Unfair customer reviews: Third-party perceptions and managerial responses

Abstract This research examines third-party perceptions of unfair reviews and effects of managerial responses. Using an experimental research design, this research reports the findings of two studies involving 1115 US consumers. Study 1 examines third-party perceptions (i.e., severity of incident, attribution of blame and opportunistic intentions) after reading reviews. Study 2 examines the moderating influence of the managerial response strategies. The findings provide significant insight for service providers in scripting their responses to unfair reviews. To protect their reputation, a defensive managerial response strategy is found to be best when (1) severity of the reported incident is high and (2) review content indicates possible opportunistic intentions of the complainant. Alternatively, when attribution of blame lies strongly with the service provider, then an accommodative strategy is more effective. Our findings contribute to the unfair review and managerial response literature by highlighting the benefits of both the accommodative and the defensive strategies.