Does ethnic affinity affect consumers’ posting behavior? Evidence from face recognition and difference-in-differences design

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research findings have shown that consumers’ cultural backgrounds affect their evaluations on products or services. We argue that the ethnic affinity between consumers and service providers can affect their evaluations and online engagement after consumption. Using the information of 359,885 consumer reviews and their profile images collected from restaurants in New York City listed on Yelp, we employ face recognition and a difference-in-differences (DID) design. The results suggest that the ethnic affinity between consumers and restaurants induces consumers to post positive reviews with high ratings and sentiments; their engagement in posting reviews is also enhanced with longer texts and more photos. These findings offer direct implications for restaurant managers and online booking platform operators from the perspective of hospitality marketing and management. 研究结果表明，消费者的文化背景会影响他们对产品或服务的评价. 我们认为，消费者和服务提供商之间的种族亲和力会影响他们的评价和消费后的在线参与. 使用从Yelpṣ列出的纽约市餐馆收集的359885条消费评论及其个人资料图像的信息，我们采用了面部识别和差异差异（DID）设计. 结果表明，消费者和餐馆之间的种族亲和性促使消费者发表具有高评分和情感的正面评论;更长的文字和更多的照片也增强了他们发布评论的参与度. 这些发现从酒店营销和管理的角度为餐厅经理和在线预订平台运营商提供了直接影响.