Article Title

Rating Determinants Factored in E-Commerce Decision-Making

Authors

Juheng Zhang, Department of Operations and Information Systems, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854Follow
M. Riaz Khan, Department of Operations and Information Systems, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854Follow
Dachuan Shih, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, University of Texas Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019Follow

Abstract

The user-generated content (UGC) Web sites are gaining popularity for a wide range of media content, such as news, blogs, forums, and open-source software. Instead of relying on information on company Web sites, users benefit by reading reviews written on UGC Web sites by consumers. Online evaluations are usually informative and reduce the information asymmetry. This study examines the problem where UGC can be expedient for online hotel booking. It investigates the relationship between the ratings obtained from the TripAdvisor.com reviewers and the hotel price levels in the United States, outside the United States, and top 20 hotels and others, respectively. Findings suggest that medium-priced hotels provide a comparable value with their high-priced counterparts. Further, the ratings for U.S. hotels are lower than others across all price levels.