Emotions in Electronic Word of Mouth: a Gender Perspective

<p dir="ltr">Electronic Word-of-Mouth (EWOM), i.e., online reviews is the most effective form of marketing. Consumers write online reviews to share their thoughts and experiences regarding products or services. Thus, a review indicates the author’s preferences and emotions and is, therefore, an appropriate source for investigating consumers’ emotional behavior. Literature reveals that emotions influence decision-making and thought processes. Hence, investigating consumers’ emotional behaviors is essential for marketing. Psychological literature supports gender emotional differences, which can be attributed to social roles and expectations. Marketing research has also confirmed that men and women express and evaluate emotions differently, especially in face-to-face interactions. However, gender-based emotional differences in EWOM have not been fully investigated. The literature shows that the emotions expressed in online reviews can impact review helpfulness. Additionally, a ‘Helpful’ vote mechanism is a solution to information overload on online review platforms. Therefore, identifying helpful reviews as well as the characteristics that impact helpful votes, benefits businesses and review platforms. However, research investigating the role of a reviewer’s gender and emotions in review helpfulness, has been limited. This research fills the existing gaps in the literature by addressing two main objectives: (a) investigating gender differences in emotion expression in online reviews, and (b) examining the impact of gender and embedded emotions in online reviews on review helpfulness. Men’s and women’s apparel reviews were extracted from Amazon and used for this study. Several comparative analyses were conducted to address the first objective. The results indicated the existence of gender differences in emotional expressions in online reviews. However, these differences do not confirm the common gender-related emotional expectations. The second objective was investigated using a regression analysis. The discrete emotions embedded in reviews and their underlying cognitive dimensions have also been studied. The results reveal that gender emotional stereotypes and language expectations affect the helpfulness of reviews authored by men and women. The findings of this research provide insights for online platforms, businesses, and consumers regarding the gender and emotional aspects of online reviews. The results can be used to improve helpful review identification and management.</p>