Wednesday Research Seminar Series - Differences in Mobile and Non-mobile Reviews: The Role of Perceived Costs for Review-posting

We are pleased to invite you to our Wednesday Research Seminar. It will be held online on 10 March from 4pm via Microsoft team platform. Wednesday Research Seminar Series was launched in 2008 and has featured more than 290 presentations to date. The seminars provide a forum for researchers to share their work. Presenters include faculty from Middlesex University Dubai and other universities in the United Arab Emirates, as well as researchers from other global institutions. Jeongsoo will deliver seminar on:         

“Differences in Mobile and Non-mobile Reviews: The Role of Perceived Costs for Review-posting”

Jeongsoo Han          

Abstract      

This study investigates how the characteristics of mobile devices influence consumer review-posting behavior. We propose that the characteristics of mobile devices affect a consumer’s perceived review-posting cost in terms of time and cognitive effort. Our empirical analysis, using field data from Booking.com, shows that the relative ratio of extremely positive and negative reviews via mobile devices is significantly higher than those through non-mobile devices. Interestingly, the increased ratio of extremely negative reviews is smaller than that of extremely positive reviews. Our subsequent analyses, using three experimental studies, reveal that our empirical findings can be explained by the changes in perceived review-posting cost via mobile devices. This study provides theoretical implications by demonstrating how the development of mobile technology influences the review rating extremity and revealing its underlying mechanism, which is perceived as the review-posting cost. Our findings also provide useful managerial insights for e-commerce companies in terms of building an effective strategy to encourage consumers to post reviews based on changes in consumers’ perceived review-posting costs.

Biography

Dr Jeongsoo Han is a senior lecturer in Marketing at Middlesex University Dubai. He holds a PhD in Marketing from Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea and an MSc in Marketing from Georgia State University in the USA. He received a BA in Business Administration from Silla University in South Korea. He has published his research in international peer reviewed journals on branding strategy, consumer behavior, human brands, and online reviews.