Do mobile device icons help or hurt? Evidence from empirical analyses and design via interpretable machine learning

Abstract

Although the extant literature demonstrates that mobile device icons change consumers’ cognition of review helpfulness, it reports contradictory findings: displaying mobile device icons either helps or hurts review helpfulness. Drawing on the instability of peripheral routes (ELM) and perceived effort, we found that the impact of mobile device icons on review helpfulness is contingent on review writing effort, represented by review length. Econometric and experimental analyses ensured the external and internal validity of results, respectively. Moreover, we applied interpretable machine learning to designing mobile device icons varying with review writing effort, aiming at maximizing their effects on review helpfulness.