Happiness Is Stereotyped and Misfortune Is Different? Gender Effect in the Content of Textual Restaurant Reviews

Textual online reviews play a crucial role in consumers’ purchasing decisions and therefore have garnered significant research attention. Gender is one of the most common forms of segmentation used by marketers. Knowledge on whether and how the gender of reviewers affects textual restaurant reviews is scarce. This study analyzed over 10,000 restaurant reviews on Dianping.com through two studies and found the asymmetry influence of gender. Specifically, when the consumption experience is positive, the length of reviews from female reviewers is longer than that from male reviewers, because females are more likely to mention the dimensions of product quality, purchasing process, geographic location, and emotional attitude; When the consumption experience is negative, there is no significant difference in the dimensions of reviews between male and female reviewers. This study supplements the research on gender asymmetry in textual online reviews.