Abstract

This paper aims to propose a conceptual model to investigate the determinants of review helpfulness for movie reviews based on uncertainty reduction theory and review quality framework. Model of customer review helpfulness is built based on review quality framework. Movie reviews from IMDB (http://imdb.com) are collected. The proposed hypotheses are tested with logistic and multiple linear regressions. The results show that review extremity, review length, review timeliness, and review reputation have significant effects on the helpfulness of movie review. In addition, in extreme reviews, positive reviews are more helpful to customers than negative reviews. This study provides an in-depth understanding of what makes movie reviews helpful for customers. The findings have implications for research on information quality in electronic commerce, and provide online retailers with suggestions for developing reviews guidelines and designing recommendation system.

Key words: Online review, review helpfulness, movie review, uncertainty reduction theory.