Graphical displays of online rating distributions and consumer judgments

What is it about?

Online retailers and review platforms display online reviews and ratings using different numerical and graphical formats. This research examines how displaying products' star rating distributions affects consumers.

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Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The findings show consumers respond more positively to ratings when displayed in simple (vs. proportional) bar graphs. The distribution's peak value and imbalance score were found to moderate this effect such that higher imbalance scores and lower peak values lead to a stronger impact. Our results suggest that simple bar graphs improve consumer judgment due to their smaller reference points against which rating frequencies are visualized.