Unveiling the forces driving expert activity: The impact of information environment and peer behavior on expert reviewer engagement behavior

Online platform engagement with customers, especially those with high expertise, is crucial for companies. As these expert customer reviews directly impact a company’s brand image and sales volume, an understanding of expert reviewer engagement behavior (EREB) is critical for companies’ marketplace success. This study explores the factors that influence EREB from two key situational cues: those from the company’s information environment and from peer expert behavior. Data from 144,634 Yelp reviewers and 5,080 restaurants were analyzed. The results reveal that companies with higher aggregate ratings are more likely to encourage EREB. The impact of overall and peer expert rating inconsistency on EREB varies: Overall rating inconsistency has a positive effect, while inconsistency among expert peers has a negative effect. Additionally, EREB exhibits herding and differentiation patterns in response to changes in peer expert engagement density. This results in a U-shaped relationship between EREB and peer expert engagement density, moderated by aggregate rating, overall rating inconsistency, and peer expert rating inconsistency. This study provides practical insights for marketers looking to engage expert customers and expands on the literature on expert customer engagement behavior.