The role of review responses in shaping online review content and review space dynamics

HanByeol Stella Choi (), Junyeong Lee (), Chanhee Kwak () and Jinyoung Min ()
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HanByeol Stella Choi: Myongji University, Department of Management Information Systems
Junyeong Lee: Chungbuk National University, Department of Management Information Systems
Chanhee Kwak: Kangnam University, Department of Artificial Intelligence Convergence
Jinyoung Min: Chung-Ang University, Department of Industrial Security, College of Business & Economics

Electronic Markets, 2025, vol. 35, issue 1, No 105, 17 pages

Abstract: Abstract Communication on online review platforms has Please check if the affiliations are captured and presented correctly and amend if necessarytraditionally involved reviewers detached from the entities under review. However, many platforms have now introduced the capability for targets (e.g., business owners) to respond directly to reviews, thereby transforming the nature of interactions within review spaces. This change indicates that reviewers may now engage with both a general audience and the review targets themselves. To address this shift, this study explores how targets’ responses influence subsequent reviews by investigating changes in review characteristics such as length, cognitive content, and affective expression. Yelp and TripAdvisor have permitted businesses to respond to reviews since 2009; thus, data from these platforms were used to employ a difference-in-differences model to analyze the impact of response intensity, response diversity, and review-response similarity on subsequent review attributes. Our findings indicate that greater response intensity and diversity are positively associated with the length of the text and the cognitive language used in subsequent reviews. Moreover, higher review-response similarity enhances the affective tone of subsequent reviews. These results highlight the complex impact of review responses from the reviewed targets on review space by changing platforms’ information quality and relationship dynamics.

Keywords: Online review; Review space dynamics; Review response; Response intensity; Response diversity; Review-response similarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s12525-025-00845-0

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