Posting reviews on OTAs: Motives, rewards and effort

High-quality reviews are crucial for users and websites. Many online travel agencies (OTAs) offer online incentives to encourage high-quality reviews. However, the effect of these incentive programs on users' posting effort remains unclear. Our analyses of a dataset collected from a leading OTA present the following: (1) users with more digest reviews tend to exert more effort when posting subsequent reviews; (2) an increasing number of digest reviews for a hotel induces subsequent users to exert additional posting effort; (3) the marginal effect of an additional digest review on posting effort is decreasing; (4) users with high expertise tend to exert extra posting effort when in a fierce competition. This study concludes by presenting theoretical and managerial implications for both research and practice.