Abstract
Scholars generally assume that consumer ratings reflect consumer satisfaction, but ratings can be influenced by the design of the rating system. We examine two rating designs-single-dimensional rating systems, which elicit overall ratings only, and multidimensional (MD) rating systems, which elicit both dimensional and overall ratings-and how they impact overall ratings. Drawing on the accessibility-diagnosticity framework, we argue that dimensional ratings in MD systems influence overall ratings based on how the dimensions have been rated. We support this explanation with seven experiments. Our results suggest that across various experimental settings, rating objects, dimensions, and numbers of dimensions, overall ratings are systematically influenced by the design of the rating system.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3871-3898 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| Journal | Management Science |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 22 Oct 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors thank Raphael Ender, Inga Hämmerle, and Luiza Hoxaj from the University of Liechtenstein for outstanding research assistance. They also thank participants of research seminars at Erasmus University Rotterdam, University of Cologne, University of Konstanz, University of Mannheim, University of Paderborn, and Queensland University of Technology for their valuable comments. They also gratefully acknowledge the support from the following sources: IESE Business School; Erasmus University Rotterdam; the University of Liechtenstein; and Digital Innovation Laboratory of the Department of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong. First authorship was determined by coin flip. Christoph Schneider and Markus Weinmann contributed equally to this work: experimental design, data collection, and analysis as well as introduction, background, method, results, and discussion; Peter N.C. Mohr contributed to the background, theory and hypotheses, and the theoretical implications section; Jan vom Brocke contributed to the practical implications section. Finally, the authors thank the senior editor, associate editor, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by Liechtenstein Research Fund [Grant wi-18-1, wi-2-14], City University of Hong Kong [Grant 7004563 (IS)], Erasmus University Rotterdam, and IESE Business School.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s)