Do Online Reviews Encourage Customers to Write Online Reviews? A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This study examines the nature of online reviews to explain changes in satisfaction, trust, and consumer intent to write a review during restaurant revisit stages. Using a data set of two-time lags, the findings show that the impact of online reviews on customer satisfaction, trust, and consumer intent to write a review decreases or dilutes over time. More specifically, the effect of online reviews in T + 1 diminishes as consumers experience a particular restaurant compared to when they initially encountered the review. Our findings also show that the impacts of online reviews on satisfaction and trust gradually decrease over time. However, the relationship between online reviews and trust is only significant in T + 1. Additionally, the effect of trust on customer intent to write a review initially increases (T) and then, gradually drops over time (T + 1). Finally, this study proposes guidelines for improving theoretical and practical insights across consumption experience stages.