Abstract
•This study explores the impact of review emotional valence and discrete emotional contents on review usefulness.•Text mining approach and econometric analysis are used.•Positive emotion has a negative impact on review usefulness, whereas negative emotion has a positive impact.•Reviews expressing anger are more useful than those expressing anxiety.•Review length and reviewer expertise can moderate the effect of emotional intensity on review usefulness.
Consumer-generated restaurant reviews are important sources in consumers’ purchase decisions. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of emotional intensity on perceived review usefulness as well as the moderating effects of review length and reviewer expertise. Data from 600,686 reviews of 300 popular restaurants in the US were obtained from Yelp. Using a text mining approach and econometric analysis, empirical results show that (1) positive emotional intensity has a negative impact on perceived review usefulness, whereas negative emotional intensity has a positive impact on perceived review usefulness; (2) among the two most prevalent discrete negative emotions in online reviews (i.e., anger and anxiety), reviews expressing anger are more useful than those expressing anxiety; and (3) review length and reviewer expertise can moderate the effect of emotional intensity on perceived review usefulness.