AUTHOR=Chiu Ya-Ling , Du Jiangze , Sun Yide , Wang Jying-Nan 

TITLE=Do Critical Reviews Affect Box Office Revenues Through Community Engagement and User Reviews?

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.900360

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.900360

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=With advances in technology and the popularity of the Internet, consumers increasingly rely on various sources of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), such as online consumer reviews and critical reviews, in their decision-making processes. Despite general consensus on the importance of eWOM and the ability of critical reviews to predict product sales, very little is known about the mediation between critical reviews and online user reviews. Therefore, we used path analysis to examine how critical reviews and user reviews simultaneously affect box office revenues using eWOM data collected from Metacritic.com and IMDb.com, and box office revenue information collected from BoxOfficeMojo.com. The results showed that critical review valence not only directly predicts box office revenue but also increases active postings in the community and user-generated WOM volumes, thus indirectly leading to greater box office revenues. The study provides strategic guidance and practical implications for eWOM communication management.