Moderating Roles of Review Credibility and Author Popularity on Book Sales

User reviews have become a popular source to assess the quality of products in consumers\u27 purchasing decision. New insights into the effect of user reviews on product sales can be derived from examining review credibility and author popularity in our example of book sales from Amazon.com. We found that (1) average rating of reviews and diversity of ratings positively affect book sales, but (2) high diversity weakens the effect to sales, showing a quadratic effect of diversity on sales. In addition, our results suggest evidence that (3) review credibility and author popularity moderate the positive association of average rating of reviews and diversity of ratings on sales. Finally, (4) consumers seem to pay more attention to reviews for digital books than for paper books

A Meta-Analysis on the Determinants of Online Review Helpfulness

Online consumer reviews can help customers decrease uncertainty and risk faced in online shopping. However, information overload and conflicting comments in online reviews can get consumers confused. Therefore, it is important for both researchers and practitioners to understand the characteristics of helpful reviews. But studies examining the determinants of perceived review helpfulness produce mixed findings. We review extant research about the determinant factors of perceived helpfulness. Conflicting findings exist for six review related factors, namely review extremity, review readability, review total votes, linear review rating, quadratic review rating, and review sentiment. We conduct a meta-analysis to reconcile the contradictory findings on the influence of review related factors over perceived review helpfulness. The meta-analysis results confirm that review extremity, readability, total votes, and positive sentiment have a negative influence on helpfulness, but review rating is positively related to helpfulness. We also examine those studies whose findings are contradictive with the meta-analysis results. Measure discrepancy and reviewed product type are the two main reasons why mixed findings exist in extant research

Does brand personality affect consumer satisfaction? An application of text mining to restaurants

Brand personality is a fundamental marketing construct that may be leveraged for competitive advantage. Researchers and market research firms often measure brand personality in consumer surveys. This approach is expensive, unscalable, and inefficient for tracking perceptions that constantly change over time. This research thus explores an alternative to the tracking of consumers’ brand personality perceptions. Online reviews offer textual data that can be extracted for marketing research. This research captures consumers’ brand personality and brand attribute (e.g., perceived price and perceived quality) perceptions of 40 restaurants, as reflected in 4,000 online reviews, using a deep-learning algorithm. It then investigates the effect of brand personality dimensions and brand attributes on consumer satisfaction. Findings indicate a strong and independent effect of sincere, exciting, and sophisticated brand personalities on consumer satisfaction while competence and ruggedness dimensions do not influence satisfaction. In addition, this study found support for an effect of additional brand attributes (i.e., perceived price, perceived quality, interpersonal service quality, psychic cost, time/effort cost) on satisfaction, with psychic cost perceptions having the greatest impact on consumer satisfaction

Exploring the Mechanisms of Information Sharing

abstract: Online product ratings offer consumers information about products. In this dissertation, I explore how the design of the rating system impacts consumers’ sharing behavior and how different players are affected by rating mechanisms. The first two chapters investigate how consumers choose to share their experiences of different attributes, how their preferences are reflected in numerical ratings and textual reviews, whether and how multi-dimensional rating systems affect consumer satisfaction through product ratings, and whether and how multi-dimensional rating systems affect the interplay between numerical ratings and textual reviews. The identification strategy of the observational study hinges on a natural experiment on TripAdvisor when the website reengineered its rating system from single-dimensional to multi-dimensional in January 2009. Rating data on the same set of restaurants from Yelp, were used to identify the causal effect using a difference-in-difference approach. Text mining skills were deployed to identify potential topics from textual reviews when consumers didn’t provide dimensional ratings in both SD and MD systems. Results show that ratings in a single-dimensional rating system have a downward trend and a higher dispersion, whereas ratings in a multi-dimensional rating system are significantly higher and convergent. Textual reviews in MDR are in greater width and depth than textual reviews in SDR. The third chapter tries to uncover how the introduction of monetary incentives would influence different players in the online e-commerce market in the short term and in the long run. These three studies together contribute to the understanding of rating system/mechanism designs and different players in the online market.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Business Administration 201

Essays on the Influence of Review and Reviewer Attributes on Online Review Helpfulness: Attribution Theory Perspective

With the emergence of digital technology and the increasing availability of information on the internet, customers rely heavily on online reviews to inform their purchasing decisions. However, not all online reviews are helpful, and the factors that contribute to their helpfulness are complex and multifaceted. This dissertation addresses this gap in the literature by examining the antecedents that determine online review helpfulness using attribution theory. The dissertation consists of three essays. The first essay examines the impact of authenticity (review attribute) on review helpfulness, showing that the expressive authenticity of a review enhances its helpfulness. The second essay investigates the relationship between the reviewer attributes i.e., motivation, activity, and goals in online reviews. The study employs various machine learning techniques to investigate the influence of these factors on reviewers\u27 goal attainment. The third essay explores how the reviewer attributes are related to the helpfulness of online reviews. The dissertation offers significant theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, the dissertation provides new insights into novel review and reviewer attributes. The study proposes a taxonomy of online reviews using means-ends fusion theory offering a framework for understanding the relationships between different components of online reviewer attributes and their contribution to the attainment of specific goals, such as emotional satisfaction. The study also highlights the importance of understanding the motivations and activities of online reviewers in predicting emotional satisfaction and the conditional effects of complaining behavior on emotional satisfaction. The findings inform review platform owners, business owners, reviewers, and prospective consumers in decision-making through helpful reviews. To review platform owners, the findings help segregate helpful reviews from the humongous number of reviews by determining the authenticity of the review. To business owners, the findings can help in understanding consumer behavior and taking necessary actions to provide better service to their customers. To reviewers, this dissertation can act as a guideline to write helpful reviews and to determine their helpfulness. Finally, to consumers or review readers, this dissertation provides an understanding of helpful reviews, thus allowing them to take product or service purchase decisions

THREE STUDIES ON INTERACTIVE AND SOCIAL E-COMMERCE: EMPOWERING CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

How Reviewers’ Identity Disclosure and Expertise Affect Consumer Responses: The Mediating Role of Perceived Deception

Deceptive reviews which include posts by businesses (or individuals) to promote their own products/services or denounce their competitors are increasingly being used to mislead those making purchase decisions. Mass media globally and online review websites have acknowledged the existence of deceptive reviews that can undermine trust in online review websites. However, the challenges faced by both online review websites and businesses whose products and services are being reviewed extend beyond the existence of actual deceptive reviews. Another significant problem is related the issue of perceived deception (what consumers perceive is a deceptive review regardless of whether the review is deceptive or not), which is the focus of this thesis. A systematic review of literature regarding online reviews suggests that consumers’ perceived credibility and trustworthiness can be influenced by various factors related to reviews, reviewers, online review websites, and consumers’ characteristics, either independently or interactively. In turn, perceived credibility and trustworthiness play a role in influencing consumers’ responses. However, there is a lack of academic knowledge regarding the antecedents and consequences of perceived deception in online reviews that this thesis seeks to address. Building on two well-known theories (social information processing theory (SIPT) and the persuasion knowledge model (PKM)) and supplementing them with existing online review literature, a conceptual framework is developed and tested. The framework assesses how reviewers’ profile cues (reviewer’s identity disclosure and reviewer’s expertise), influence perceived deception. In addition, consumers’ responses to online reviews that they perceive to be deceptive, such as reduced booking intention, negative emotion, warning other consumers by sharing negative word of mouth (NWOM), or experiencing reduced trust towards a hotel are explored. The role of online review scepticism on the relationship between reviewers’ profile cues and perceived deception is also investigated. An online experiment (pre-test 1: n = 93; pre-test 2: n = 82; main study: n = 321) using a 2 (reviewer’s identity disclosure: high, low) x 2 (reviewer’s expertise: high, low) between-subject design was used to explore how a reviewer’s profile cues influence perceived deception and ultimately consumer responses. The results reveal the significant effects that reviewer’s identity disclosure and expertise have on perceived deception, particularly when online review scepticism is high. These cues also influence booking intention, NWOM, and negative emotion through perceived deception. Drawing on SIPT and PKM, the thesis extends online review literature by developing and testing a conceptual framework which shows how reviewers’ profile cues (i.e., low identity disclosure and low expertise) impact perceived deception and, in turn, subsequent consumer responses. The conceptual framework also shows the moderation effect of online review scepticism on the relationship between reviewer’s profile cues and perceived deception. Practically, this thesis validates a model that identifies the causes and negative effects of perceived deception. The model is designed to assist online review websites and hotels understand the importance of ensuring that genuine reviews (non-deceptive reviews) are not mistakenly perceived to be deceptive. Online review websites and hotels might achieve this by foregrounding reviewer's profile information (i.e., reviewer's identity disclosure and reviewer's expertise level)

Qualitative analysis of online reviews of users of hospitality services

Савремено друштво се све више ослања на акумулирана мишљења којa могу да пронађу на интернету. Допринос корисника на технолошким платформама омогућава олакшану интеракцију између истомишљеника заједничких интересовања, и на тај начин се олакшава процес доношења одлука. У оквиру окваквог технолошког контекста, организације у услужном сектору попут туризма и гоститељства, морају да се суоче са изазовом управљања садржајима од стране корисника. Маркетиншки стручњаци су нашли начин да искористе овакве интеракције што истиче значај имплементације нових знања у организацијама које ће помоћи у прикупљању, анализирању, тумачењу и управљању онлајн друштвеним утицајима. Предмет истраживања докторске дисертације је квалитативна анализа онлајн рецензија корисника угоститељских услуга у Србији. У поређењу са нумеричким оценама корисника, текстуалне рецензије одражавају задовољство или незадовољство корисника, али на много детаљнији начин јер садрже више информација и на тај  начин се стиче реаланији увид у стварна искуства корисника. Поред квалитативне обраде текста рецензија, идентификација врсте и значаја детерминанти задовољства и незадовољства у рецензијама корисника хотелских (у зависности од типа - градски, планински или бањски) и ресторанских услуга је један од главних задатака дисертације. За потребе истраживања прикупљене су рецензије хотела и ресторана у Србији. Коришћена је комбинација квалитативних и квантитативних метода у циљу доказивања постављених хипотеза. Од квалитативних анализа примењене су анализа фреквенције речи, анализа дужине рецензија, анализа сентимента, анализа читљивости и Латентна Дирихлеова Алокација (ЛДА). Од квантитативних метода коришћена је вишеструка регресија за утврђивање међусобних утицаја варијабли. Анализом фреквенције речи издвојене су речи које су се најчешће појављивале у рецензијама хотела и ресторана. Када су у питању хотели, у позитивним рецензијама су се појављивале речи које су се односиле на карактеристичне услуге које се пружају у одређеном типу хотела и садржале су више позитивних описних придева везаних за искуство конзумације. У негативним рецензијама хотела, без обзира на тип, чешће су се појављивали негативни описни придеви и речи које су указивале на материјалне (опипљиве) елементе хотелског производа. У позитивним рецензијама ресторана је такође присутно доста позитивних описних придева, а у негативним рецензијама је наглашен негативни аспект цене услуга у ресторану. Иако су рецензије негативне, у њима је присутно доста позитивних описних придева, што указује на то да је било аспеката услуге којима су били задовољни. Анализа дужине рецензија је показала да се у рецензијама, како хотела тако и ресторана, много више речи и реченица користи за описивање негативног искуства него позитивног. Анализа читљивости је спроведена с циљем утврђивања колико је просечно година формалног образовања неопходно за разумевање рецензија на прво читање. Резултати анализе су показали да вредности индекса читљивости варирају од веома ниског (рецензије које су разумљиве свима) до веома високог (изузетно тешке за разумевање). Просечна вредност индекса читљивости указује да читаоци морају бити завршне године средње школе за разумевање текста на прво читање. Анализом сентимента анализирана су осећања у рецензијама. Распон сентимента варира од екстремно негативних до екстремно позитивних осећања, али највећи број рецензија, како позитивних тако и негативних, садржао је неутрална и позитивна осећања. Анализирајући сентимент у рецензијама ресторана, добијени су слични резултати као и код рецензија хотела. Распон вредности сентимента варира од екстремно негативних до екстремно позитивних осећања, а са порастом оцене, расте и вредност сентимента. Овакви резултати могу указивати на то да, иако су били незадовољни, искуство корисника није праћено негативним осећањима, која су често заслужна за ширење негативних електронских препорука. Применом ЛДА издвојене су детерминанте задовољства и незадовољства услугама у хотелима (у зависности од типа хотела и категорије, као и од типа госта) и ресторанима. Полазећи од претпоставке да се детерминанте задовољства и незадовољства разликују у зависности од типа хотела, категорије и типа госта добијени су резултати који делимично потврђују ове претпоставке. Претпостављено је и да се различите детерминанте утичу на задовољство и незадовољство услугама у ресторанима, што је делимично потврђено. Применом вишеструке регресије тестирани су утицаји техничких карактеристика рецензија (поларитет, читљивост и дужина) на оцене и корисност рецензија. Добијени резултати су потврдили позитивни утицај сентимента и негативни утицај дужине рецензија на оцене корисника код хотелских рецензија, а у случају ресторана нису потврђени претпостављени утицаји. У случају утицаја техничких карактеристика рецензија хотела на корисност није утврђен значајан утицај, док је код рецензија ресторана пронађен позитиван утицај дужине и негативан утицај сентимента на корисност. Резултати добијени у овој дисертацији имају бројне теоријске и практичне импликације на угоститељску делатност. Будући да је задовољство корисника интегрални део угоститељске делатности, идентификоване детерминанте задовољства и незадовољства корисника могу угоститељима помоћи да унапреде своје пословање. На основу утврђеног утицаја техничких карактеристика рецензија на оцену и корисност, угоститељи могу да теже томе да побољшају перформансе рецензија које добијају од корисника, тако што ће, пружањем услуге врхунског квалитета, смањити негативне и дуге рецензије.Savremeno društvo se sve više oslanja na akumulirana mišljenja koja mogu da pronađu na internetu. Doprinos korisnika na tehnološkim platformama omogućava olakšanu interakciju između istomišljenika zajedničkih interesovanja, i na taj način se olakšava proces donošenja odluka. U okviru okvakvog tehnološkog konteksta, organizacije u uslužnom sektoru poput turizma i gostiteljstva, moraju da se suoče sa izazovom upravljanja sadržajima od strane korisnika. Marketinški stručnjaci su našli način da iskoriste ovakve interakcije što ističe značaj implementacije novih znanja u organizacijama koje će pomoći u prikupljanju, analiziranju, tumačenju i upravljanju onlajn društvenim uticajima. Predmet istraživanja doktorske disertacije je kvalitativna analiza onlajn recenzija korisnika ugostiteljskih usluga u Srbiji. U poređenju sa numeričkim ocenama korisnika, tekstualne recenzije odražavaju zadovoljstvo ili nezadovoljstvo korisnika, ali na mnogo detaljniji način jer sadrže više informacija i na taj  način se stiče realaniji uvid u stvarna iskustva korisnika. Pored kvalitativne obrade teksta recenzija, identifikacija vrste i značaja determinanti zadovoljstva i nezadovoljstva u recenzijama korisnika hotelskih (u zavisnosti od tipa - gradski, planinski ili banjski) i restoranskih usluga je jedan od glavnih zadataka disertacije. Za potrebe istraživanja prikupljene su recenzije hotela i restorana u Srbiji. Korišćena je kombinacija kvalitativnih i kvantitativnih metoda u cilju dokazivanja postavljenih hipoteza. Od kvalitativnih analiza primenjene su analiza frekvencije reči, analiza dužine recenzija, analiza sentimenta, analiza čitljivosti i Latentna Dirihleova Alokacija (LDA). Od kvantitativnih metoda korišćena je višestruka regresija za utvrđivanje međusobnih uticaja varijabli. Analizom frekvencije reči izdvojene su reči koje su se najčešće pojavljivale u recenzijama hotela i restorana. Kada su u pitanju hoteli, u pozitivnim recenzijama su se pojavljivale reči koje su se odnosile na karakteristične usluge koje se pružaju u određenom tipu hotela i sadržale su više pozitivnih opisnih prideva vezanih za iskustvo konzumacije. U negativnim recenzijama hotela, bez obzira na tip, češće su se pojavljivali negativni opisni pridevi i reči koje su ukazivale na materijalne (opipljive) elemente hotelskog proizvoda. U pozitivnim recenzijama restorana je takođe prisutno dosta pozitivnih opisnih prideva, a u negativnim recenzijama je naglašen negativni aspekt cene usluga u restoranu. Iako su recenzije negativne, u njima je prisutno dosta pozitivnih opisnih prideva, što ukazuje na to da je bilo aspekata usluge kojima su bili zadovoljni. Analiza dužine recenzija je pokazala da se u recenzijama, kako hotela tako i restorana, mnogo više reči i rečenica koristi za opisivanje negativnog iskustva nego pozitivnog. Analiza čitljivosti je sprovedena s ciljem utvrđivanja koliko je prosečno godina formalnog obrazovanja neophodno za razumevanje recenzija na prvo čitanje. Rezultati analize su pokazali da vrednosti indeksa čitljivosti variraju od veoma niskog (recenzije koje su razumljive svima) do veoma visokog (izuzetno teške za razumevanje). Prosečna vrednost indeksa čitljivosti ukazuje da čitaoci moraju biti završne godine srednje škole za razumevanje teksta na prvo čitanje. Analizom sentimenta analizirana su osećanja u recenzijama. Raspon sentimenta varira od ekstremno negativnih do ekstremno pozitivnih osećanja, ali najveći broj recenzija, kako pozitivnih tako i negativnih, sadržao je neutralna i pozitivna osećanja. Analizirajući sentiment u recenzijama restorana, dobijeni su slični rezultati kao i kod recenzija hotela. Raspon vrednosti sentimenta varira od ekstremno negativnih do ekstremno pozitivnih osećanja, a sa porastom ocene, raste i vrednost sentimenta. Ovakvi rezultati mogu ukazivati na to da, iako su bili nezadovoljni, iskustvo korisnika nije praćeno negativnim osećanjima, koja su često zaslužna za širenje negativnih elektronskih preporuka. Primenom LDA izdvojene su determinante zadovoljstva i nezadovoljstva uslugama u hotelima (u zavisnosti od tipa hotela i kategorije, kao i od tipa gosta) i restoranima. Polazeći od pretpostavke da se determinante zadovoljstva i nezadovoljstva razlikuju u zavisnosti od tipa hotela, kategorije i tipa gosta dobijeni su rezultati koji delimično potvrđuju ove pretpostavke. Pretpostavljeno je i da se različite determinante utiču na zadovoljstvo i nezadovoljstvo uslugama u restoranima, što je delimično potvrđeno. Primenom višestruke regresije testirani su uticaji tehničkih karakteristika recenzija (polaritet, čitljivost i dužina) na ocene i korisnost recenzija. Dobijeni rezultati su potvrdili pozitivni uticaj sentimenta i negativni uticaj dužine recenzija na ocene korisnika kod hotelskih recenzija, a u slučaju restorana nisu potvrđeni pretpostavljeni uticaji. U slučaju uticaja tehničkih karakteristika recenzija hotela na korisnost nije utvrđen značajan uticaj, dok je kod recenzija restorana pronađen pozitivan uticaj dužine i negativan uticaj sentimenta na korisnost. Rezultati dobijeni u ovoj disertaciji imaju brojne teorijske i praktične implikacije na ugostiteljsku delatnost. Budući da je zadovoljstvo korisnika integralni deo ugostiteljske delatnosti, identifikovane determinante zadovoljstva i nezadovoljstva korisnika mogu ugostiteljima pomoći da unaprede svoje poslovanje. Na osnovu utvrđenog uticaja tehničkih karakteristika recenzija na ocenu i korisnost, ugostitelji mogu da teže tome da poboljšaju performanse recenzija koje dobijaju od korisnika, tako što će, pružanjem usluge vrhunskog kvaliteta, smanjiti negativne i duge recenzije.Modern society is increasingly relying on the accumulated opinions of its peers that they can find on the Internet. The contribution of consumers on technology platforms enables easier interaction between like-minded people with common interests, and thus facilitates the decision-making process. Within this technological context, service sector organizations such as tourism and hospitality have to face the challenge of consumer-driven content management. Marketing experts have found a way to take advantage of such interactions, which emphasizes the importance of implementing new knowledge in organizations that will help collect, analyze, interpret and manage online social influences. The subject of the doctoral dissertation research is the qualitative analysis of online reviews of consumers of catering services in Serbia. Compared to numerical ratings of users, text reviews reflect customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction but in a much more detailed way because they contatin more information, and thus gain a realistic insight into real consumer experiences. Identifying the type and importance of determinants of satisfaction and dissatisfaction in consumer reviews according to hotel type (city, mountain or spa hotel) is one of the main tasks of the dissertation. For the puroposes of the research, reviews of hotels and restaurants in Serbia were collected. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used in order to prove the set hypotheses. Qualitative analyzes that were applied are word frequency analysis, review length analysis, sentiment analysis, readability analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). Among the quantitative methods, multiple regression was used to determine the mutual influence of variables. By analyzing the frequency of words, the words that appeared most often in reviews of hotels and restaurants were singled out. When it comes to hotels, positive reviews featured words that referred to the characteristics services provided in a certain type of hotel and contained more positive descriptive adjectives related to the experience of consumption. In negative hotel reviews, regardless of the hotel type, negative descriptive adjectives and words that indicated the material (tangible) elements of the hotel products appeared more often. In the positive reviews of restaurants, there are also a lot of positive descriptive adjectives, and in negative reviews, the negative aspect of the price of restaurant’s services is emphasized. Although the reviews are negative, there are a lot of positive descriptive adjectives in them, indicating that there were aspects of the services that they were satisfied with. The analysis of the length of reviews showed that in the reviews of both hotels and restaurants, many more words and sentences are used to describe a negative expericence than a positive one. A readability analysis was conducted to determine the average number of years of formal education necessary to understand reviews on first reading. The results of analysis showed that the values of the readability index vary form very low (reviews that are understandable to everyone) to very high (extremly difficult to understand). The average value of the readability index indicates that readers must be in their senior years of high school to understand the text on the first reading. Sentiment analysis analyzed the feelings in the reviews. The range of sentiment values varies from extremely negative to extremly positive sentiments, but the largest number of reviews, both positive and negative, contained neutral and positive sentiments. By analyzing sentiment in restaurant reviews, similar resutls were obtained as in hotel reviews. The range of sentiment values vaires from extremely negative to extremely positive sentiments, and as the rating increases, so does the value of the sentiment. Such results may indicate that, although they were dissatisfied, the user experience was not accompanied by negative feeling, which are often responsible for the spread of negative electronic recommendation. Using LDA, the determinants of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with services in hotels (depending on the type of hotel and category, as well as the type of traveler) and restaurants were isolated. Based on the assumption that the determinants of satisfaction and dissatisfaction differ depending on the type of hotel, category and type of travelers, obtained results partially confirm these assumptions. It was assumed that different determinants influence satisfaction and dissatisfaction with restaurant services, which was partially confirmed. By using multiple regression, the effects of the technical characteristics of reviews (polarity, readability and length) on the ratings and helpfulness of the reviews were tested. The obtained results confirmed the positive impact of sentiment and the negative impact of the length of reviews on user rating of hotel reviews. In the case of restaurants, the assumed impacts were not confirmed. In the case of the influence of tecnical characteristics of hotel reviews on reviews helpfulness, no significant influence was found, while in the case of restaurant reviews, a positive influence of length and a negative influence of sentiment on review helpfulness were found. The results obtained in this dissertation have numerous theoretical and practical implications for the hospitality industry. Since customer satisfaction is an integral part of the hospitality business, the identified determinants of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction can help hoteliers and restauraters improve their business. Based on the established impact of technical characteristics of review on rating and helpfulness, hoteliers and restauraters can strive to improve the performance of reviews they receive from customers by reducing negative and long reviews by providing superior service

Marketing Strategies Restaurant Leaders Use to Develop Their Customer Base

Surviving past the first year of operation is a growing concern for independent, full-service restaurants. Some restaurant leaders lack the marketing strategies necessary to develop a loyal customer base and survive beyond the first year of operation. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the marketing strategies that independent, family-oriented, full-service restaurant leaders located in the Pittsburgh, PA, metro area in business for at least 5 years have used to develop their customer base during the first year of operation. This study was guided by the 7Ps of marketing theory, which emphasizes how people, including customers and employees, influence the marketing process. Data were collected through in-depth semistructured interviews with 3 restaurant leaders and secondary documentation that included marketing and business strategies, customer base data, and profitability records during the first year of operation. Data were analyzed using a comparison analysis method to establish 3 emergent themes: immediate influence of word of mouth, power of consumer-driven marketing and social media, and the need for an integrated marketing mix. Findings indicate that these family-oriented, full-service restaurants were able to develop a customer base during their first year of business by integrating marketing strategies including word of mouth, social media, and limited print advertising. This study could assist these restaurant leaders in creating best practices for developing a customer base and surviving past the first year of operation. The implications for positive social change include the potential to empower restaurant leaders to engage in cause-related marketing, increase viability in local communities, and promote development of independent restaurants and small businesses

Crowd control : organizing the crowd at Yelp

This dissertation investigates how businesses are able to align the collective actions of a disconnected crowd with the strategic goals of the organization. I examined this questions within the context of the business review website Yelp through a quantitative analysis of nearly 60,000 business reviews, 17 in-depth qualitative interviews with reviewers, and a two-year ethnography. Interpreting the results of this data within the framework of the collective action space (Bimber, Flanagin, & Stohl, 2012) indicates that Yelp is able to manage the contributions of a relatively small subset of reviewers through the Yelp Elite Squad. Rather than simply motivating more reviews, the Elite Squad encouraged reviewers to interact more personally with other reviewers and accept increased institutional engagement with Yelp. In encouraging members of the crowd to produce online reviews within this context, Yelp was able to use organizational culture as a control strategy for encouraging Elite reviewers to adopt a pre-mediated reviewing approach to their reviews. This increased the frequency of moderate reviews and decreased the frequency of extreme reviews. This behavior ultimately furthers the organizational goals of Yelp, as moderate reviews are considered to be more helpful for reviews of businesses. Finally, implications for crowdsourcing, big data analysis, and theory are discussed