Anonymity and Self-Expression in Online Rating Systems - An Experimental Analysis

Britta Hoyer () and Dirk van Straaten ()
Additional contact information
Britta Hoyer: Paderborn University
Dirk van Straaten: Paderborn University

No 70, Working Papers Dissertations from Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics

Abstract: Customer reviews are a fundamental part of online markets to establish trust between customers and sellers. Sharing experiences about products and services, however, is accompanied with the (sometimes involuntary) sharing of personal information. This is in conflict with growing concerns of data security calling for more privacy in online settings. Anonymous reputation systems could be one instrument to ensure more privacy in such markets. However, the impact of anonymity on the propensity to leave reviews is unclear. In this experimental study we therefore analyze whether the degree of anonymity of customers affects their propensity to leave reviews in an online market. We find that the amount of ratings drops significantly when subjects are anonymous pointing to self-expression as a driver of customer reviews. Moreover, we find that altruistic subjects are not affected by the introduction of anonymity and, hence, provide significantly more reviews compared to non-altruists under anonymity. When we remove the veil of anonymity, this difference between altruists and non-altruists disappears and, overall, market outcomes increase.

Keywords: Customer Rating; Altruism; Public Good; Anonymity; Reputation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D64 H41 L86 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26
Date: 2021-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-pay
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://groups.uni-paderborn.de/wp-wiwi/RePEc/pdf/dispap/DP70.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pdn:dispap:70

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers Dissertations from Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by WP-WiWi-Info ().