Product type plays a critical role in shaping how consumers generate, perceive, and utilize online reviews in decision-making. While previous studies have examined various review features, this study highlights the distinct effects of product classification—search goods, experience goods, and credence goods—on both review generation and perceived helpfulness. Drawing on Product Classification Theory, as well as Self-Determination Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior, we analyze how review characteristics such as text length and photo inclusion vary across product types and influence consumer perceptions. Using a large-scale dataset of verified Amazon reviews, we find that consumers are more likely to produce longer and more visually rich reviews for search and experience goods than for credence goods, which are harder to evaluate and, thus, elicit less elaborate content. In terms of review helpfulness, reviews for experience goods are rated as more helpful than those for credence goods, while those for search goods are seen as less helpful. Furthermore, review length significantly boosts helpfulness for search goods, while photo inclusion enhances it for experience goods. These findings contribute to review effectiveness research by emphasizing the moderating role of product type and offering actionable insights for e-commerce platforms to improve review design and consumer decision-making.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how the usage of mobile devices influences text-posting behavior in the online review-generation process. This study attempts to improve the understanding of the negative impacts of mobile channels on the quality of online reviews.Design/methodology/approach: The authors develop a series of hypotheses to investigate the text-posting behaviors with mobile device usage. To examine the authors' hypotheses, the authors collect online reviews posted in London hotels on Booking.com. The authors first use a logistic regression model to examine the relationship between the usage of mobile devices and text-posting behavior. Then, the authors explored the characteristics of textual content in mobile reviews compared to reviews written via traditional devices.Findings: The authors' finding shows that the use of mobile devices negatively influences text-posting behavior. Compared to traditional devices, consumers are less likely to post texts in their reviews with mobile devices. Although consumers decide to post text comments in consumers' reviews, the quality of textual content is relatively low – short in length, with limited analytical thinking and less authenticity.Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, no study has attempted to explore text generation in review-posting behaviors in the context of mobile channels. Also, the authors' findings show the negative effects of using mobile channels on the value of generated information, which is counterintuitive to previous research.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant transformations in industries globally, particularly those heavily reliant on human interaction, such as the event industry. However, the effects of COVID-19 on the event industry have not been thoroughly explored in previous studies. This study utilizes secondary data from the Korean Statistical Information Service, covering 16 cities and regions from 2018 to 2022, to analyze the effects of COVID-19 on the event industry and how the pandemic has reshaped the sector’s landscape and sustainability. We employed a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) model to assess the causal impact and utilized Garthwaite’s (2014) Dynamic Discontinuity model to explore the dynamic effects over time. The results demonstrate that, initially, COVID-19 had a considerable disruptive influence on the event industry, severely affecting face-to-face interactions and operations. However, our findings reveal significant signs of adaptation and recovery in the industry by 2022, with the initial negative impacts no longer evident. This study highlights the event industry’s resilience, the progressive nature of its post-pandemic recovery, and its path toward sustainable practices in a post-pandemic era.

As a result of globalization and other factors, periodic shocks to economic activity have become more frequent in recent years. How these periods of economic uncertainty affect different business sectors and industries has become an important emerging area of research activity. Sensory experiences are increasingly recognized as an important aspect of the customer experience. Likewise, online reviews and the usefulness rating given by review consumers are important factors in the consumers’ purchasing decision-making process. How these factors are affected by periods of crisis is an underexplored area of research that this study addresses through the exploration and comparison of the perceived helpfulness of sensory experience online reviews, specifically in the hotel industry, before and since the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary data were harvested from the Booking.com website before and during the pandemic; 143,739 online reviews were analyzed using a keyword search based on six dimensions of hotel services to identify those reviews with sensory experience content. The analysis applied Herzberg’s two-factor theory, where each service attribute was examined as both positive (satisfier) and negative (dissatisfier). Empirical analytical methods were applied to produce compelling findings. The findings indicate that the reviews of multisensory experiences affect the perceived value of a post both negatively and positively, respectively, and that the pandemic did not affect the relationship between reviews and the perceived helpfulness of the reviews. This study has both theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners by applying and building on Herzberg’s two-factor theory of online reviews in the hospitality sector during a period of crisis, as well as addressing a gap in the existing literature on how the pandemic affected the relationships between the online reviews of sensory experiences and their perceived usefulness. Practitioners may find the results useful in how they allocate their resources and focus during such periods to optimize their competitiveness.

This study investigates how pandemic-induced emotional disruption has reshaped sustainable consumer behavior in the digital age, with a focus on the continued influence of safety measures in the restaurant industry. As societies transition beyond COVID-19 restrictions, health-related anxieties persist, driving consumers to prioritize hygiene and risk reduction in their decision-making. Drawing on large-scale data from TripAdvisor and OpenTable, we analyze the effects of digitally communicated safety protocols on restaurant booking behavior across major U.S. cities. Our findings reveal that safety communication remains a salient factor in consumer choice, even after the acute phase of the pandemic. This effect is particularly pronounced in lower-tier restaurants, where visible digital safety signals help build trust and compensate for weaker brand equity. Conversely, in upscale establishments, where baseline hygiene standards are presumed, the marginal benefit of safety signaling is reduced. The study also identifies enduring patterns of emotional expression and anxiety in online reviews, indicating the long-term psychological imprint of the pandemic on consumer sentiment. By situating safety communication as both a psychological reassurance mechanism and a strategic digital marketing tool, this research contributes to the emerging discourse on sustainable marketing in post-crisis contexts. The results offer theoretical and managerial insights into how businesses can integrate health assurance into long-term brand strategies, reinforcing trust and resilience in digitally mediated, post-pandemic consumption environments.