A Study of Online Reviewers’ Behavior in China on Tmall and JD Platform

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore how online reviewers in China intentionally select the right product to review and the right rating to post so that they can gain attention and improve reputation using the conceptual framework of Shen, Hu, and Ulmer (2015). A quantitative empirical study was used to examine book reviews on Tmall and Jingdong, the two large online retailers in China to study reviews’ behaviors of local online users basically Chinese people. The study accomplished 36 books for a month from two sites which were Tmall and Jingdong using ranking system and also performed the multiple regression model to validate the analysis. This study found that the crowdedness of reviews, the newness of the books, the potential reviewers, and the retailing platforms are the main concern to attract potential reviewers’ attention. The reviewers normally follow the crowd and usually more concentrated on new products than the old one to be able to compete for attention. Reviewers’ attentiveness to review is not associated with sales performance if there is no rating system on online retailing. The higher the rating of reviewer is, the more likely for them to achieve compensation. This is the incentive for reviewers to engage more. Surprisingly, the popularity of the books was not found affecting the reviewers’ attention in this study. The paper offers potential guidance and assistance for online retailers and online reviewers to be able to attract reviewer’s attention and communicate with them more effectively. This study yields important managerial implications for organizations to improve their scheme of online review systems and improve their understanding of reviewers’ strategic behaviors. Findings of the study validate strategic thinking for online retailers and reviewers in China.