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How rainy-day blues affect customers’ evaluation behavior: Evidence from online reviews

  • School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology
  • Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Although many firms deem weather conditions relevant to customers’ decision making and satisfaction, firms often struggle to quantify the impact of weather on customers’ online evaluation behavior. By combining hourly weather data and online review data from an online booking platform, this study found distinct review-related effects of rainy weather on customers’ numerical review ratings versus textual review content. Specifically, customers’ ratings and engagement in textual reviews were lower when reviews were written while it was raining. Also, rainy weather had second-order interactive effects on customers’ consumption experiences: favorable experiences weakened the negative effects of rainy weather on ratings, whereas unfavorable experiences mitigated customers’ unwillingness to post longer textual reviews in rainy weather. Compared with review ratings, textual reviews were less likely to be influenced by rainy weather as indicated by the emotional intensity of reviews. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103090
JournalInternational Journal of Hospitality Management
Volume100
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Emotion-related words
  • Online review
  • Rainy weather
  • Review length
  • Review ratings

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