There is growing evidence that consumers are influenced by Internet-based opinion forums before making a variety of purchase decisions. Firms whose products are being discussed in such forums are, therefore, tempted to try to manipulate consumer perceptions by posting costly anonymous messages...

There is growing evidence that consumers are influenced by Internet-based opinion forums before making a variety of purchase decisions. Firms whose products are being discussed in such forums are, therefore, tempted to try to manipulate consumer perceptions by posting costly anonymous messages...

Despite the widespread popularity of online opinion forums among consumers, the business value that such systems bring to organizations has, so far, remained an unanswered question. This paper addresses this question by studying the value of online movie ratings in forecasting motion picture...

By providing a platform where consumers can discuss obscure products not covered by mainstream media, user-centered media, such as online product review forums, are expected by many to reduce the informational inequality between hit and niche products and thus help shift demand towards the long...

Although many researchers in Information Systems and Marketing have studied the effect of product reviews on sales, few have looked at their effect on product returns. We hypothesize that, by reducing product uncertainty, product reviews affect the probability of product returns. We elaborate...