The Effects of Negatively Valenced Emotional Expressions in Online Reviews on the Reviewer, the Review, and the Product

Abstract

The authors examine the effects of negatively valenced emotional expressions (NVEE; e.g., intense language, all caps, exclamation points, emoticons) in online reviews and reveal important boundary conditions for their effects. Specifically, Study 1 showed that NVEE directly promote review helpfulness and damage attitude toward the product when used by experts. In contrast, for novices, their use of NVEE was considered a poor reflection on them and failed to directly affect attitude toward the product. Further, attributions of reviewer rationality and trustworthiness were positively associated with review helpfulness and attitude toward the product. Interestingly, language complexity is a trigger to reverse the effects, as found in Study 2. For novices (experts), the adverse effect on trustworthiness is eliminated (introduced) but the adverse effect on attitude toward the product is introduced (eliminated) when they include more complex language accompanied by NVEE in their online reviews. Both studies uncover when source discounting is active for experts and novices, making them equally influential in some cases. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

Perceived helpfulness of eWOM: Emotions, fairness and rationality

“…It was found that when a reviewer expresses negative emotions they are perceived irrational but when positive emotions are expressed the reviewer is perceived as rational. Another study conducted by Folse et al (2016) received similar results with negative emotions.…”

“…Based on the previous discussion, developed hypotheses and previous studies (Folse et al, 2016;Kim & Gupta, 2012;Srivastava et al, 2008;Welsh 2003), it is suggested that emotions influence review helpfulness through price fairness first and then reviewer rationality. As a result, the following hypothesis is proposed:…”

“…Emotions expressed will have an effect on helpfulness of online reviews but also an indirect effect through perceived reviewer rationality (Ahmad & Laroche, 2015;Folse et al 2016;Kim & Gupta 2012;Yin et al 2014;Yin et al, 2017). Previous studies (Folse et al, 2016;Kim & Gupta, 2012) proposed that emotions do not only have a direct effect on perceived helpfulness of online reviews but also an indirect effect through attribution about the writer.…”

“…A handful of studies (Ahmad & Laroche, 2015;Kim & Gupta, 2012;Yin et al, 2014) have examined the impact of emotions expressed in review content on perceived helpfulness of online reviews. Overall star rating, rating inconsistency Baek et al, 2012;Hu & Chen, 2016;Mudambi & Schuff, 2010;Robinson et al, 2012;Yan et al, 2016;Yin et al, 2016 Content Length, proportion of negative words, images/photos, valence, objectivity/subjectivity, emotions, emotion intensity, detailed information, explained actions and reactions, review format, review type (attributed value and simple recommendation), review Ahmad & Laroche, 2015;Baek et al, 2012;Cheng & Ho, 2015;Felbermayr & Nanopoulos, 2016;Folse et al, 2016;Hussain, et al 2017;Jeong & Koo, 2015;Karimi & Wang, 2017;Kaushik et al, 2018;Kim & Gupta, 2012;Li & Zhan, 2011;Lockie et al, 2015;Moore, 2015;Mudambi & Schuff, 2010;Ngo- Ye & diagnosticity, technical information, argument diversity, expertise claim, persuasive words, presentation mode Sinha, 2014; Park & Lee, 2008;Peng et al, 2014;Purnawirawan et al, 2015;Quaschning et al, 2015;Robinson et al, 2012;Teng et al, 2014;Weathers et al, 2015;Willemsen et al, 2011;Wu, 2013;…”

“…It is a source attribution. It has been found that when the information source is perceived as irrational it is seen as less informative (Folse et al, 2016;Kim & Gupta, 2012) and, as a result, less helpful for decision-making. However, if the reader perceives the information source as rational, they will consider the online review helpful.…”