How do likes influence revenue? A randomized controlled field experiment

Jörn Grahl, Oliver Hinz, Franz Rothlauf, Benjamin M. Abdel-Karim and Cristina Mihale-Wilson

Journal of Business Research, 2023, vol. 167, issue C

Abstract: This article presents a randomized controlled field experiment to study the influence of likes on revenue. The results indicate that likes can have a substantial positive impact on revenue, but this effect is moderated by the time of the shopping visits. Likes are mainly effective during non-work time (evenings or weekends) when people may have more time to consider additional information. During non-work hours, the control group (without likes) spent 9,293.40 Euro while the treatment group (who observed likes) spent 11,241.71 Euro. Overall, we estimate the value of a like during non-work hours at .14 % of the focal store’s average product price. We also find that likes benefit most the already popular products. The positive effect of likes during non-work hours is mainly driven by an increased propensity to buy (i.e., conversion). We do not observe significant changes in the money spent once the buying decision has been made.

Keywords: Likes; Influence; Revenue; Field experiment; eWOM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323004927
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:jbrese:v:167:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323004927

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114133

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().