Research on online consumer reviews published through Service Business journal

Prof. Mark Anthony Camilleri has recently coauthored an academic article that was accepted for publication through “Service Business” (a Springer Nature journal).

The paper focuses on online consumer reviews of service experiences in the hospitality industry context. It identifies the factors and the extent to which online users share overstatements and amplified assertions in social media including consumer review platforms.

Specifically, the underlying research questions are:

1. How and to what extent are the consumers' altruistic intentions to provide customer-focused reviews contributing to the development of exaggerated claims in their testimonials?
2. How and to what extent are the consumers’ constructive reviews aimed at service providers, having an effect on the development of exaggerated claims in their testimonials?
3. How and to what extent are the consumers’ psychological factors including their self-esteem and self-image, having an effect on the development of exaggerated claims in their testimonials?
4. How and to what extent are the consumers’ dissatisfaction levels with the services they receive and their retribution motivations, having an effect on the development of exaggerated claims in their testimonials?

Quantitative data were gathered from four-hundred forty (440) respondents who shared their service experiences through popular social media platforms. A covariance-based structural equations model approach has been used to analyse the data.

The results suggest that psychological and emotional factors including the consumers’ self-image, self-enhancement as well as their motivations for retribution against service providers, are having a significant effect on the development of amplified review content.

This contribution advances a novel theoretical model that clearly identifies socio-psychological factors that are significantly affecting online conversations about service experiences. It clarifies the extent to which emotional constructs like the consumers’ willingness to share altruistic/constructive reviews, their self-image/self-enhancement factors as well as their retribution motivations are influencing their readiness to articulate amplified, hyperbolic content, to voice their satisfaction/dissatisfaction levels with service business and online communities.

This publication is available through the University of Malta's Open Access Repository (OAR) and via SPRINGER NATURE.