
Ahmed ADeokar ALee HSummerfield N(2024)The role of commitment in online reputation systemsDecision Support Systems10.1016/j.dss.2023.114061176:COnline publication date: 1-Jan-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.dss.2023.114061
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Published In

cover image Journal of Management Information Systems

Journal of Management Information Systems Volume 27, Issue 2

Number 2 / Fall 2010

330 pages

Issue’s Table of Contents

Publisher

M. E. Sharpe, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 October 2010

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Sen AGrad TFerreira PClaussen J(2024)(How) Does User-Generated Content Impact Content Generated by Professionals? Evidence from Local NewsManagement Science10.1287/mnsc.2023.496270:9(6045-6068)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4962
Zheng JYin GTan YDing J(2024)Does Help Help? An Empirical Analysis of Social Desirability Bias in RatingsInformation Systems Research10.1287/isre.2020.040635:3(1052-1073)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1287/isre.2020.0406
Ahmed ADeokar ALee HSummerfield N(2024)The role of commitment in online reputation systemsDecision Support Systems10.1016/j.dss.2023.114061176:COnline publication date: 1-Jan-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.dss.2023.114061
Xiao LLuo LKe T(2024)The influence of eWOM information structures on consumers’ purchase intentionsElectronic Commerce Research10.1007/s10660-022-09576-224:3(1713-1735)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10660-022-09576-2
Wang ZLiang LLiu XLiao M(2024)Research on the influencing factors and the differences between the initial trust and continuous trust of online health community usersNeural Computing and Applications10.1007/s00521-024-09593-236:17(9849-9874)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00521-024-09593-2
Tseng SLu SWeathers DGrover V(2023)How product review voting is influenced by existing votes, consumer involvement, review valence, and review diagnosticityDecision Support Systems10.1016/j.dss.2023.113981172:COnline publication date: 1-Sep-2023
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Ko EChoi EJang JKim J(2022)Capturing Diverse and Precise Reactions to a Comment with User-Generated LabelsProceedings of the ACM Web Conference 202210.1145/3485447.3512243(1731-1740)Online publication date: 25-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3485447.3512243
Hu XLuo JWu Z(2022)Conspicuous display through photo sharing in online reviewsInformation and Management10.1016/j.im.2022.10370559:8Online publication date: 1-Dec-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.im.2022.103705
Subramanian HMitra SRansbotham S(2021)Capturing Value in Platform Business Models That Rely on User-Generated ContentOrganization Science10.1287/orsc.2020.140832:3(804-823)Online publication date: 1-May-2021
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Kwark YLee GPavlou PQiu L(2021)On the Spillover Effects of Online Product Reviews on PurchasesInformation Systems Research10.1287/isre.2021.099832:3(895-913)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2021
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