Impact of Topic Distribution on Review Sentiment: A Comparative Study between South Korea and the U.S.

Online reviews offer valuable information to businesses by reflecting consumer experiences about their products and services. Two important aspects of online reviews are first, the topics consumers choose to address and second, the sentiments expressed in their reviews. Building upon previous literature that shows online reviews are context-dependent, we examine the impact of topic distribution on review sentiment in South Korea and the U.S. during pre-and post-pandemic periods. After performing topic modeling on Airbnb app review data, we measure the contribution of each topic on review sentiment using SHAP values. Our results indicate variations in topic distribution trends between 2018 and 2021. Also, the order and magnitude of topics’ impact on review sentiment change between pre-and post-pandemic periods for both countries. This study can help businesses to understand how topics and sentiments associated with their products and services changed after pandemic, and also help them identify areas of improvement.