Construal level theory and online reviews: A search stage perspective

Drawing on Construal Level Theory, we propose that consumer search stage (i.e., screening or selecting), not psychological distance, interacts with review features to influence review helpfulness. Through an online experiment, we test the interaction effects between textual concreteness, review valence and consumer search on review helpfulness at close and far temporal distances. Our findings support a congruency effect between consumer search stage and textual concreteness, showing that positive, abstract reviews are more helpful in the screening stage, while negative, concrete reviews are more helpful in the selection stage. Conversely, temporal distance had a negligible effect. Our results suggest that consumer search stages may confound previous findings on psychological distance and review helpfulness and have practical implications regarding review relevance for consumers.