Utilizing the platform economy effect through EWOM: Does the platform matter?

Abstract

Businesses use the platform economy and electronic word-of-mouth generated by online reviews to attract consumers. Based on the communication accommodation theory, we examine both the contents of online consumer reviews and managerial responses to analyze what consumers and managers write and the associated linguistic characteristics to determine how they write. We examine and compare online consumer reviews and managerial responses on social media platforms, third-party booking platforms, and direct-sales platforms in four dimensions. These include (a) linguistic characteristics, (b) content, (c) the interaction between consumers and managers, and (d) the mechanism of the reflection of online reviews in consumer satisfaction. We use a text mining approach, latent semantic analysis, and text regressions to analyze data from the hotel industry. The findings suggest that both the linguistic characteristics and content of the consumer reviews and managerial responses differ depending on the platform. However, the factors influencing consumer satisfaction are the same among the three platforms. Consumer reviews on social media platforms have greater subjectivity and length; reviews on direct platforms have higher polarity, diversity, and readability. Consumer reviews focus more on interpersonal and intangible attributes on social media, on economic attributes on third-party platforms, and on tangible attributes on direct platforms. Managers’ responses have similar linguistic styles in terms of subjectivity, polarity, and readability, but they use more words with greater diversity and focus more on operations and facility issues on direct platforms than on the other two platforms. We provide implications for managers to understand consumer reviews and write responses.