Insights into managers’ response behavior: Priority and effort

Managerial response plays an important role in bridging customers and hotel managers in the online environment. Extant studies have examined the effect of managerial response on online reputation, customer satisfaction, and customer revisits, among others. However, the actual response behavior of managers to customer reviews remains unclear. To address this research gap, we collect data from a leading travel website and empirically analyze the response priority and effort of managers. Findings show that managers have preferences in their responses. (1) Managers prioritize digest, negative, and long reviews when responding to customers. The probability of managerial responses to digest reviews is 1.9 times that of general reviews. (2) Managers also exert additional effort when responding to such reviews. A one-score decrease in customer review leads to an approximately 17-word increase in managerial response. This study concludes by presenting the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.     

Towards a Model of Electronic Word-of-Mouth and Its Impact on the Hotel Industry

ABSTRACT

Scholars and practitioners recognize that spreading word-of-mouth can play an important role in the formation of a hotel’s image. However, the relationships among various measures of online customer engagement are relatively unknown. The present study analyzes the relationships and quantifies the impacts of various measures of online engagement including the number of online reviews, overall rating, and relative ranking. The researchers used path analysis on a sample of 178 hotels to study the relationships among relevant variables and build a model to explain the impact of such measures (Figure 2). The results reveal there is a positive direct effect of the number of reviews on a hotel’s TripAdvisor rating. A negative direct effect was found between TripAdvisor rating and a hotel’s comparative ranking. Finally, the researchers discovered that TripAdvisor rating fully mediates the relationship between the number of reviews and a hotel’s comparative ranking. This article concludes with a discussion of both the theoretical and practical implications of such findings.     

What moderates the influence of extremely negative ratings? The role of review and reviewer characteristics

Online customer reviews are increasingly used by travelers to inform their purchase decisions. However, the vast amount of reviews available nowadays may increase travellers’ effort in information processing. In order to facilitate traveller’s decisions, social commerce organizations must help travellers rapidly identify the most helpful reviews to reduce their cognitive effort. Academic literature has often documented that negative reviews are judged as helpful by consumers. However, extremely negative reviews are not always perceived as such. This study is the first that unveils what factors moderate the influence of extremely negative reviews on review helpfulness. The study has adopted a sample of 7455 online customer reviews of hotels to test hypotheses. Findings show that reviews with extremely negative ratings are more likely to be helpful when the review is long and easy to read and when the reviewer is an expert or discloses his identity (i.e. geographical origin).     

Innovativeness and customer value co-creation behaviors: Mediating role of customer engagement

Customer value co-creation behaviors play a crucial part in determining customer satisfaction. However, few restaurant literatures have examined how innovativeness influences customer value co-creation behaviors. This research examined the influence of innovativeness on customer value co-creation behaviors to clarify the mediating effect of customer engagement. Survey data from 501 customers demonstrated that innovativeness and customer engagement are positively related to customer value co-creation behaviors. Moreover, customer engagement mediates the association between innovativeness and customer value co-creation behaviors. This research extends current knowledge on customer co-creation and examines the associations among innovativeness, customer engagement, and customer value co-creation behaviors. Research implications suggest strategic directions for restaurant managers in terms of innovative practices and customer relationship management.     

心理契约违背对饭店顾客忠诚的影响——服务补救策略的调节效应

针对服务企业普遍面对的服务补救低效与顾客忠诚保持的挑战,文章基于心理契约与前瞻性服务补救理论,构建了顾客心理契约违背、服务补救和顾客忠诚间关系的分析框架,实证分析了心理契约违背对顾客忠诚的作用机理,并检验了服务补救策略对这一关系的调节效应。通过对262名饭店顾客的问卷调查,采用回归分析法处理数据,研究结果表明:心理契约违背两个维度与饭店顾客忠诚两个维度均呈显著负相关关系,顾客心理契约违背程度越高,顾客忠诚度越低;服务补救在心理契约违背与饭店顾客忠诚的关系中起到部分调节作用,即当企业服务出现失误而使顾客感知心理契约违背发生时,如果能采用恰当的服务补救策略,可以降低心理契约违背对顾客忠诚的负面影响。     

Responding to negative online reviews: The effects of hotel responses on customer inferences of trust and concern

Our research examines the perceptions and evaluations of prospective customers toward an online negative review and any accompanying hotel response. The study explores two main issues: whether the presence (versus absence) of an organizational response to negative customer reviews affects the inferences potential consumers draw about the target business, and which aspects of responses affect their impressions. We test the effects of four variables associated with a response: source of response, voice of responder, speed of response, and action frame on two outcomes variables (i.e., customer concern and trust inferences). The provision of an online response (versus no response) enhanced inferences that potential consumers draw regarding the business's trustworthiness and the extent to which it cares about its customers. Using a human voice and a timely response yielded favorable customer inferences. Inferences did not vary with response source or action frame. Implications are drawn for effective management of negative online reviews.     

The role of explanations and metadiscourse in management responses to anger-reviews versus anxiety-reviews: The mediation of sense-making

Management response (MR) has become a popular intervention for hotels to manage customer reviews on social media platforms. This article introduces two important linguistic features of MR content—metadiscourse and explanation—and investigates their effectiveness in addressing negative reviews. It also examines how hotels customize MRs using different linguistic features according to different emotions in reviews. Based on a field investigation of large-scale TripAdvisor data and an experimental study, we demonstrate that explanations outperform metadiscourse for anxiety-reviews, whereas metadiscourse is more effective than explanations for anger-reviews. Moreover, their relative effectiveness is mediated by consumers’ sense-making process. Using explanations for anxiety-reviews and metadiscourse for anger-reviews facilitates sense-making, whereas using explanations for anger-reviews and metadiscourse for anxiety-reviews impedes it. This research enriches current understanding of MR effects and provides the hospitality industry with important guidelines for formulating effective MRs and social media marketing practices.     

Understanding the dynamics of review posting and the management intervention effects on those dynamics

The purposes of the paper are (1) to examine the dynamic properties of online reviews, focusing on whether previous review trends contribute to herding or reactant behavior in subsequent review rating generation (dynamic flow), and (2) to explore the business value of management responses in the dynamic flow of online reviews based on Social Impact Theory and Rational Action Theory as the foundation. To this end, we analyze a series of regression and logistic models with quasi-experimental cases from a large online review dataset, collected from a leading online travel website in China. We find that both types of previous trends of reviews, positive and negative, contribute to reactant behavior in subsequent review rating generation. When the review trends are considered with management responses, we find that management responses have a positive impact on subsequent review ratings in the negative review trend, but not in the positive review trend.     

Relationship between customer sentiment and online customer ratings for hotels - An empirical analysis

This study aims to establish a relationship between customer sentiments in online reviews and customer ratings for hotels. Customer sentiment refers to the emotions expressed by customers through the text reviews. These sentiments can be positive, negative or neutral. The study explores customer sentiments and expresses them in terms of customer sentiment polarity. Our results find consistency between customer ratings and actual customer feelings across hotels belonging to the two categories of premium and budget. Customer sentiment polarity explains significant variation in customer ratings across both the hotel categories. With regard to managerial implications, the study finds that, when compared with premium hotels, managers of budget hotels should improve their staff performance and hotel services. The present study is not exhaustive and other factors like customer review length and review title sentiment can be analyzed for their effects on customer ratings.     

酒店动态定价背景下的顾客情绪与购后行为研究 ——基于在线评论的证据

当前,酒店受收益最大化的驱使,透过电商平台更加频繁地对价格进行动态调整,而借助互联网,顾客获取价格信息的渠道也越来越多,对价格歧视的感知更明显,动态定价策略势必会对顾客情绪和购后行为产生影响。因此,以携程旅行网3256条酒店在线评论为分析文本,运用内容分析法中的词频分析、情绪分析以及社会语义网络分析进行研究。词频分析结果显示高频词集中于动态定价类、情绪类以及顾客行为类;情绪分析结果显示顾客情绪中消极情绪占据主导地位,其次是积极情绪,最后是中性情绪;结合编码方法总结出顾客购后行为有:自我保护、报复、顾客忠诚、利他四类;社会语义网络分析中顾客对动态定价总体表现出“核心层—次核心层—边缘层”的层级结构。最后根据研究结论,文章提出了相应的管理建议。     

Joint effects of management responses and online reviews on hotel financial performance: A data-analytics approach

Hotels are increasingly shifting their online review strategy from passive listening to proactive engagement through management responses. This study investigates the joint effects of management responses and online reviews on hotel financial performance. Based on a large unique dataset of 22,483 management responses to 76,649 online consumer reviews on TripAdvisor over 26 quarters, matched with quarterly hotel financial performance, this study finds that providing timely and lengthy responses enhances future financial performance, whereas providing responses by hotel executives and responses that simply repeat topics in the online review lowers future financial performance. Moreover, review rating and review volume moderate the effects of management responses. When the average review ratings increase, more management responses of greater length should be provided. As review volume grows, the benefits of providing timely and lengthy responses diminish. The study findings generate new implications for managing responses to online reviews to increase hotel financial performance.     

To be similar or to be different? The effect of hotel managers’ rote response on subsequent reviews

Hotel managers increasingly compose rote responses (e.g., similar responses repeated from prior responses) to reviews when dealing with customers' opinions while improving efficiency and saving cost. However, such responses may be ineffective because they are unspecific and add little information to reviewers' comments. To address this dilemma, we examine the degree of managers' rote responses to identify the similarity of managers' response texts. Basing on panel data of 334,671 reviews and 169,794 manager responses from 868 hotels in TripAdvisor, we find that customers leave fewer reviews and lower review valence during the subsequent month, when the level of roteness of managers’ responses is higher. However, rote responses only decrease the volume of subsequent positive reviews but have no influence on the volume of negative reviews. Moreover, such effects are weaker for chain hotels than for independent ones. Therefore, managers should differentiate their responses to online reviews, particularly for independent hotels.     

Web reviews influence on expectations and purchasing intentions of hotel potential customers

The objective of the paper is to study the impact that hotel guests reviews posted on consumer-generated websites have on the consumer decision-making process and service expectations.An experimental study has been conducted to test the hypotheses and the research question. 349 young adults were involved in an online survey that asked to imagine searching for a hotel and reading other customers’ reviews of a hypothetical chosen hotel. Three scenarios were created by studying a few comments posted by customers on the main websites used by tourists.Results show a positive correlation between both hotel purchasing intention and expectations of the customers and valence of the review. On the contrary, the presence of hotel managers’ responses to guests’ reviews has a negative impact on purchasing intentions.The study enriches the stream of research on word-of-mouth in the hospitality industry and analyses a new operational problem for lodging managers. Hotels should reply to online customer reviews or not?     

Driving employees to serve customers beyond their roles in the Vietnamese hospitality industry: The roles of paternalistic leadership and discretionary HR practices

Our research primarily seeks to assess how paternalistic leadership behaviors – authoritarianism, benevolence, and morality – influence extra-role customer service via employee work engagement as a mediator. The data for our research model were gleaned from four- or five-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. To test the hypotheses of the research model, structural equation modelling was employed. Our research findings cast light on the mediation mechanism of employee work engagement for the positive relationships between benevolence and morality components of paternalistic leadership and extra-role customer service behavior, as well as for the negative relationship between authoritarian behavior and extra-role customer service behavior. Additionally, benevolent and moral behaviors were found to attenuate this negative association between authoritarian behavior and extra-role customer service. Discretionary HR practices were proved to play the moderating role for the relationships between the three paternalistic leadership behaviors and employee work engagement in that discretionary HR practices fortified the positive link between benevolent or moral behavior and work engagement and alleviated the negative link between authoritarian behavior and work engagement.     

Factors influencing customer engagement with branded content in the social network sites of integrated resorts

The integrated resorts rely on social network sites (SNSs) for content marketing, while one of the main purposes of content marketing is customer engagement that will leverage the impact of branded content. This study investigates the factors influencing customer engagement with brand posts of integrated resorts on the SNSs. The findings highlight the important influence of both media-type and content-type factors on the level of customer engagement in SNSs of integrated resorts. This study provides practical implications for integrated resorts to develop SNS online content marketing strategy.     

Do customers exhibit engagement behaviors in AI environments? The role of psychological benefits and technology readiness

Although service environments have become increasingly smart due to the infusion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, little research has examined AI environments and their influence on customer behaviors. This research investigated this issue in the context of services. We explored the direct effects of AI environments (compared with the traditional environment) on customer engagement, the role of customer technology readiness (TR) as a moderator, and ideal self-congruity and trust as mediators. Three studies were designed, and data from situational experiments were analyzed. The moderated mediation analysis suggested that customer engagement behaviors (CEBs) occur when customers with higher TR-optimism perceive ideal self-congruity in a conspicuous AI environment (vs. a conspicuous traditional environment). Additionally, customers with higher TR-optimism are more likely to have trust and perform CEBs for lower anthropomorphism in a conspicuous AI environment. The research findings make theoretical and practical contributions to technology applications, service environments, and customer relationship management.     

Exploring the impact of personalized management responses on tourists’ satisfaction: A topic matching perspective

As an online reputation management tool, hotel managers increasingly rely on management responses to online reviews to improve the electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Due to the substantial heterogeneity of textual reviews with different topics, it is particularly challenging to personalize the response for customer relationship management. Based on a panel data of 500 hotels in the state of Texas collected from TripAdvisor, this study examines the influence of personalized management responses on rating increase from a topic matching perspective. The empirical results show that (1) a high level of topic matching of management response leads to an increase of hotel online rating; (2) a high valence and a large variation of existing rating weaken the positive influence of such personalized management response; (3) the influence is stronger for economy hotels compared to luxury ones. Lastly, practical implications are provided.     

Linking servicescape and customer engagement: An investigation in the hotel context

Servicescape and customer engagement are important concepts in the hospitality literature, but scant research pays attention to their relationship. To fill the gap, the present study proposes a “servicescape–value–engagement” framework to examine the effects of servicescape elements on different components of customer engagement by addressing functional and wellness values as mediators. Structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the data surveyed from 619 hotel customers in China. Findings indicate that substantive and communicative servicescapes have positive effects on customers’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagements. Wellness value mediates all of these effects whereas functional value only mediates the effects on customers’ affective and behavioral engagements. Through the establishment of the framework, the present study theoretically broadens current knowledge on the servicescape-driven responses and the antecedents of customer engagement. Practically, the findings prompt hotels to effectively design and deliver servicescape elements to improve customer engagement and value perceptions.     

Roles of emotional expressions in review consumption and generation processes

This research examines how the relationship between review ratings and perceived review helpfulness varies when emotional expressions reflected in the textual content of customer reviews are considered. Moreover, we investigate how mobile devices affect emotional expressions in reviews with the same review ratings. We recruited participants from Amazon MTurk and collected online customer review data from TripAdvisor.com. Our analyses reveal that negativity bias exists in emotional expressions and applies to both the review generation and consumption processes. For positively rated reviews, negative emotional expressions are used more often and are perceived to be more helpful. For negatively rated reviews, positive emotional expressions are less used and perceived as less helpful. Our results also show that the reviews posted via mobile devices tend to be more emotional, for reviews with the same ratings. By showing the direct and indirect impacts of mobile devices, this research provides valuable theoretical and managerial information.     

Are other customer perceptions important at casino table games? Their impact on emotional responses and word-of-mouth by gender

This study examined (1) the effects of three types of other customer perceptions on emotional responses, (2) the causal relationships between emotional responses and word-of-mouth, and (3) the moderating role of gender. The data were collected from 216 table game players in the United States. The results indicated that similarity and physical appearance had significant effects on positive emotion, while physical appearance and suitable behavior had significant influences on negative emotion. In addition, positive and negative emotions help to form word-of-mouth. Lastly, this study found that gender has a key moderating function in the relationship between negative emotion and word-of-mouth.