Consumer-brand heuristics in luxury hotel reviews
| Date | 06 February 2024 |
| Pages | 430-442 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-01-2023-4303 |
| Published date | 06 February 2024 |
| Author | Maria Petrescu,John Gironda,Kathleen Bay O'Leary |
Consumer-brand heuristics in
luxury hotel reviews
Maria Petrescu
Worldwide College of Business, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide and Online, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA
John Gironda and Kathleen Bay O’Leary
Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to evaluate and structure the basic heuristics consumers use in evaluating word-of-mouth (WOM) about luxury hotel
brands while analyzing the impact of deception in online consumer reviews.
Design/methodology/approach –The research used a two-study mixed-methods approach, using interpersonal deception theory and social proof
theory as lenses to conduct our analysis. For the first study, a qualitative conceptual mapping analysis was conducted , examining online consumer
reviews to identify key concepts and their relationships in the context of luxury hotel brands. In the second study, the the mes were further examined
using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to analyze their causal complexity and association between varia bles to determine how they
influence the perceived helpfulness of online reviews for luxury hotel brands.
Findings –The results underline the importance of functional, objective variables, such as the number of reviews and stars, as social proof heuristics
and other factors, including clout, authenticity and analytic tone, as interpersonal communication heuristic s. Therefore, consumers use a
combination of social and interpersonal communication heuristics to extract information from reviews and manage deception risk.
Research limitations/implications –The paper contributes to the consumer–brand relationship literature by assessing the heuristics consumers
use in evaluating online reviews and provides additional information for research in online reputation management.
Practical implications –This study’s results can help marketing practitioners and brand managers manage their online reputations better. It can
also aid managers in improving their messaging on hotel websites to entice consumers to complete bookings. Heuristi cs play an essential role in
such messaging and understanding them can help marketers appeal directly to their target market.
Originality/value –This study contributes to the literature on consumer–brand relationships by providing a frame work of heuristics that consumers
use when evaluating luxury service brands and contributes to WOM and online reputation research by highlighting factors that may make online
reviews more helpful.
Keywords Luxury branding, Luxury tourism, Online reviews, Social proof, Interpersonal deception, fsQCA, Hospitality and tourism, Word-of-mouth,
Online marketing, Brand relationships
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Modern consumers have an overwhelming number of
interactive platformsavailable to express themselves and obtain
information about brands, including online customer reviews
(Chen et al., 2020;Dang and Raska, 2022;Stevens et al.,
2022). The digital environment provides various
communication solutions where customers can post electronic
word-of-mouth (eWOM) messages and reviews, including
general and specialized review aggregators, such as Yelp and
TripAdvisor, that focus on hospitality brands, such as luxury
hotel brands (Li et al.,2020;Zhang et al., 2023). Also,
consumers’desire to engage digitally with luxury brands has
increased for both informational and entertainment reasons
(Veloutsou etal.,2022).
Considering the diversityof these sources of information, the
possibility for deception and negative influence is high, and
review manipulation is a significant issue among hospitality
brands (Hou et al., 2019;Kollmer et al., 2022;Steur et al.,
2022). The gravity of deception levels in the consumer review
system is reflected in multiplefactors, including the work of the
Federal Trade Commission in managing the situation and
creating an online reviews guide (FTC, 2022), as well as the
success of review management tools such as Trustfeed and
Trustpilot (PRNewswire, 2022). Online reviews have also
evolved during the pandemic, with online product ratings
decreasing sharplyjust after the outbreak, exhibiting changes in
valence and message structure(Kutlubay et al., 2023).
The current issue and full text archiveof this journal is available on Emerald
Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
33/4 (2024) 436–448
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-01-2023-4303]
This research project was supported by the PNRR III-C9 2023 I8 grant,
Project 158/31.07.2023, Academy of Economic Sciences, Bucharest,
Romania.
Received 13 January 2023
Revised 15 July 2023
11 December 2023
8 January 2024
Accepted 8 January 2024
436
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