Are Neutral Sentiments Worth Considering When Investigating Online Consumer Reviews? Their Relationship with Review Ratings

Online consumer reviews (OCRs) play an important role for firms to understand consumer satisfaction. Prior research on OCRs has used sentiment analysis to identify and quantify consumers’ subjective impressions in terms of positive and negative sentiments. However, OCRs also contain objective facts about the product or service, which are represented by neutral sentiments. In this study, we argue that it is important to distinguish neutral sentiments from those of positivity and negativity when investigating consumer satisfaction. Through a lens of expectation-confirmation theory, we delineate the roles of subjective information in relation to consumer satisfaction, in the sense that consumer satisfaction is mainly formed by one’s subjective expectations and evaluations, not by objective facts of the product or service. The empirical results obtained from OCRs about hotels demonstrate that consumer satisfaction is significantly higher in positive OCRs than neutral ones, and significant lower in negative OCRs than neutral ones. Furthermore, neutral sentiments drastically improve the explanatory power of empirical models, thereby enhancing our understanding of consumer satisfaction. Academically, this study sheds light on the importance of neutral sentiments. Practically, neutral sentiments, when being separated from the other two sentiment categories, contribute to more accurately reflecting consumer satisfaction

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on airlines’ passenger satisfaction

This study aims to understand airline passengers' satisfaction trends by analyzing the most influential factors on satisfaction before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consists of a dataset with 9745 passenger reviews published on airlinequality.com. The reviews were analyzed with a sentiment analysis tool calibrated for the aviation industry for accuracy. Machine learning algorithms were then implemented to predict review sentiment based on airline company, travelers' type and class, and country of origin. Findings show passengers were unhappy before the pandemic, aggravated after the COVID-19 outbreak. The staff's behavior is the main factor influencing passengers' satisfaction. Predictive modeling showed that it is possible to predict negative review sentiments with satisfactory performance rather than positive reviews. The main takeaway is that passengers, after the pandemic, are most worried about refunds and aircraft cabin cleanliness. From a managerial standpoint, airline companies can benefit from the created knowledge to adjust their strategies in agreement and meet their customers' expectations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

STAY WITH ME - CONVERSATIONAL CHURN PREVENTION IN DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE

Lots of organizations use subscription business models. However, with increasing competition and technological progress switching costs for customers are decreasing. This development can translate to serious issues for subscription-based businesses, requiring action. Traditionally, businesses used mailings or calls, which are costly, time-consuming and often not effective. In this research-in-progress paper, we explore conversational churn prevention as a potential remedy. We present a conversational agent with persuasive design features (e.g., nudges) and first results from a pre-study. We conduct an in-between subject experiment and interviews for our mixed-methods evaluation of our pre-study. Our work contributes to theory, by presenting more insights into the interaction quality of conversational agents in the context of churn prevention of digital services and the role of persuasive design. We support practitioners, by guiding them towards more effective use of conversational agents to improve their services and to predict churn

Level Of Service Quality Of Sme Laboratory Services On Customer Satisfaction

Perkhidmatan makmal adalah bidang perkhidmatan yang profesional di mana ia melibatkan pengetahuan sains yang luas dan melibati alat uji yang canggih untuk memenuhi kepuasan pelanggan. Laboratories service is part of professional services under legal services which involves knowledge based and high end equipment is a necessity to fulfill customer requirement

The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on European airlines' passenger satisfaction

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many challenges to the airline industry, resulting in radical changes to the passengers’ experience. The purpose of this study is to understand the differences in customer satisfaction between the pre-COVID-19 period and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well the factors that influence said satisfaction. The sample of this study consists of a dataset with 9,745 reviews written by passengers on the well-known airline reviews website, airlinequality.com, owned by SKYTRAX. The reviews were analyzed with a sentiment analysis tool that was specially calibrated for the aviation industry to be more accurate. The findings of this study show that passengers were unhappy with airlines before the pandemic, and those feelings were aggravated after the COVID-19 outbreak. The behavior of airline staff is the main factor to influence passengers’ satisfaction. The main takeaway is that passengers, after the pandemic, are mostly worried with refunds and aircraft cabin cleanliness. This study shows that analyzing passenger reviews is an effective way of gathering customer feedback, paving the way for airlines to continuously improve their service offerings.A pandemia COVID-19 trouxe muitos desafios à indústria da aviação, resultando em drásticas alterações à experiência dos passageiros. O objetivo deste estudo é compreender as diferenças na satisfação dos passageiros, antes e depois da pandemia COVID-19, bem como quais os fatores que a influenciam. A amostra consiste em 9745 comentários deixados por passageiros no conhecido site de comentários, airlinequality.com, cujo proprietário é a SKYTRAX. Os comentários foram analisados recorrendo a uma ferramenta de análise de sentimentos, especialmente calibrada para a indústria aeronáutica, de modo a obter resultados mais precisos. Os resultados sugerem que os passageiros não estavam satisfeitos com as companhias aéreas, e esse sentimento foi agravado durante a pandemia. O comportamento dos trabalhadores das companhias aéreas são o fator que mais influencia a satisfação dos passageiros. A principal conclusão é que os passageiros, após a pandemia, demonstram preocupações acrescidas com reembolsos e com a limpeza da cabine das aeronaves. Este estudo mostra que análise de comentários de passageiros é uma forma eficiente de recolher a opinião dos clientes, dando oportunidade às companhias aéreas de melhorarem continuamente os seus serviços

A conceptual model of channel choice: measuring online and offline shopping value perceptions

This study tries to understand how consumers evaluate channels for their purchasing. Specifically, it develops a conceptual model that addresses consumer value perceptions of using the Internet versus the traditional (physical) channel. Previous research showed that perceptions of price, product quality, service quality and risk strongly influence perceived value and purchase intentions in the offline and online channel. Perceptions of online and offline buyers can be analyzed to see how value is constructed in both channels. This model enables comparisons between online and offline shoppers perceptions. As such, it is possible to determine the factors that encourage or prevent consumers to engage in online shopping.

Impact of the virtual assistant's interactive dimensions in the Portuguese young adults' customer experience expectations and patronage intentions, in the retail context

Throughout the times it has been witnessed a continuous evolution in the way people make business transactions, across sectors. This has been highly influenced by technological developments and the constant need for companies to adjust to their clients’ needs and expectations. The retail sector has been no exception, evolving alongside innovation, and adapting to new trends. One of its results is the emergence of conversational commerce, a new form of commerce that combines the trend of communicating via instant messages and the use of artificial intelligence, introducing virtual assistants to the retail context. The aim of this study is to better understand the potentialities virtual assistants have in the Portuguese retail context, amongst young adults. By identifying which of the dimensions of the interaction with a retailer virtual assistant - "Cognitive Perception, Affective Engagement, and Communication Quality" - have a significant impact on the expectation users create towards their customer experience and how this is determinant to their patronage intentions towards the retailer. A quantitative methodology was used to perform this investigation, with the development of an introductory chatbot and an online survey, completed by 385 individuals (Portuguese young adults, with ages ranging from 18 to 35, and that had access to the Facebook Messenger app). The Customer Experience Expectation was proven to have a significant impact on the respondent' patronage intentions towards the virtual assistant and the retailer. However, only the cognitive dimension of the virtual assistant was confirmed to significantly impact the expectations on the customer experienceAo longo dos tempos, tem-se vindo a testemunhar uma evolução na forma como o comércio é feito nos vários setores de atividade. As empresas têm de se reinventar constantemente para satisfazer as necessidades e expectativas dos consumidores, que resultam dos avanços tecnológicos. O mesmo acontece no setor do Retalho, que tem vindo a inovar, acompanhando a tecnologia e as tendências dos consumidores. Um exemplo disto é o aparecimento da uma nova forma de comércio, o comércio conversacional. Este combina a tendência de comunicação via mensagens instantâneas com o desenvolvimento da inteligência artificial, introduzindo assistentes virtuais neste setor. O principal objetivo deste estudo prende-se com a investigação do impacto que a inclusão de um assistente virtual teria no setor do retalho interagindo com os jovens adultos portugueses. Para tal, procurou identificar-se quais as dimensões da interação com um assistente virtual - cognitiva, afetiva e comunicativa - que influenciariam as expectativas relativas à experiência de compra e consequentemente as intenções de uso e compra dos consumidores. Para a investigação foi utilizada uma metodologia quantitativa, com a criação de um "chatbot" informativo e de um questionário "online", ao qual responderam 385 portugueses com idades desde os 18 até aos 35 anos, com acesso ao Facebook Messenger. Neste estudo foi provado que as expectativas dos consumidores em relação à experiência de compra influenciam as suas intenções de uso (assistente virtual) e compra (retalhista). No entanto, apenas a dimensão cognitiva mostrou ter um impacto significativo na criação de expectativas relativas à experiência de compra