Incentivized Reviews: Promising the Moon for a Few Stars

Author(s)

Kathleen O'Leary, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Maria Petrescu, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Deborah Goldring
Selima Ben Mrad, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

ORCID

Kathleen O'Leary0009-0003-0249-6353

Maria Petrescu0000-0002-4261-6773

Selima Ben Mrad0000-0001-9823-7513

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

ISSN

0969-6989

Publication Date

2017

Abstract/Excerpt

This paper studies the motivations behind incentivized consumer reviews generated via influencer marketing campaigns. Exchange theory is applied as a theoretical framework to analyze, in a qualitative and a quantitative study, the relationship between incentivized reviews and the satisfaction ratings assigned by consumers to a product. The main contributions of the study find that incentivized campaigns can contribute to a sustained increase in the number of reviews and have the potential to lead to higher purchase potential. Moreover, this study also uncovers that incentivized electronic word-of-mouth, in the form of consumer reviews, leads to increased consumer interest and desire to find out more about the product through search engines. Our findings also show that the scope of exchange theory can be broader, from an exchange between two parties to more complex relationships, between brands, influencers, and consumers, through an emerging, specialized word-of-mouth technique.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.04.005

Volume

41

First Page

288

Last Page

295

NSUWorks Citation

O'Leary, Kathleen; Petrescu, Maria; Goldring, Deborah; and Ben Mrad, Selima, "Incentivized Reviews: Promising the Moon for a Few Stars" (2017). HCBE Faculty Articles. 646.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facarticles/646