A Dynamic Product Evaluation Model Based on Online Customer Reviews from the Perspective of the Elaboration Likelihood Model

Abstract

Plenty of online customer reviews (OCRs) provide consumers with an abundant source of word-of-mouth (WOM). It makes potential customers evaluate alternative products or services more conveniently. Thus, relative studies have been arising. Considering that existing research is almost deployed from the perspective of reviewers, the study proposes an evaluation model based on the OCRs from the view of potential customers. In the model, the OCRs in text form are translated into probabilistic linguistic term sets from the perspective of the cognitive process model, namely, the elaboration likelihood model, for further evaluation. Meanwhile, the influence of the OCRs’ published time is also taken into consideration, and then, the model is transformed into a dynamic evaluation model. In general, we propose a dynamic product evaluation model to simulate the cognitive process of the potential consumers disposing of OCRs. In addition, an evaluation of 6 hotels in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, is developed based on the proposed dynamic product evaluation model, and some discussions, as well as conclusions, are also carried out.