Abstract
Despite the growing interest in the effect of actor engagement on performance outcomes, empirical work adopting a holistic view is scarce. This study aims to empirically assess the impact of engagement behaviors on a shop’s performance within an e-market ecosystem. Specifically, the study investigates how actors’ level of engagement in online reviewing relates to a shop’s future performance, using a rich panel dataset (1332 clothes shops spanning seven months) within the Etsy ecosystem. The results indicate that in these environments, higher positive engagement behaviors don’t affect performance, as positive reviews are expected. Engagement behaviors entailing negative reviewing also have a non-significant effect on performance, as they offer important feedback to the shop, which offsets damaging effects. However, when the volume of either low positive engagement or disengagement behaviors increases, performance deteriorates, as these behaviors signal mediocre quality or non-credible reviewing behavior. The article concludes with implications for research and practice.
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