A picture is worth a thousand words: Understanding the predictors of picture sharing in online consumer reviews

Abstract

Picture in online customer reviews conveys detailed product information to help potential customers make purchase decisions, which is an important form of digital data. Therefore, understanding the predictors of picture sharing in online customer reviews is crucial for retail businesses to achieve digital transformation strategies for competitive advantage, high quality service and sustainable performance. By analyzing 6211 online customer reviews of 16 products crawled from the famous online shopping site JD.com in China, this study tests the effects of reviewer rank (who), product type (what), time interval (when), review device (where), consumption satisfaction (why), and the level of involvement (how) on whether customers sharing picture and picture count in online customer reviews based on the 5W1H analysis framework. The results show that: (1) with or without picture and picture count both influence the helpfulness of online customer reviews; (2) product type, time interval, review device, consumption satisfaction and the level of involvement significantly affect whether consumers share picture; and (3) review device, consumption satisfaction and the level of involvement significantly affect picture count. The findings can help managers manage picture reviews to improve business performance.