Yelp.com 병원 후기의 유용성 평가 요인에 관한 연구

This study attempts to identify the factors affecting the perceived usefulness of online consumer reviews. Review data was extracted from the Yelp 2016 dataset. The number of usefulness votes of each review was defined as a dependent variable. The characteristics of review providers such as reviewer’s expertise and reputations, reviews themselves including quantitative (i.e., star ratings and length of reviews) and qualitative measurements (i.e., perceived enjoyment and extreme sentiment) were used as independent variables. We applied tobit regression analysis so as to adjust extreme values of dependent variable. Some reviewer factors and the characteristics of review were turned out significant in influencing the usefulness votes. People can easily get a lot of information through an online review platform. Due to limited rationality, it is difficult to assess the usefulness of the review. The quality of review was found to have the greatest influence on the perceived usefulness of review. Marketers should provide information that is useful in assessing their usefulness. Implications: The findings of this study will help hospital marketers how to effectively carry out social marketing in a mobile environment.