The combinatory role of online ratings and reviews in mobile app downloads: an empirical investigation of gaming and productivity apps from their initial app store launch

Henrik Sällberg (), Shujun Wang () and Emil Numminen ()
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Henrik Sällberg: Blekinge Institute of Technology
Shujun Wang: Blekinge Institute of Technology
Emil Numminen: Blekinge Institute of Technology

Journal of Marketing Analytics, 2023, vol. 11, issue 3, No 12, 426-442

Abstract: Abstract Mobile app ratings and reviews are important due to their influence on consumer behavior and the financial consequences for app developers and app platform providers. This paper contributes to prior work by analyzing how rating and review information in combination impact mobile app downloads. To achieve these ends, we utilize daily panel data of 341 gaming (hedonic consumption value-oriented) and productivity (utilitarian consumption value-oriented) apps tracked for almost two years from their release in the Apple App Store. Hence, we contribute to how ratings and reviews matter for the larger majority of apps, whereas previous research has mainly focused on either ratings’ or reviews’ impact on app performance for top-ranked apps. Results of fixed-effects regression analysis reveal different combinatory impacts of text review information (polarity, subjectivity, and review length) and rating information (average rating score, volume of ratings, and dispersion of ratings) on gaming versus productivity app downloads. Important implications of the findings for app developers and platform providers, and for future research into online ratings and reviews, are discussed.

Keywords: Ratings; Reviews; Utilitarian; Hedonic; Apps; Downloads (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1057/s41270-022-00171-w

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