{"title":"Expression of Customer (Dis)satisfaction in Online Restaurant Reviews: The Relationship Between Adversative Connective Constructions and Star Ratings","authors":"Matthew J. Baker, Brett Hashimoto","doi":"10.1177/23294884231200245","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Online restaurant reviews contain expressions of customer expectations in prose as well as in star ratings that indicate overall customer satisfaction. In prose, one way customers communicate that expectations are or are not met is through a grammatical construction called adversative connectives (ACs) (i.e., constituents such as but, although, however, and even though). In the present study, we examine the relationship between star ratings and customers’ use of ACs by employing a combination of content analysis, mixed-effects models, and thematic analysis in a corpus of nearly 35,000 online reviews for restaurants located in the United States. The results reveal an important way customers communicate their (dis)satisfaction online. Specifically, the statistical modeling indicates that the ACs used and the content they emphasize have a significant relationship with star ratings. Restaurant owners can use these findings to focus on the most important information in customer reviews, especially when they are sifting through many reviews or through reviews for which no summative rating is provided.","PeriodicalId":45593,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Business Communication","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Business Communication","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23294884231200245","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Online restaurant reviews contain expressions of customer expectations in prose as well as in star ratings that indicate overall customer satisfaction. In prose, one way customers communicate that expectations are or are not met is through a grammatical construction called adversative connectives (ACs) (i.e., constituents such as but, although, however, and even though). In the present study, we examine the relationship between star ratings and customers’ use of ACs by employing a combination of content analysis, mixed-effects models, and thematic analysis in a corpus of nearly 35,000 online reviews for restaurants located in the United States. The results reveal an important way customers communicate their (dis)satisfaction online. Specifically, the statistical modeling indicates that the ACs used and the content they emphasize have a significant relationship with star ratings. Restaurant owners can use these findings to focus on the most important information in customer reviews, especially when they are sifting through many reviews or through reviews for which no summative rating is provided.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Business Communication (IJBC) publishes manuscripts that contribute to knowledge and theory of business communication as a distinct, multifaceted field approached through the administrative disciplines, the liberal arts, and the social sciences. Accordingly, IJBC seeks manuscripts that address all areas of business communication including but not limited to business composition/technical writing, information systems, international business communication, management communication, and organizational and corporate communication. In addition, IJBC welcomes submissions concerning the role of written, verbal, nonverbal and electronic communication in the creation, maintenance, and performance of profit and not for profit business.