City Research Online

Abstract

Consumers are often exposed to prior reviews when considering posting themselves. We examine how finding one’s opinion in the minority (vs. majority) of previous ratings affects a consumer’s decision to post. Specifically, we contrast the posting decisions of frequent posters with those of less frequent posters. Results from seven experimental studies show that frequent posters prefer review environments in which their opinion belongs to the minority of previously posted ratings. We support these findings with additional evidence from secondary review data. This behavior sets them apart from infrequent posters, who are reluctant to share minority opinions. In addition, we show that this effect is driven by differences in how a minority post is perceived: As an opportunity to signal one’s reviewer identity or as socially risky. Based on these insights, we explore how rating platforms can motivate review posting, particularly among infrequent posters. Our findings extend previous research on social influence effects in online reviews and have implications for various stakeholders who rely on and aim to solicit reviews on rating platforms.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Publisher Keywords:	online review posting, posting frequency, minority opinion, identity signaling, social risk
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HM Sociology Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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