Differences in Mobile and Nonmobile Reviews: The Role of Perceived Costs in Review-Posting

ABSTRACT This study investigates how the characteristics of mobile devices influence consumer review-posting behavior. We propose that the characteristics of mobile devices affect a consumer’s perceived review-posting cost in terms of time and cognitive effort. Our empirical analysis, using field data from Booking.com, shows that the relative ratio of extremely positive and negative reviews via mobile devices is significantly higher than those through nonmobile devices. Of interest, the increased ratio of extremely negative reviews is smaller than that of extremely positive reviews. Our subsequent analyses, using three experimental studies, reveal that our empirical findings can be explained by the changes in perceived review-posting cost via mobile devices. This study provides theoretical implications by demonstrating how the development of mobile technology influences the review rating extremity and revealing its underlying mechanism, which is perceived as the review-posting cost. Our findings also provide useful managerial insights for e-commerce companies in terms of building an effective strategy to encourage consumers to post reviews based on changes in consumers’ perceived review-posting costs.