When empathy prevents negative reviewing behavior

Rebecca Pera, Giampaolo Viglia, Laura Grazzini and Daniele Dalli

Annals of Tourism Research, 2019, vol. 75, issue C, 265-278

Abstract: Previous research has found that peer-to-peer platforms have overly positive reviews. Guided by Construal Level Theory, this research investigates the relationship between social distance, empathy, and tourists’ intention to leave negative online reviews. The first study is a qualitative analysis which compares peer-to-peer settings (i.e., Airbnb) to institutional ones (i.e., Booking.com), and explores whether social closeness hinders tourists’ willingness to provide negative online reviews to express their poor experiences. The second and third study are laboratory studies which show that the mechanism behind reviewing biases is the activation of empathy.

Keywords: Online reviews; Social distance; Empathy; Reviewing behavior; Sharing economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:75:y:2019:i:c:p:265-278

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2019.01.005

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