Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

How reviewers’ use of profanity affects perceived usefulness of online reviews

  • Published:
Marketing Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research explores the effects of profanity on perceptions of online reviews’ usefulness. Based on the prior research that described asymmetric attribution effects, we predict that when consumers see profanity in an online review, their reactions differ depending on the valence of the review. Specifically, when profanity is used in a negative review, it should reduce review usefulness because of decreased perceived reviewer objectivity. Among positive reviews, profanity increases review usefulness through greater perceived reviewer credibility. Through analysis of Yelp data, we show that the effect of profanity on usefulness depends on review valence. Experimentally, we demonstrate the opposing mediating effects of perceived objectivity and credibility on the usefulness of the review.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alonzo, M., & Aiken, M. (2004). Flaming in electronic communication. Decision Support Systems, 36(3), 205–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, L. G., & Trudgill, P. (1992). Bad language. London, UK: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arango, A. C. (1989). Dirty words: psychoanalytic insights. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Incorporated.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakhshi, S., Kanuparthy, P., & Shamma, D. A. (2015). Understanding online reviews: funny, cool or useful? The 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, February, 1270–1276.

  • Balasubramanian, S., & Mahajan, V. (2001). The economic leverage of the virtual community. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 5(3), 103–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basuroy, S., Chatterjee, S., & Ravid, S. A. (2003). How critical are critical reviews? The box office effects of film critics, star power, and budgets. Journal of Marketing, 67(4), 103–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burgoon, M., Denning, V., & Umphrey, L. (2002). Language expectancy theory. In J. P. Dillard & M. Pfau (Eds.), The persuasion handbook: Developments in theory and practice (pp. 117–136). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Z., & Lurie, N. H. (2013). Temporal contiguity and negativity bias in the impact of online word of mouth. Journal of Marketing Research, 50(4), 463–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheung, C. M. K., & Thadani, D. R. (2012). The impact of electronic word-of-mouth communication: a literature analysis and integrative model. Decision Support Systems, 54(1), 461–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chevalier, J. A., & Mayzlin, D. (2006). The effect of word of mouth on sales: online book reviews. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(3), 345–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahl, D. W., Frankenberger, K. D., & Manchanda, R. V. (2003a). Does it pay to shock? Reactions to shocking and nonshocking advertising content among university students. Journal of Advertising Research, 43(3), 268–280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahl, D. W., Honea, H., & Manchanda, R. V. (2003b). The nature of self-reported guilt in consumption contexts. Marketing Letters, 14(3), 159–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H., Wood, W., & Chaiken, S. (1978). Causal inferences about communicators and their effects for opinion change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(4), 424–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, G., Lian, H., Kosinski, M., & Stillwell, D. (2017). Frankly, we do give a damn: the relationship between profanity and honesty. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8(7), 816–826.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, S. (1966). Motivational aspects of attitudinal elements and their place in cognitive interaction. In S. Feldman (Ed.), Cognitive consistency. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folkes, V. S., & Sears, D. O. (1977). Does everybody like a liker? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13(6), 505–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: a regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu, N., Pavlou, P. A., & Zhang, J. (2009). Why do online product reviews have a j-shaped distribution? Overcoming biases in online word-of-mouth communication. Communications of the ACM, 52(10), 144–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jay, T. (2009). The utility and ubiquity of taboo words. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(2), 153–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jay, T., & Janschewitz, K. (2008). The pragmatics of swearing. Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture, 4(2), 267–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, M. L., Averbeck, J. M., Zhang, Z., & Wright, K. B. (2013). Credibility of anonymous online product reviews: a language expectancy perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 30(1), 293–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamins, M. A., Folkes, V. S., & Perner, L. (1997). Consumer responses to rumors: good news, bad news. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 6(2), 165–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanouse, D. E., & Hanson, L. R. (1972). Negativity in evaluations. In E. E. Jones et al. (Eds.), Atribution: Perceiving the causes of behavior. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kapitan, S., & Silvera, D. H. (2015). From digital media influencers to celebrity endorsers: attributions drive endorser effectiveness. Marketing Letters, 27(3), 553–567.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, J., & Gupta, P. (2012). Emotional expressions in online user reviews: how they influence consumers’ product evaluations. Journal of Business Research, 65(7), 985–992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirk, C. (2013). The most popular swear words on Facebook. Available at [http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/09/11/top_swear_words_most_popular_curse_words_on_facebook.html.]

  • Lambert, D. (1992). Zero-inflated Poisson regression, with an application to defects in manufacturing. Technometrics, 34(1), 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lim, Y., & Van Der Heide, B. (2015). Evaluating the wisdom of strangers: the perceived credibility of online consumer reviews on Yelp. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20(1), 67–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mabry, E. A. (1974). Dimensions of profanity. Psychological Reports, 35(1), 387–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mangold, W. G., Miller, F., & Brockway, G. R. (1999). Word-of-mouth communication in the service marketplace. Journal of Services Marketing, 13(1), 73–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mizerski, R. (1982). An attribution explanation of the disproportionate influence of unfavorable information. Journal of Consumer Research, 9(3), 301–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parrott, W. G. (1995). But emotions are sometimes irrational. Psychological Inquiry, 6(3), 230–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pham, M. T., Cohen, J. B., Pracejus, J. W., & Hughes, G. D. (2001). Affect monitoring and the primacy of feelings in judgment. Journal of Consumer Research, 28(2), 167–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyszczynski, T. A., & Greenberg, J. (1981). Role of disconfirmed expectancies in the instigation of attributional processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(1), 31–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rassin, E., & Heijden, S. V. D. (2005). Appearing credible? Swearing helps! Psychology, Crime & Law, 11(2), 177–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richins, M. L., & Root-Shaffer, T. (1988). The role of evolvement and opinion leadership in consumer word-of-mouth: an implicit model made explicit. ACR North American Advances, 15, 32–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherer, C. R., & Sagarin, B. J. (2006). Indecent influence: the positive effects of obscenity on persuasion. Social Influence, 1(2), 138–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sen, S., & Lerman, D. (2007). Why are you telling me this? An examination into negative consumer reviews on the Web. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 21(4), 76–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sparks, B. A., & Browning, V. (2011). The impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and perception of trust. Tourism Management, 32(6), 1310–1323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephens, R., & Zile, A. (2017). Does emotional arousal influence swearing fluency? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 46(4), 983–995. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-016-9473-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundaram, D. S., Mitra, K., & Webster, C. (1998). Word-of-mouth communications: a motivational analysis. Advances in Consumer Research, 25, 527–531.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vingerhoets, J. J. M., Bylsma, L. M., & de Vlam, C. (2013). Swearing: a biopsychosocial perspective. Psychological Topics, 22(2), 287–304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, W., & Eagly, A. (1981). Stages in the analysis of persuasive messages: the role of causal attribution and message comprehension. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(2), 246–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin, D., Bond, S., & Zhang, H. (2013). Anxious or angry? Effects of discrete emotions on the perceived helpfulness of online reviews. MIS Quarterly, 38(2), 539–560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Campus Box 1100, Edwardsville, IL, 62026, USA

    Michael Hair

  2. Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave, Winter Park, FL, 32789, USA

    Timucin Ozcan

Authors
  1. Michael Hair
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Timucin Ozcan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Hair.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hair, M., Ozcan, T. How reviewers’ use of profanity affects perceived usefulness of online reviews. Mark Lett 29, 151–163 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-018-9459-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-018-9459-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation