Exploring the effectiveness of webcare Characteristics in controlling online damage Of fine dining restaurants

Abstract

newline The importance of online reviews has been emphasized extensively in the literature. Several authors have studied the effect of various facets of online consumer reviews which serves as a source of vital information for potential buyers. Although online reviews can be helpful for potential consumers and managers, the damages that can be caused by negative consumer reviews should not be overlooked by managers. Hence, managers have started to provide responses to online reviews to manage the detrimental effects these reviews can cause. This phenomenon is referred to as webcare . Academicians and practitioners have pointed out the importance of providing a response to a review which is essentially like an acknowledgement of the comments that are made by the consumer who has written the review. However, there are very few studies which guide the managers toward writing better responses and satisfy product and service reviewers. newline newlineA deeper insight in the domain of webcare and management responses to negative reviews reveal the fact that earlier researchers have explored this domain mostly from the perspective of justice perceptions of complaining consumers. They have also confined their research attention toward investigating the effects of webcare strategies on consumer behavior. It is salient to note here that webcare, at its core, is a persuasive message provided by the marketer, and possesses inherent message characteristics like other persuasive messages, e.g., television ads, radio ads, outdoor media, and other sorts of interactive media. While characteristics of these various persuasive messages have been intensely investigated in prior literature, academicians have grossly overlooked the effects of salient webcare characteristics on consumer behavior.This research employs the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion in order to address the afore mentioned research gaps by investigating three webcare characteristics namely, webcare strength, webcare sidedness, and webcare ownership.