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Abstract
Online reviews, like those compiled at Yelp, Amazon, Epinions and Tripadvisor, allow consumers to create social network value for other consumers, and to influence the success or failure of reviewed businesses. These reviews, produced without compensation, are a prominent example of how new social media have altered the challenges facing strategic marketing. Although the production of online reviews has exploded, little is known about what motivates ordinary consumers to produce reviews. We surveyed Yelp review writers, and then compiled an archive of Yelp restaurant reviews and the feedback received on those reviews. This data-set enabled a longitudinal analysis of the role of feedback as an external motivation for review production. Although receiving positive feedback increases the probability that a novice reviewer will continue to produce reviews, such feedback had no detectable effect on the productivity of established reviewers. Results point to an emerging segment of consumers who have a need to publish and reach a mass audience.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. We repeated the test of H1 substituting rate of feedback (# feedback votes/# reviews). This also produced a negative but non-significant B coefficient (p > .20). Note that rate of feedback itself is significantly correlated with level of review production (p < .001). Among established reviewers, more productive reviewers receive feedback at a higher rate.