The effect of content depth and deviation on online review helpfulness: Evidence from double-hurdle model

How does the content of a product review shape its perceived value? We propose two information theory-based constructs derived from probabilistic topic models and show their relationship with review helpfulness. The first construct, content depth, quantifies the breadth-depth tradeoff of a review and has an informational influence on readers’ voting behavior. The second construct, content deviation, indicates the deviance of the review content in comparison with others and exerts a normative influence on readers’ voting behavior. Noting the possibility that a review can get voted but has zero helpfulness score, we use a double-hurdle model to simultaneously estimate the probability of a review being voted and its helpfulness. The analyses on three product categories show that reviews with more depth and less content deviation are rated more helpful. Further, the relationships are moderated by a number of factors, including the deviation of numerical rating, recency of the review, and the reputation of the reviewer. The research contributes to the literature by showing how the content of a review and the interaction of content and numerical ratings jointly create value for consumers.     

Impact of online word-of-mouth on sales: the moderating role of product review quality

Facing with thousands of online product reviews, consumers usually pay close attention to those valuable ones which provide more specific and credible evaluations on products. Whether a close association exists between product review quality and sales is thus examined in this paper. By employing text mining techniques on multiple review features, a review is measured as one of the following two levels: high-quality or low-quality. In doing so, aggregate quality level of product’s whole reviews is also identified. Then, a two-level econometrical analysis is conducted on the real datasets from Amazon.cn. The results reveal that aggregate quality level of positive reviews and negative reviews interactively influence sales. In the situation the aggregate quality level of positive reviews is high meanwhile that of negative reviews’ is low, product sale is the highest, while in the opposite situation product sale is the lowest. The results also reveal that consumers understand product’s value from weighting positive and negative reviews of high-quality level, which then positively relates to product sales and exerts a dynamic effect on sales by the moderating role of product selling stage and popularity. The paper innovatively integrates the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of reviews to estimate their economic effect.     

Knowledge stickiness in the buyer-supplier knowledge transfer process: The moderating effects of learning capability and social embeddedness

Increased outsourcing yields less vertically-integrated firms, suppliers have to rely on different buyers and interdisciplinary teams for acquired and utilized knowledge to improve performance. However, knowledge transfer from buyers to suppliers is not always successful. Studies pertaining to the knowledge stickiness between firms in the knowledge transfer process, such as between buyers and suppliers, have been minimal. Furthermore, while knowledge transfer processes are essentially context-specific in terms of who participates and how they participate in the process, it is very important to put knowledge transfer into context. The results provide support for a curvilinear inverted-U shape relationship between knowledge stickiness and manufacturing capability. In addition, the influence of knowledge stickiness on manufacturing capability would be enhanced by the moderating variables of social embeddedness and learning capability. The finding further suggests that supplier manufacturing capabilities impact supplier commitment and supplier performance.     

Consumer attitudes toward blogger’s sponsored recommendations and purchase intention: The effect of sponsorship type,product type,and brand awareness

Sponsored recommendation blog posts, a form of online consumer review, are blog articles written by bloggers who receive benefits from sponsoring marketers to review and promote products on their personal blog. Because national regulations require that marketer sponsorship must be revealed in the blog post, sponsored recommendation posts can no longer conceal their marketing intent. Consumer’s attitudes toward sponsored recommendation posts are thus a vital issue in assessing the effectiveness of the advertisement. This study uses a 2(sponsorship type) × 2(product type) × 2(brand awareness) experimental design and a total of 613 valid samples to examine consumer attitudes toward sponsored recommendation posts and purchase intention. The results show that when products recommended in blog posts are search goods or have high brand awareness, consumers have highly positive attitudes toward sponsored recommendation posts, which improves purchase intention. The directly-monetary/indirect-monetary benefits received by the bloggers have no significant effect on readership attitudes. Using these features in blog writings appears to improve online readers’ trust toward and the credibility of sponsored recommendation posts and thus can be a vital online marketing tool for marketers.     

Examining the impact of consumer feedback on internet product evaluation: Comparing base-rate and case history information

Two important pieces of information for consumers evaluating products online are consumer ratings (i.e. base-rates) and consumer reviews (i.e. case histories). While literature in cognitive psychology shows a tendency to weigh case history information more heavily than base-rate information, other consumer oriented studies show the opposite. This study examined the relative impact of each type of information by treating consumer ratings and reviews as orthogonal factors and then manipulating the valence of each type of information. Participants evaluated a novel health beverage by viewing consumer ratings and/or reading their reviews about the product. Results indicated that the valence of the base-rate information significantly affected participants’ evaluation of the product only when case history information was not presented. When case history information was presented, the valence of such information significantly affected participants’ evaluation of the product regardless of the valence of any base-rate information. These results demonstrate that base-rate neglect may bias individuals’ evaluations of products since base-rate information tends to be more representative of a population than case history information. Thus determining ways of making base-rate information more impactful in consumer settings is an important goal.     

The effect of dynamic sitting on the prevention and management of low back pain and low back discomfort: a systematic review

Dynamic sitting has been proposed to reduce low back pain (LBP) and/or low back discomfort (LBD) while sitting. This is supported by studies suggesting that subjects with LBP assume more static, sustained postures while sitting. This systematic review investigated the effect of dynamic sitting on LBP among subjects with LBP and the development of LBD among pain-free subjects. Electronic databases were searched by two independent assessors. All prospective studies which compared the effect of a dynamic sitting condition on LBP or LBD to another sitting condition were eligible, with no minimum follow-up period applied. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the PEDro scale. Seven high-quality studies were eligible, including five crossover studies and two randomised controlled trials. The results suggest there is currently no evidence to support the use of dynamic sitting as a stand-alone approach in the management of LBP. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: This systematic review investigated the effect of dynamic sitting on LBP or LBD. Seven high-quality studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Overall, the evidence suggests that dynamic sitting approaches are not effective as a stand-alone management approach for LBP.     

A step toward STEP-compatible engineering data management: the data models of product structure and engineering changes

In an iterative design process, there is a large amount of engineering data to be processed. Well-managed engineering data can ensure the competitiveness of companies in the competitive market. It has been recognized that a product data model is the basis for establishing engineering database. To fully support the complete product data representation in its life cycle, an international product data representation and exchange standard, STEP, is applied to model the representation of a product. In this paper, the architecture of an engineering data management (EDM) system is described, which consists of an integrated product database. There are six STEP-compatible data models constructed to demonstrate the integratibility of EDM system using common data modeling format. These data models are product definition, product structure, shape representation, engineering change, approval, and production scheduling. These data models are defined according to the integrated resources of STEP/ISO 10303 (Parts 41-44), which support a complete product information representation and a standard data format. Thus, application systems, such as CAD/CAM and MRP systems, can interact with the EDM system by accessing the database based on the STEP data exchange standard.     

A comprehensive framework to research digital innovation: The joint use of the systems of innovation and critical realism

This study addresses calls to expand the boundaries of digital innovation research at multiple levels of society to comprehensively study the structure and evolution of innovation processes and outcomes. We contribute by proposing a framework composed of systems of innovation (SIs)¹ as an alternative and holistic conceptual base and unit of analysis, which accounts for the interconnected components located beyond the organizational microenvironments that ultimately affect innovation in organizations. Given the compatibility of SIs and the ontology of critical realism (CR)² as well as some flaws in SI research practice, we also use critical realist research approaches to guide the study of the state and transformation of SIs. We further explain the joint use of SIs and CR by applying them to the area of information systems innovation diffusion.