Anonymous social networks versus peer networks in restaurant choice
Description
I compare the effect of anonymous social network ratings (Yelp.com) and peer group recommendations on restaurant demand. I conduct a two-stage choice experiment in which restaurant visits in the first stage are informed by online social network reviews from Yelp.com, and visits in the second stage by peer network reviews. I find that anonymous reviewers have a stronger effect on restaurant preference than peers. I also compare the power of negative reviews with that of positive reviews. I found that negative reviews are more powerful compared to the positive reviews on restaurant preference. More generally, I find that in an environment of high attribute uncertainty, information gained from anonymous experts through social media is likely to be more influential than information obtained from peers.
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2013
Agent
- Author (aut): Tiwari, Ashutosh
- Thesis advisor (ths): Richards, Timothy J.
- Committee member: Qiu, Yueming
- Committee member: Grebitus, Carola
- Publisher (pbl): Arizona State University