Details of Research Outputs

Introduction

The inclusion of photo(s) in an online review allows viewers to gain more lively facts, thoughts, and feelings; this also increases potential consumers' confidence in product quality (Shedler & Manis, 1986), boosts their willingness to purchase (Peck & Childers, 2003), and is even eligible for predicting business survival (Zhang & Luo, 2021). However, few studies have examined what exactly motivates consumers to upload more photos per post. Based on the trait activation theory (Tett & Burnett, 2003), this study explores whether individual factors (i.e., restaurant price level, users' reputation status, social network, and experience disconfirmation) can drive consumers to share more online review photos. Dining experience has been an extensively examined boundary conditions for review-sharing behaviours. This study extends this line of work by focusing on the photo-sharing motivation and examining the moderation role of dining experience to uncover when consumers' motivation to post more photos can be further pronounced or attenuated.

Methods

A dataset containing restaurant-level, review-level, and reviewer-level data was obtained from Yelp.com. By using a stratified sampling method based on restaurant attributes, our research sample included 300 popular restaurants in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA,. Review information, including review content (i.e., review text, review photos, review rating), restaurant details (i.e., price level), and reviewers' profiles (i.e., yearly elite status, number of friends, number of followers), was gathered. Econometric models were constructed to investigate the drivers of consumers’ motivation to post visual contents alongside reviews.

Results/Discussion/Implications

Findings show that consumers' review photo–posting behaviour can be motivated by restaurant price level (conspicuous motivation), reputation status (reputation seeking), social networks (social network seeking), and dining experiences (concern for others/self-expression) but demotivated by experience disconfirmation (social conformity). The results further highlight the moderating role of consumer dining experience. This study first makes an early attempt to explicitly unveil the determinants behind individuals' decisions to embed more photos in online restaurant reviews. Second, the study expands the application of trait activation theory in the online review context. Third, this paper advises effective ways for restaurants to incentivize more photo-embedded online reviews underpinned by fresh insights acquired from the analysis of first-hand user-generated online review big data.