Gendered linguistic patterns in online reviews on localized E-commerce platforms in Jordan and the UAE: an exploratory study

This study explores how gender shapes linguistic practices in online product reviews for fashion, accessories, and fragrances on leading global e-commerce platforms with localized sites for Jordan and the UAE. Using a qualitative sociolinguistic framework, grounded in discourse analysis and politeness theory, the research analyzes 120 user-generated reviews from these platforms. The findings reveal that typical gendered face-to-face communication patterns persist in online reviews. Female reviewers write longer, more detailed, and emotionally expressive reviews, often using positive politeness strategies and narrative language. Male reviewers, in contrast, favor concise, factual, and utilitarian language, frequently employing negative politeness and directness. These patterns can be explained by social psychological mechanisms. Women’s expressive and narrative styles reflect an active performance of gendered identities and a desire for social reinforcement. In contrast, men’s directness aligns with established gender norms and audience expectations. Additionally, gender and product category also influence emoji use, review length, and feedback style. The study highlights practical implications for online shopping platform design and marketing, advocating for integrating small-scale sociolinguistic analysis with large-scale computational methods to understand trends in online reviews. However, the study is limited by its binary gender framework and a small, context-specific sample that may affect generalizability.