When are extreme ratings more helpful? Empirical evidence on the moderating effects of review characteristics and product type

Online customer reviews (OCRs) have become increasingly important in travelers' decision-making. However, the proliferation of OCRs requires e-commerce organizations to identify the characteristics of the most helpful reviews to reduce information overload. This study focuses on OCRs of hotels and particularly on the factors moderating the relationship between extreme ratings and review helpfulness. The study reviewed 11,358 OCRs of 90 French hotels from TripAdvisor.com. Findings highlight that large hotels are more affected by extreme reviews than small hotels. Extreme reviews are more helpful to consumers when reviews are long and accompanied by the reviewers' photos.