Understanding online review helpfulness in omnichannel retailing
| Published date | 09 September 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-10-2018-0450 |
| Date | 09 September 2019 |
| Pages | 1565-1580 |
| Author | Shuiqing Yang,Yusheng Zhou,Jianrong Yao,Yuangao Chen,June Wei |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Understanding online
review helpfulness in
omnichannel retailing
Shuiqing Yang
Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
Yusheng Zhou, Jianrong Yao and Yuangao Chen
School of Information Management and Engineering,
Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China, and
June Wei
Department of Management and Management Information Systems,
University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida, USA
Abstract
Purpose –As retailers have increasingly embraced an omnichannel retailing strategy, explaining and
predicting the helpfulness of online review should consider both online-based and offline-based reviews. The
paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach –Based onthe signaling theory, thisstudy intends to examine the impacts
of review-related and reviewer-relatedsignals on review helpfulnessin the context of omnichannelretailing.The
proposed research model and corresponding hypotheses were testedby using negative binomial regression.
Findings –The results shown that both review-related (review rating and review sentiment strength) and
reviewer-related (reviewer real name and reviewer expertise) signals positively affect review helpfulness. Contrary
to the authors’expectations, review length negatively affects review helpfulness. Specifically, when the review
submitted from an omnichannel retailer’s offline channel, the positive impacts of reviewer real name on review
helpfulness will be stronger, and the positive impacts of reviewer expertise on review helpfulness will be weaker.
Originality/value –Unlike many previous studies tend to explore the antecedents of review helpfulness in a
single-channel setting, the study examined the factors that affect review helpfulness in an omnichannel
retailing context.
Keywords Review helpfulness, Omnichannel retailing, Review signals, Reviewer signals
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
User-generated reviews playan increasingly importantrole in facilitatingproduct information
and consumption experienceexchange (Siering et al.,2018). Like other forms of user-generated
contents, online consumer reviews can help consumers to reduce riskand uncertainty related
to their online purchasing decisions (Xiang et al., 2018). In recent years, along with the
development of mobile technologies and the ongoing trend of digitalization, retailers have
increasingly embraced an omnichannel strategy to provide consumers with seamless
shopping experience (Rodríguez-T orrico et al., 2017; Shen et al., 2018). This omnichannel
strategy integrated retailers’physical and digital channels which allow consumers to shop
across channelsanywhere and anytime (Shenet al., 2018). For instance, itis not uncommon for
consumers to use their mobile devices in a retailer’s physical store to purchase products and
then provide reviews via their mobile devices. In fact, it is reportedthat 49 percent of in-store
sales in America were affected by the use of mobile devices including mobile phones and
tablets during shopping trips (Rodríguez-Torrico et al., 2017). In the omnichannel
retailing context, online reviews can be generated from either online or offline channels
(Rodríguez-Torrico et al., 2017; Xiang et al., 2018). The offline-based reviews are submitted by
consumers who had human interactions and in-store experiences in an omnichannelretailer’s
physical stores, while the online-based reviews are generated by consumers who had virtual
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 119 No. 8, 2019
pp. 1565-1580
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-10-2018-0450
Received 15 October 2018
Revised 12 January 2019
18 April 2019
Accepted 16 May 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
1565
Online review
helpfulness
shoppingexperiences of an omnichannelretailer’s digital storesbut without the experiences of
the corresponding physical stores.As offline-based reviewsreflected consumers’omnichannel
purchase experience (Rodríguez-Torrico et al., 2017; Shen et al., 2018),such reviews would be
more likely to exert greater impacts on the potentialreview readers when compared with the
online-based reviews. Therefore, it is interesting to explore whether online reviews generated
from different review channel (online or offline) will have different impacts on the review
helpfulness in an emerging omnichannel retailing context.
In academics, substantial effect has been devoted to understand consumer behaviors in
the multichannel or omnichannel retailing contexts (Ailawadi and Farris, 2017; Verhoef
et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2010). Multichannel retailing is defined as “set of activities involved
in selling merchandises or services to consumers through more than one channel”(Neslin
et al., 2006; Zhang et al., 2010). This multichannel model focuses on managing and
optimizing the performance of each channel (Neslin et al., 2006). On the other hand,
omnichannel retailing focused on integration of channels to correspond to how customers
shop (Ailawadi and Farris, 2017). Omnichannel retailing refers to “the synergetic
management of the numerous available channels and customer touchpoints, in such a way
that the customer experience across channels and the performance over channels is
optimized”(Verhoef et al., 2015). Verhoef et al. (2015) point out that the global retailing
landscapes are experiencing a movement from the multicha nnel retailing to the
omnichannel retailing along with the development of the mobile channels, social media,
and the integration of the new channels in the retail mix. In the context of our study,
consumer reviews in the omnichannel environment are typically generated from the mobile
social media-based reviews platform. These consumer reviews can be obtained and utilized
by various consumers across an omnichannel retailer’s online and offline retailing channels.
The offline-based reviews and the online-based reviews may have different influence on
omnichannel review helpfulness. Therefore, it is important to examine factors that affect
review helpfulness in the omnichannel retailing context.
A careful review of extant online review literature suggests that th e signaling theory
(Connelly et al., 2011; Siering et al., 2018), which reflects review-related and reviewer-related
signals in the omnichannel signalingenvironment, would provide a theoretical foundation for
explaining review helpfulness in the omnichannel retailing context. Drawingon the signaling
theory and online review-related literature, the present study intends to investigate:
RQ1. How does the review-related and reviewer-related signals affect review helpfulness?
RQ2. Whether the effects of review-related and reviewer-related signals on review
helpfulness will vary when the review generated from different review channel in
the omnichannel context?
The contributions of the present study are twofold. First, unlike many extant studies often
focused on factors that affect review helpfulness in a single-channel setting (Mudambi and
Schuff, 2012), the present study explores th e antecedents of review helpfulness in an
omnichannel retailing context by taking into account both online-based and offline-based
reviews. Second, this studyapplied the signaling theoryin an emerging omnichannelretailing
environmentand developed a research model to explain review helpfulness by identifyingthe
review-related signals, the reviewer-related signals and signaling environment.
2. Theoretical background
2.1 Review helpfulness
Review helpfulness refers to the extent to which an online review facilitates consumers’
purchase decisions (Mudambi and Schuff, 2012; Ren and Hong, 2019). In academia, th efa ctors
that affect review helpfulness have been extensively examined (Karimi and Wang, 2017;
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