Know Yourself and Know Your Enemy: An Analysis of Firm Recommendations and Consumer Reviews in a Competitive Environment

Jabr, Wael and Eric Zheng. "Know Yourself and Know Your Enemy: An Analysis of Firm Recommendations and Consumer Reviews in a Competitive Environment". MIS Quarterly. Accepted July 2013.

47 Pages Posted: 30 Jul 2013

See all articles by Wael Jabr

Wael Jabr

Pennsylvania State University

Eric Zheng

University of Texas at Dallas

Date Written: July 30, 2013

Abstract

Online reviews and product recommendations at online stores have successfully enabled customers to readily evaluate alternative products prior to any purchases. In this context, firms generate recommendations to refer customers to a wider variety of products. They also display customer-generated online reviews to facilitate the evaluation of those recommended products. This study integrates these two IT artifacts in order to investigate consumer choice vis-à-vis competing products. We use a dataset collected from Amazon.com consisting of books, sales ranks, recommendations, reviews, and reviewers. We derive the granular impact of reviews, product referrals, and reviewer opinions on the dynamics of product sales within a competitive market using comprehensive econometric analyses.

Keywords: online review, eWOM, competition, recommendation system, instrument variable

Suggested Citation

Jabr, Wael and Zheng, Eric, Know Yourself and Know Your Enemy: An Analysis of Firm Recommendations and Consumer Reviews in a Competitive Environment (July 30, 2013). Jabr, Wael and Eric Zheng. "Know Yourself and Know Your Enemy: An Analysis of Firm Recommendations and Consumer Reviews in a Competitive Environment". MIS Quarterly. Accepted July 2013., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2303358

Wael Jabr (Contact Author)

Pennsylvania State University ( email )

University Park, PA 16802
United States

Eric Zheng

University of Texas at Dallas ( email )

800 W. Campbell Rd
Richardson, TX 75080
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,075
Abstract Views
3,552
Rank
37,945
PlumX Metrics