How power distance affects online hotel ratings: The positive moderating roles of hotel chain and reviewers' travel experience

摘要

AbstractThis study investigates the collective influences of cultural, hotel, and reviewer characteristics on online ratings in the hotel sector. Based on over 243,000 TripAdvisor reviews for hotels in 24 US cities, we empirically find a negative relationship between the reviewers' power distance and their online hotel ratings, thereby indicating that cultural factor plays a significant role in the customers’ online rating behavior. The negative effect of power distance on online hotel ratings is weaker for chained hotels than for independent hotels. This negative effect is also weaker for reviewers with more travel experience than for those with less travel experience. The robustness check demonstrates that these findings are applicable for ratings on product features that involve staff interactions, such as service, value, rooms, and cleanliness.Highlights•Reviewers from countries with high power distance (PD) make low hotel ratings.•The negative effect of PD is weaker for hotel chains than for independent hotels.•The negative effect of PD is weaker as reviewers' travel experience increases.•243,000 TripAdvisor reviews for 3081 hotels in 24 U.S. cities are used.•Robustness check is conducted to validate the findings.