Does managerial response moderate the relationship between online review characteristics and review helpfulness?

Managerial response describes how hotel managers communicate with online reviewers and manage their customer relationships. The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of managerial response on the relationship between review characteristics and review helpfulness. Based on cue utilization theory, this study employs the negative binomial regression to analyse data from TripAdvisor.com. The study results indicate the extrinsic cues (managerial response length and response speed) moderate the effect of intrinsic cues (review sentiment and review length) on review helpfulness. The negative effect of review sentiment on helpfulness is weakened as response length and speed increase; the positive effect of review length on helpfulness is enhanced when response speed is fast, whereas this impact is weakened as response length increases. This study also discusses practical significance for hotel managers, consumers, and online travel platforms.