The effect of the temporal distance of positive and negative hotel reviews on expected service quality

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The effect of the temporal distance of

positive and negative hotel reviews on

expected service quality

Master thesis

Author: Petra Palesova (10604677) 

MSc. in Business Studies – Marketing Track

University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics and Business

June 30, 2014

Supervisor: Dr. Alfred Zerres, associate professor of marketing at the

University of Amsterdam 

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Abstract

This study was based on the construal level theory and investigated the effect of the temporal distance of online reviews on the consumer decision-making process in the hotel industry. In particular, this research studied how proximal and distant online reviews written by hotel visitors influence consumer expected service quality. The effect of the temporal distance of a message (online review) was evaluated for both positive and negative reviews. The results showed that positive reviews did not result in higher expected service quality when the reviews were distant compared to near future ones and negative reviews did not lead to lower expected service quality when the reviews were proximal compared to distant future ones. Furthermore, the results indicated that the quality of the hotel (five-star hotel vs. hostel) marginally moderated the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality. This effect was found only in positive online reviews. The study also examined whether the temporal distance of a message receiver (i.e. when a recipient is planning to go on vacation) moderates the relationship between the temporal distance of a message and expected service quality. The moderating effect of the temporal distance of a message receiver was supported for positive reviews and marginally supported for negative reviews.

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Introduction

With the development of Web 2.0 technologies (e.g. online discussion forums, social network sites, review sites, etc.), there has also been a significant increase in the online exchange of product and service information between consumers (Lee et al., 2008). Traditionally, consumers exchanged information about companies, products and services in person, i.e. via word-of-mouth, however, with the increased use of the Internet, word-of mouth evolved into electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Klein (2008) states that user reviews are especially important for experience goods because their quality is difficult to judge prior to purchase. An important category of experience goods is the hospitality industry (e.g. hotels and restaurants), when individuals seek information from others to mitigate purchase risk. Xiang and Gretzel (2010) emphasize the substantial importance of social media as an information source for travelers. If individuals are looking for a place to stay when going on a vacation or business trip, they usually face a high degree of uncertainty due to their unfamiliarity with the quality of hotels in a desired destination. In addition, online hotel reviews written by previous visitors may provide more objective and reliable information. The results of the study conducted by Chen (2008) showed a greater influence of online consumer-generated information on product choice than reviews from expert or ﬁrm-related advisors. The growing reliance on online reviews when making decision about travel purchases increases the importance to conduct further research in the field of electronic word-of-mouth in order to better understand how various factors of online hotel reviews affect consumer decision-making.

This study examines online reviews by applying the construal level theory (CLT). CLT research studies the influences of psychological distance (e.g. temporal, spatial or social) on prediction, evaluation or behavior. Little is known about the effects of psychological distance in eWOM. The purpose of this study is to bridge the gap in academic literature by combining the concept of

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psychological distance and eWOM. The research studies how the temporal distance of eWOM narrative (online reviews) influences expected service quality. It distinguishes between the high (i.e. last year) and low (i.e. last week) temporal distance of online reviews. The study focuses on the hotel industry, examining both positive and negative hotel reviews. Further, the study tests the moderating role of the quality (type) of hotel. It investigates whether five-star hotel reviews vs. hostel reviews moderate the relationship between the temporal distance of a message and expected service quality. The second moderator of this study is the temporal distance of a message receiver (high vs. low), i.e. when an individual plans to go on vacation. Experimental research is conducted to investigate these effects.

Research question:

What is the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality when the online reviews have a positive and when they have a negative valence? Does the quality (type) of hotel (five-star hotel vs. hostel) moderate the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality? Does the temporal distance of a message receiver moderate the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality?

Theoretical framework

Concept of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)

Electronic word-of-mouth is a type of virtual communication that is similar in its essence to traditional word-of-mouth (WOM). WOM is defined as a communication between people who have no self-interest in a company or its products, thus such communication is independent of an organization’s marketing activities (Bone, 1995). Electronic word-of-mouth is a positive or negative statement about a company or product that is generated by former or prospective

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In particular, the exchange of opinions does not necessarily have to be only among family members, relatives or friends, but the reach of information is significantly greater. This is caused by the fact that diverse electronic technologies such as online discussion forums, blogs, review sites and social networking sites enable greater speed of diffusion and scalability (Shen et al., 2012). Furthermore, eWOM is anonymous, relatively easily accessible, and provides information about companies, products or services that are available for an indefinite period of time. It facilitates the creation of virtual communities, where subjects inﬂuence each other while they are searching for online information (Litvin et al., 2008). People’s search for online reviews is especially important for service offerings because their quality is difficult to evaluate prior to the actual experience. Since hotel offerings are services with an intangible nature, reliance on reference group evaluations may mitigate the emotional risk associated with service appraisal (Lewis and Chambers, 2000). The findings of the study conducted by Vermeulen and Seegers (2009) show the positive effect of online reviews on hotel considerations, which is explained by the fact that both positive and negative reviews increase hotel awareness. Increased hotel awareness compensates for the effect of a consumer attitude decline after the reading of negative reviews about a hotel. This implies that positive online reviews have significantly greater impact on consumer considerations than negative reviews. A single negative review does not have a negative impact on consumer evaluation. However, the presence of continuous negative reports of a certain hotel would have a damaging impact on a hotel reputation (Dean, 2004). This study also investigates the effect of such positive and negative reviews on a hotel’s perceived service quality by using construal level theory.

Construal level theory

Construal level theory (CLT) proposes that temporal distance systematically changes people’s mental representation of events and, in turn, changes responses to these future proceedings (Trope and Liberman, 2003). This is caused by the fact that people do not possess much information

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about distant events, so they cannot make very precise predictions about them. They only think about incidental and contextual features. However, as the event approaches in time, the detailed features become more apparent. Carver & Scheier (2000) argue that actions form hierarchies and each action (e.g. study for an exam) has an abstract level, which deals with the question of why the action is performed (e.g. to do well) and a concrete level, which gives details of how the action will be performed (e.g. read a textbook). Trope and Liberman (2003) found that distant future events (e.g. in one year) form high-level construals, meaning that representations are rather abstract and have decontextualized features. Low-level construals are characterized as having more concrete (rich details), contextual and incidental features and individuals are more likely to be influenced by them when the temporal distance is low, i.e. the event is held in the near future (e.g. tomorrow). In other words, high-level construals have greater impact on preferences when making decisions about distant events, whereas low-level construals are more influential in near-time events. The study by Kim et al. (2008) investigated the importance of abstract “why”-laden appeals and concrete “how”-laden appeals in the political voting field. They found that the abstract (“why”) appeals were more persuasive for distant-future voting, whereas the concrete (“how”) appeals were more persuasive for near-future voting. These findings indicate that the external factor is more influential when the level of representation is congruent with the natural construal level of the decision maker in a specific time frame than when it is incongruent. Liberman and Trope (1998) conducted a study, in which they examined the differential impact of feasibility and desirability regarding distant and near-time events. Feasibility (e.g. how convenient is the timing of the lecture) represented a low-level construal and desirability (e.g. how interesting is the lecture) symbolized a high-level construal. The study showed that individuals preferred time convenience to an interesting lecture when making a near future decision, whereas for distant future decisions subjects placed greater importance on the interest of a lecture than on the

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convenience of time. Hence, desirability (high-level construal) increased with temporal distance and feasibility (low-level construal) decreased with temporal distance.

Theory for hypotheses 1a and 1b

Based on the construal level theory, Eyal et al. (2004) investigated the effect of temporal shift on the generation and utilization of positive and negative arguments. They investigated the differential influences of the salience of pro and con considerations in one’s decision-making, depending on whether the event is distant as opposed to near in time. The authors predicted that pro arguments constitute a higher-level construal than con arguments. They argue that cons are subordinate to pros because when an action is considered, the subjective importance of cons depends on the existence of pros more than the importance of pros depends on the cons. This argumentation is logical because people consider undertaking an action only if they see some benefits there. If the action did not provide any benefits to them and would only have con arguments individuals would never consider undertaking the action. So the importance of con arguments is dependent on the presence of pro arguments. In contrast, the importance of benefits (pro arguments) when undertaking an action is independent of whether the action has con arguments or not. The authors’ prediction was supported, confirming that pros constitute a higher-level construal than con arguments. The results also showed that pro arguments were more salient in distant future decision-making, i.e. participants generated more pro arguments when deciding about future plans. In contrast, in the near future plan condition the more salient arguments were the con arguments. In summary, pros had more impact and cons had less impact when attitudes or intentions were related to distant future events, whereas the reverse held for near future events. Previous CLT research shows that individuals think about distant events in an abstract superficial way and have a tendency to focus on actions that could provide positive experiences. Whereas, when individuals think about proximal events they analyze them in greater detail and focus on facts that could harm them. For example, if an individual considers going on an exotic vacation in

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the distant future he or she tends to think about all the interesting places that can be visited. In contrast, if the vacation is temporally close the individual focuses more on the possible downsides of such a trip (e.g. the threat of a tropical disease), so with decreasing temporal distance the negative aspects become more salient. Based on this logic, I predict that the participants who read a positive message that is framed as temporally distant (i.e. the author of the message was in the hotel/hostel last year) will evaluate expected service quality higher than those respondents with a positive proximal message. On the other hand, if the participants read a negative message that is framed as proximal (i.e. the author of the message was in the hotel/hostel last week) they will evaluate the expected service quality lower than the participants who read a negative message that is temporally distant because the influence of negative proximal reviews on expected service quality should be greater.

Hypothesis 1a: Positive reviews will lead to higher expected service quality when the reviews are written in the distant past compared to near past.

Hypothesis 1b: Negative reviews will lead to lower expected service quality when the reviews are written in the near past compared to distant past.

Theory for hypothesis 2

In hypothesis 2, I aim to examine whether the quality of a hotel moderates the relationship between the temporal distance of a message and consumer expected service quality. In particular, I distinguish between a five-star hotel and a hostel. A stay at a five-star hotel is a hedonic experience that offers luxurious ambience, customized services and haute cuisine. Park and Kim (2012) found that hedonic pleasures, such as dinner in a luxury restaurant, are high-level construals and such hedonic pleasures are more salient when the event is distant. Hence, a five-star hotel represents a high-level construal because participants construe more abstract and

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hotels are usually vague. One cannot exactly imagine how a five-star luxury hotel will be in terms of its room service, restaurants, design or wellness. The luxury of a five-star hotel is a very vague concept. However, with decreasing temporal distance, people are less interested in the positive experiences and become more worried about the multiple costs associated with the enjoyment of such experiences (Okada, 2005; Wertenbroch and Dhar, 2000). The importance of low costs is the primary reason for people to stay at hostels. They usually look for a cheap and safe place, with a good location and clean bed. Individuals construe very concrete views on what to expect from hostels because all hostels offer a similar service that is basic with lower quality. According to construal level theory, low-level construals are characterized as having more concrete, contextual and incidental features (Trope and Liberman, 2003). I conducted a manipulation check to confirm whether a hotel indeed represents a high-level construal and a hostel a low-level construal. Trope et al. (2007) discussed how time influences attractiveness through changes in the weighting of versus low-level features. They argue that temporal distance increases the weight of high-level value and decreases the weight of low-high-level value. For proximal events, the lower-high-level value of an option is viewed as more attractive, while the higher-level value of an option is regarded as more attractive for events that are distant. Based on these finding, I predict that when the temporal distance of a message is low a hostel (low-level construal) should generate greater effect on expected service quality than the five-star hotel (high-level construal). On the other hand, when the temporal distance of a message is high a five-star hotel (high-level construal) should have greater influence on expected service quality than the hostel (low-level construal). Hence, I predict that a five-star hotel will generate greater expected service quality than the hostel, when the positive reviews were written in the distant past (i.e. high temporal distance of a message). When the positive reviews were written in the near past (i.e. low temporal distance of a message), a hostel will show greater expected service quality than the five-star hotel. On the other hand, when the negative were written in the distant past (i.e. high temporal distance of a

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message), a five-star hotel will have lower expected service quality than the hostel. When the negative reviews were written in the near past (i.e. low temporal distance of a message), a hostel will generate lower expected service quality than a five-star hotel.

Hypothesis 2a: The quality of hotel moderates the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality.

Hypothesis 2b: Positive reviews written in the distant past will lead to higher expected service quality when evaluating a five-star hotel compared to the hostel. Positive reviews written in the near past will lead to higher expected service quality when evaluating a hostel compared to the five-star hotel.

Hypothesis 2c: Negative reviews written in the distant past will lead to lower expected service quality when evaluating a five-star hotel compared to the hostel. Negative reviews written in the near past will lead to lower expected service quality when evaluating a hostel compared to the five-star hotel.

Next to temporal distance, there are other psychological distance dimensions such as spatial, social and hypothetical distance, which work on a similar principle. These dimensions also have an influence on consumer decision-making. Various construal-level theories (e.g. spatial construal theory) are special types of psychological distance theory (Trope and Liberman, 2010). They define psychological distance as a subjective perception that something is close or far away from the self, here, and now, which are the reference points of a psychological distance. The level of construal similarly influences all psychological dimensions. Specifically, if psychological distance increases individuals form more abstract (high-level) construals, e.g. “I will stay in touch with my friend”. Whereas, if the distance decreases construals become more concrete (low-level

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psychological distance on representation, prediction, evaluation and action (Trope et al., 2007). Only limited research has studied the influences of the multiple dimensions of psychological distance involved in an event. Kim et al. (2008) found that if there are multiple psychological distance dimensions included in an event they cause a differential effect on a participant’s evaluation. Specifically, when both social and temporal dimensions are proximal, individuals are more influenced by the low-level construal, whereas if either or both dimensions are distal evaluations are more influenced by the value associated with a high-level construal. The study by Zhao and Xie (2011) contributed to research on the interrelationships between different psychological distance dimensions by showing that the congruency of construal levels between the social distance and temporal distance increases the influence of others’ recommendations on consumers’ preferences. The findings showed a greater preference shift of others’ recommendations when people made a decision for the distant future rather than for near future ones. Further, when participants made a decision for the near future, recommendations from close others significantly shifted participants’ preference toward a product, while the same recommendation from distant others did not change people’s preferences. In contrast, participants in the distant future condition significantly shifted their preferences toward the product when recommendations came from distant others. However, when the recommendations were made by close others participants’ preferences did not change. These results are consistent with the “fit” literature. Based on these findings, I developed a hypothesis about the moderating role of the temporal distance of a message receiver on the relationship between the temporal distance of a message and expected service quality. I aim to investigate whether and how the two dimensions of temporal distance, namely, the temporal distance of a message (TDM) and the temporal distance of a message receiver (TDR), jointly affect consumer evaluations of a hotel and hostel. I predict that when both temporal distance dimensions are congruent (i.e. high TDM and high TDR; low TDM and low TDR), the influence on expected service quality would be significantly greater than

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in the incongruent situation (i.e. high TDM and low TDR; low TDM and high TDR). Specifically, participants exposed to positive reviews will evaluate expected service quality higher if the temporal distance dimensions are temporally indifferent compared to temporally diverse dimensions. Subjects exposed to negative reviews with temporally congruent dimensions will evaluate expected service quality lower than those in the temporally incongruent condition.

Hypothesis 3a: The temporal distance of a message receiver moderates the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality.

Hypothesis 3b: If there is a construal fit between the temporal distance of a message and the temporal distance of a message receiver, the effect on expected service quality will be stronger compared to a construal misfit. Specifically, positive reviews will lead to higher expected service quality if the temporal distance of a message is low (high) and the temporal distance of the receiver is also low (high). Negative reviews will lead to lower expected service quality if the temporal distance of a message is low (high) and the temporal distance of the receiver is also low (high).

In hypothesis 4, I aim to investigate the relationship between expected service quality and purchase intention. González et al. (2007) studied the influence of perceived service quality and customer satisfaction on purchase intention in the tourism industry. The authors found that a positive perceived service quality of a spa resort increased the participant’s buying intention. This result provides the rationale for the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 4: The expected service quality of a hotel (hostel) is positively associated with the hotel (hostel) purchase intention.

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The framework below provides an overview of all the relationships that are examined in the study.

R

esearch method

Design

I conducted an experimental design to examine the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality. This study has a 2 (temporal distance of message: low vs. high) by 2 (temporal distance of receiver: low vs. high) between-subjects design, with a dependent variable expected service quality. The type of hotel (five-star hotel vs. hostel) is used as a within-factor. This means that one participant read and evaluated two reviews (each of the hotel and hostel). A total of 412 participants were randomly assigned to one of the eight experimental groups and evaluated either positive or negative reviews. Half of the participants was first exposed to a hostel

Valence of a message (positive and negative)

Temporal distance of a message (high or low)

Expected service quality

Temporal distance of a message receiver (high or low)

Purchase intention

Type of hotel (five-star hotel vs. hostel)

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review and, subsequently, to a star hotel review. The remaining half was first shown a five-star hotel review and then a hostel review, this to ensure that the order in which the reviews (hostel vs. hotel) were presented had no influence. Since there was no significant difference in the display order of hotel and hostel reviews, I combined the groups that differed only in display order but were in the same valence and temporal distance of message condition (see Appendix III for the results of performed statistical test).

Experiment description

The experiment was conducted via a web-based survey. Each participant was provided with a short description of one five-star hotel and one hostel. Neither hotel nor hostel was a member of a hotel chain, this in order to mitigate the evaluation bias of participants who had a prior experience with a particular hotel chain. In the five-star hotel review section, I introduced the five-star Alchymist Grand Hotel & Spa in Prague (see Appendix Ia. for the picture of the hotel shown to subjects):

“Just a few steps from Prague Castle and Charles Bridge, amidst the picturesque, higgledy streets of Prague Lesser Town, nestles a luxury hotel, Alchymist Grand Hotel & Spa. This 5 star boutique hotel is everything one could wish for: a downtown Prague hotel with fairy tale charm, exquisitely furnished deluxe rooms and suites reflecting the historical character of the building, luxury restaurant serving mouth-watering dishes, wellness spa to help you relax and rejuvenate, and above all, staff who, in this luxury Prague boutique hotel, really care about their guests, providing them with the best service possible.”

In the hostel part of the survey, individuals were presented with Prague Square Hostel, which is also located in Prague. They were exposed to the following text (see Appendix Ib. for the picture of the hostel shown to subjects):

“Our hostel, in the center of Prague, is just a minute's walk from all the historical sights, bars, theaters, museums and shops. Prague Square Hostel has been recently reconstructed. Besides the great location,

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cleanliness and safety are of utmost importance to us. Our hostel offers accommodation from double to eight-bedded elegantly decorated rooms, and all dorms have personal lockers, as well as heating and a hand basin with hot and cold water. Bathrooms are communal with basic facilities including showers. A bar and free Wi-Fi in public areas is also available.”

Manipulation of the temporal distance of a message (online review)

I manipulated the temporal distance of a message by changing the time when a message producer stayed at the hotel (hostel). The message producer was there either last week (low temporal distance of a message) or last year (high temporal distance of a message). Depending on the condition, participants evaluated either a positive or negative review with either a low or high temporal distance of a message. Positive and negative reviews were opposing statements in order to compare the same attributes. The attributes described in online reviews were related to the cleanliness of a room, room condition and the quality of bed and furniture. For concrete reviews that were shown to respondents, see Appendix II. As mentioned above, one participant read and evaluated a hotel review in one section and a hostel review in the other section. However, a participant evaluating a certain condition of a hotel review (e.g. low temporal distance of a message and positive valence) evaluated the exactly same condition of a hostel review, i.e. low temporal distance of a message and positive valence. Even though the temporal distance and valence of a message was the same the online reviews of hotel and hostel slightly differed in their text. This was to prevent respondents reading the identical comment twice.

To ensure the appropriate manipulation of temporal distance of a message, the participants had to indicate the perceived proximity of last week and last year. I measured the proximity on two, five-point scales (long time ago/short time ago, distant past/near past) adapted from Chandran and Menon (2004). This method enables checking whether there is a significant temporal difference between the condition last week and last year.

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Expected service quality

As mentioned above, the reviews of the hotel and hostel were shown separately. This implies that also the expected service quality was evaluated separately for the hotel and hostel. Respondents evaluated the expected service quality immediately after reading a particular review. Expected service quality was a dependent variable, which was measured using a two-item, five-point scale applied in the study of Boulding and Kirmani (1993). In the hotel section, participants were asked to compare the hotel’s overall service level to those of other hotels of the same category and they

also rated the overall service quality of the hotel. In the hostel section, participants were asked to compare the hostel’s overall service level to those of other hostels of the same category and they

also rated the overall service quality of the hostel. Since participants’ evaluations of the expected service quality were measured with two items they were then averaged to create their overall evaluation index. Cronbach’s α for the expected service quality of the hotel was 0.905 and Cronbach’s α for the expected service quality of the hostel was 0.927, which implies that both

variables had an acceptable reliability.

Purchase intention

After evaluating the expected service quality, subjects indicated their purchase intention of the hotel and the purchase intention of the hostel on a one-item, five-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree to 5 = Strongly agree). This method is adapted from Sparks and Browning (2011). Participants read the following statement in the hotel section:

“After reading the review of Alchymist Grand Hotel & Spa, it is very likely that I would book a room in this hotel if it was a location I was travelling to.”

In the hostel section, participants were shown the following message:

“After reading the review of Prague Square Hostel, it is very likely that I would book a room in this hotel if it was a location I was travelling to.”

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The quality (type) of a hotel – Moderator 1

The type of hotel (five-star hotel vs. hostel) was one of the moderators in the study. Kivetz and Simonson (2002) found that people are more likely to choose a luxury promotional option (high-level construal) as opposed to a more functional one (low-(high-level construal) with increasing temporal distance. I predicted that a five-star hotel serves as a luxury high-level construal and a hostel as a more functional low-level construal. To examine this prediction, participants were asked to indicate what they deem important about a hotel and what they deem important about a hostel. Previous research showed that words such as hotel (room) service (Kim et al. 2008) or luxury (Hansen and Wänke, 2011) are considered as a high-level construal. Park and Kim (2012) found that hedonic pleasures such as dinner in a luxury restaurant are high-level construals, which are more salient when the temporal distance is high. They argue that the high temporal distance causes people to think about a luxury dinner in an abstract way and they mainly focus on positive experiences such as luxurious ambience, customized services and haute cuisine. Hence, I coded the words that were similar to these keywords as abstract words. However, with a decreasing temporal distance people are less interested in the positive experiences and become worried about functional (utilitarian) aspects such as the costs associated with the enjoyment of such experiences (Okada, 2005; Wertenbroch and Dhar, 2000). Therefore, words like price, costs or distance (time) to the city center/location were coded as concrete words (low-level construals). CLT considers risk to be a low-level factor. Sagristano et al. (2002) found that bets with a high likelihood of winning and with a smaller pay-off (safe gamble) are preferred in the near future, whereas the reverse holds for the distant future. As a result, I considered safety and private lockers as concrete keywords. The keyword cleanliness of the bed/room was also coded as a concrete word (Jin and He, 2012). I created an abstraction score and searched for the keywords that were described above. Each concrete keyword (low-level construal) equaled -1 point and each abstract keyword (high-level construal) contributed +1 point. Then I calculated the mean value from all the words that a

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participant indicated. For example, if he or she indicated two concrete keywords (2 * (-1) = -2) and three abstract keywords (3 * 1 = 3) the total is +1 (-2 + 3), so the overall score would be 0.2 (1/5). A score of 0.2 shows a slight tendency towards abstraction. Someone who only stated five concrete keywords got a score that equaled 1, which indicates a strong level of concreteness.

Temporal distance of a message receiver – Moderator 2

In addition, I investigated the moderating role of the temporal distance of a message receiver by asking participants to indicate the time they are willing to go on vacation. Liberman et al. (2007) used this method to prove that high-level construals of an event will prompt estimates of greater temporal distance from the event compared to low-level construals of the same event. To measure the temporal distance of an event, participants of their study estimated how much time in the future they were planning to perform a certain activity. Participants of my study were also asked to specify the anticipated time they were planning their vacation (“Please indicate how soon you want to go on vacation?”). Since most of the answers were expressed in months the estimates were translated

into months. For example, “3 months” was coded as 3 and “1 week” was coded as 0.25, etc. Answer “this summer” was coded as 3.5 because the survey was conducted in April and 3.5 months is between July and August. “Few months” was coded as 3 and “couple of months” as 2 (Liberman et al., 2007). Liberman et al. (2007) coded “soon, very soon, now, next weekend, as early as possible” as the value of the minimum response within their data set. I coded such words as 0.04 because this was the minimum response within my data set. On the other hand, data such as “no plan” or “never” had the value of the maximum response within the data set, which equaled 24. For this particular study, I aimed to distinguish between the high and low temporal distance of a message receiver. Since previous research does not provide sufficient guidance regarding the ideal temporal cut-off point between the two temporal conditions I have arbitrarily chosen a period of 1 month as being sufficient for showing the general pattern of relations between the near and

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were assigned to a near future condition and those who went on vacation later than in one month were assigned a distant future condition. CLT research uses time periods such as tomorrow, next week or one month as near future, whereas time periods such as two-to-six months or next year represent distant future events (Kovac and Rise, 2011; Liberman and Trope, 1998, 2000; Liberman et al., 2002, Study 4).

Results

In the correlation matrix below, I provide the correlation between seven variables of my study.

Manipulation check – the temporal distance of a message

I used the paired-samples T-test to ensure that there is a significant difference between last week (near past) and last year (distant past). Last week was perceived to be temporally closer (M = 4.2, SD = .84) than last year (M = 2.55, SD = 90); t(411) = 28.34, p < .01. Thus, the manipulation of temporal distance was successful.

Manipulation check – hotel as an abstract and hostel as a concrete construal

I conducted a Wilcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test to examine whether there was a significant difference in the evaluation of important factors when staying in a five-star hotel

TABLE 1: MEANS, STANDARD DEVIATIONS, CORRELATIONS MEAN SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Valence 0.50 0.50 - 2. TemporalDistanceMessage 0.49 0.50 .02 - 3.TemporalDistanceReceiver 0.60 0.49 .02 -.01 - 4.HotelExpectedServiceQuality 3.31 1.09 .55** -.01 .03 (.91) 5.HostelExpectedServiceQuality 3.10 1.23 .68** -.01 .06 .61** (.93) 6. HotelPurchaseIntention 2.95 1.16 .33** .01 .09 .55** .35** - 7. HostelPurchaseIntention 3.10 1.26 .50** .02 .05 .44** .69** .34** -

**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

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compared to a hostel. The results of the analysis indicated that there was a significant difference in the factors that participants considered to be important for a hotel and hostel (z = -15.16, p < .05). The results show that a five-star hotel has a tendency towards abstraction (high-level construal), whereas a hostel has a substantial tendency towards concreteness (low-level construal), meaning that people have a more concrete view of hostels than five-star hotels.

I performed a repeated measures general linear model to analyze hypotheses 1a, 1b and 2a. The type (quality) of hotel was a within-subjects variable and the temporal distance of a message was a between-subjects factor. To see the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality, I split the file by valence in order to distinguish between messages with positive and negative valence. The results of the repeated measures general linear model for positive reviews did not show a significant difference in expected service quality between distant and proximal messages (F (1, 204) = .039, p > .05). This implies that hypothesis 1a was not supported because distant messages with a positive valence (M = 3.932, SD = 0.061) did not result in a significantly greater expected service quality than proximal messages with a positive valence (M = 3.915, SD = .061). A similar result occurred when the reviews had a negative valence. The results of the repeated measures general linear model for negative reviews showed that messages with a low temporal distance (M = 2.544, SD = .085) did not have a lower expected service quality than messages with a high temporal distance (M = 2.439, SD = .089). Hypothesis 1b was not supported because there was no significant difference in expected service quality between the two temporal distance conditions (F (1, 204) = .731, p > .05).

The same repeated measures general linear model for positive reviews also showed that there was no significant main effect of the type of hotel on expected service quality (F (1,204) = .376, p > .05). However, there was a marginally significant interaction effect between the type of hotel and

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the temporal distance of a message when reviews had a positive valence (F (1, 204) = 3.688, p = .056). The results of the positive reviews supported hypothesis 2a, which means that the hotel quality marginally moderated the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality when the reviews had a positive valence.

Figure 1. Positive reviews interaction effect between the temporal distance of a message (TDM) and the quality of hotel.

The repeated measures general linear model for negative reviews showed a significant main effect of the type of hotel on expected service quality (F (1,204) = 32.714, p < .01). Negative reviews of a hotel (M = 2.72, SD = .73) were evaluated significantly higher than negative reviews of a hostel (M = 2.27, SD = .73). The interaction effect between the temporal distance of a message and the type of hotel on expected service quality was not found (F (1,204) = 2.507, p > .221). This implies that hypothesis 2a was not supported for negative review condition and the type of hotel did not moderate the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality when the reviews were negative.

3.75 3.8 3.85 3.9 3.95 4 4.05

High (Hotel) Low (Hostel)

Ex pe cted Ser vice Qua li ty

Type (quality) of Hotel

Low TDM High TDM

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Figure 2. Negative reviews interaction effect between the temporal distance of a message (TDM) and the quality of hotel.

To test hypothesis 2b, I conducted an independent samples t-test to examine whether the positive five-star hotel reviews lead to higher expected service quality than positive hostel reviews when the message was written in the distant past (high temporal distance of a message). I also performed an independent samples t-test to investigate whether the positive hostel reviews lead to higher expected service quality than positive five-star hotel reviews when the message was written in the near past (low temporal distance of a message). The results of the independent samples t-test for positive distant reviews showed that the expected service quality of five-star hotel reviews (M = 3.97, SD = .78) was not evaluated significantly higher than an expected service quality of hostel reviews (M = 3.89, SD = .84); t(204)=.69, p = .49. This finding implies that the distant positive messages did not benefit five-star hotels significantly more than hostels. Similarly, when the message was written in the near past, hostels did not show a significantly higher expected service quality (M = 3.99, SD = .65) than five-star hotels (M = 3.84, SD = .73); t(204)=-1.57, p = .12. In other words, proximal positive messages did not benefit hostels significantly more than hotels. Given these results, I failed to support hypothesis 2b.

2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9

High (Hotel) Low (Hostel)

Ex pe cted Ser vice Qua li ty

Type (quality) of Hotel

Low TDM High TDM

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I performed two independent samples test to test hypothesis 2c. With one independent samples t-test I examined whether the negative five-star hotel reviews written in the distant past lead to lower expected service than negative hostel reviews written in the distant past. In addition, I investigated whether the negative hostel reviews lead to lower expected service quality than negative five-star hotel reviews when the reviews were written in the near past. The results showed that when the message was written in the distant past (high temporal distance of a message) the negative five-star hotel reviews (M = 2.62, SD = 1.04) resulted in a significantly higher expected service quality than negative hostel reviews (M = 2.26, SD = 1.01); t(196)=2.417, p = .017. This finding was contrary to my prediction. On the other hand, when the message was written in the near past (low temporal distance of a message) the negative hostel reviews (M = 2.27, SD = 1.07) showed a significantly lower expected service quality than negative five-star hotel reviews (M = 2.82, SD = 1.05); t(212)=3.768, p < .001. Given these results, hypothesis 2c was supported for proximal negative reviews (low temporal distance of a message) but rejected for distant negative reviews (high temporal distance of a message).

To analyze hypothesis 3a for positive reviews, I performed a repeated measures general linear model for positive reviews. The temporal distance of a message and the temporal distance of a message receiver were the between-subjects factors. The type of hotel was the within-subjects variable. The expected service quality of the hotel and hostel were the dependent variables. The results of the repeated measures general linear model for positive reviews showed a significant interaction effect between the temporal distance of a message and the temporal distance of a message receiver (F (1,204) = 5.432, p < .05). The temporal distance of a message receiver moderated the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality when the reviews were positive, which supported hypothesis 3a.

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To test hypothesis 3a for negative reviews, I also performed a repeated measures general linear model. The between-subjects variables, within-subjects variable and dependent variables remained the same as in the test for positive reviews. The results showed a marginally significant interaction effect between the temporal distance of a message and temporal distance of a message receiver (F (1,204) = 2.898, p < .10). This implies that the temporal distance of a message receiver marginally moderated the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality when the reviews were negative.

Figure 3. Positive reviews interaction effect between the temporal distance of a message (TDM) and temporal distance of a message receiver.

Figure 4. Negative reviews interaction effect between the temporal distance of a message (TDM) and temporal distance of a message receiver.

3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4 4.1 Low High Ex pe cted Ser vice Qua li ty

Temporal Distance of a Message Receiver

Low TDM High TDM 2.2 2.25 2.3 2.35 2.4 2.45 2.5 2.55 2.6 2.65 2.7 Low High Ex pe cte d Se rvic e Q ua lit y

Temporal Distance of a Message Receiver

Low TDM High TDM

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In order to analyze hypothesis 3b, I created an additional variable (Time1) that includes values related to the hotel and hostel expected service quality, depending on whether the participant first evaluated a hotel or hostel review. Variable Time1 considers only the first part of the survey. I performed an independent samples t-test with Time1 as a dependent variable to examine whether the construal fit between the temporal distance of a message and temporal distance of a message receiver has a stronger effect on expected service quality than the construal misfit. The results of an independent samples t-test for positive reviews showed that a construal fit between the temporal distance of a message and temporal distance of a message receiver (M = 4.01, SD = .68) led to significantly higher expected service quality than the construal misfit (M = 3.81, SD = .71); t(204)=2.05, p = .042. Hypothesis 3b was supported for positive reviews. The results of an independent samples t-test for negative reviews did not show a significantly lower expected service quality when the temporal distance of a message and the temporal distance of a message receiver were congruent (M = 2.31, SD = 1.03) compared to the incongruent condition (M = 2.53, SD = 1.10); t(204)=-1.50, p = .135. This result did not support hypothesis 3b for negative reviews, meaning that hypothesis 3 was only supported for positive reviews.

To test hypothesis 4, I regressed the dependent variable five-star hotel purchase intention to an expected service quality towards the hotel. I found that the five-star hotel expected service quality is positively associated with the five-star hotel purchase intention (β = 1.003, t = 6.55, p < .01). A similar effect was found when the expected service quality towards the hostel was positively associated with the hostel purchase intention (β = 1.003, t = 6.55, p < .01). Hypothesis 4 was supported for both the hotel and hostel.

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Discussion and Conclusion

The aims of this study were to contribute to scientific knowledge about online reviews by applying the construal level theory and to investigate the effect of the temporal distance of online reviews on expected service quality. Even though I did not find support for all the hypotheses, the results have relevant implications for academic literature, future research and the service industry. The latter, mainly the hotel industry, is characterized by its intangible nature, which makes it problematic for people to evaluate the service prior to purchase. Consequently, people have a tendency to rely on reviews written by those with experience of the particular product or service. This study examined whether the time when a hotel review was written (distant vs. near past) has a differential effect on how a message recipient perceives a hotel service quality. In particular, in hypothesis 1a I investigated whether the expected service quality of a hotel is perceived to be higher when a positive review was written a year ago (distant past) compared to a review written last week (near past). This hypothesis was based on previous CLT findings, which showed that individuals think about distant events in an abstract way and have a tendency to focus on actions that could provide positive experiences. Even though the expected service quality of positive reviews with a distant message was not evaluated significantly higher than positive reviews with a proximal message the results of the study showed at least a tendency towards the prediction. Future research is needed to confirm that positive reviews written a long time ago are indeed more persuasive than positive reviews written only a few days ago.

As opposed to positive reviews, for negative reviews I predicted that negative arguments should have greater effect on expected service quality when the message was written in the near past than in the distant past. I predicted that the proximal negative reviews would have lower expected service quality than distal negative reviews. Previous CLT research found that individuals thinking about proximal events analyze these events in greater detail and focus on facts that could

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be harmful to them; hence I expected that proximal negative reviews would be more harmful than distal negative reviews. However, hypothesis 1b was also rejected. The results did not show a significant difference in the expected service quality between the negative reviews written in the distant past and negative reviews written in the near past. Interestingly, even though the two temporal distances did not have a significant differential effect on expected service quality, the proximal negative reviews showed higher expected service quality than distal negative reviews. The tendency of this result is contrary to my prediction. Since I failed to confirm that positive reviews written in the distant past had a greater effect on expected service quality than positive reviews written in the near past, and that negative reviews are more influential when written in the near past compared to the distant past, future research is needed to reexamine these findings.

Hypothesis 2a investigated the moderating role of the type of hotel on the relationship between the temporal distance of a message and expected service quality. Trope and Liberman (2003) found that the arguments stressing primary (high-level) features lead to more positive attitudes relative to secondary (low-level) features when the event is temporally distant compared to temporally near and vice versa. Based on these findings, I predicted that time would influence persuasion through changes in the weighting of high- (five-star hotel) versus low-level (hostel) features. I predicted that the proximal message of a hostel (low-level construal) would generate greater effect on expected service quality than proximal message of a five-star hotel (high-level construal). On the other hand, the distant message of a five-star hotel (high-level construal) would have greater influence on expected service quality than the distant message of a hostel (low-level construal). The findings show that the quality of hotel marginally moderates the relationship between the temporal distance of a message and expected service quality when reviews have positive valence. This result confirmed the prediction that the effect of the temporal distance of a positive message on expected service quality is different for a five-star hotel and hostel. A five-star hotel expected

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service quality was evaluated higher than a hostel expected service quality when the positive message was written in the distant past. However, this result has to be interpreted carefully because the difference in a five-star hotel expected service quality and hostel expected service quality for positive distant reviews was not significant. It can be seen from this trend that individuals have more positive attitudes towards a five-star hotel than hostel when the positive reviews were written in the distant past. So the distal positive messages benefit more hotels than hostels. The practical implication for hotel booking websites is to ensure that if they want to influence an individual to prefer a hotel stay to the hostel stay at the desired location, positive reviews about a hotel written a long time ago should appear at the top of a webpage because such reviews should be more persuasive than positive hostel reviews written in the distant past. Even though hypothesis 2b was not supported because there was no significant difference between the hotel and hostel expected service quality when the positive reviews were written in the near past, the tendency of results also supported the prediction. These results also need to be interpreted with caution. When the reviews were written in the near past the expected service quality of positive hostel reviews was evaluated higher than the expected service quality of positive five-star reviews. In other words, proximal positive messages are more beneficial to hostels than hotels. This implies that if the hotel booking websites want to persuade an individual to prefer a hostel to hotel, they should display positive hostel reviews written in the near past because they may be perceived more positively than positive hotel reviews written in the near past.

With regards to negative reviews, the type (quality) of hotel did not moderate the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality so I failed to support hypothesis 2a for negative reviews. I also failed to confirm that negative five-star hotel reviews written in the distant past result in significantly lower expected service quality than negative hostel reviews written in the distant past. However, negative hostel reviews written recently showed a significantly lower

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expected service quality than negative five-star hotel reviews. Negative review results showed an interesting outcome. The expected service quality of negative five-star hotel reviews was evaluated significantly higher than the expected service quality of negative hostel reviews for both distant and proximal messages. This means that negative reviews are more harmful to hostels than five-star hotels. I assume that the many positive features that the luxury hotels may provide outweigh the one or some negative information about a five-star hotel. So the presence of negative reviews about a five-star should not radically influence the attractiveness of the five-star hotel. On the other hand, if individuals complain about a hostel that provides only basic facilities, there may not be many other benefits that the hostel could provide to compensate for the negatives. Presence of negative reviews about a hostel may have a detrimental effect on its perceived service quality and, in turn, on purchase intention of the particular hostel.

In hypothesis 3a, I investigated whether the temporal distance of a message receiver moderates the relationship between the temporal distance of a message and expected service quality. In other words, I examined whether the time an individual plans to go on vacation influences the effect of the temporal distance of a message on expected service quality. The findings for positive reviews supported an interaction effect between the temporal distance of a message and the temporal distance of a message receiver. Zhao and Xie (2011) argued that a construal fit between social and temporal distance has greater effect on an individual’s preferences than a construal misfit. Specifically, they found that recommendations from close others are more influential in shifting near-future preferences than those from distant others, whereas recommendations from distant others are more influential than those from close others in shifting distant-future preferences. Based on these findings, I predicted that the construal fit between the temporal distance of a message and the temporal distance of a message receiver would lead to greater effect on expected service quality than the temporal misfit. Therefore, I compared the expected service quality in the

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fit situation (high temporal distance of a message and high temporal distance of a message receiver; low temporal distance of a message and low temporal distance of a message receiver) to the expected service quality in the misfit situation (high temporal distance of a message and low temporal distance of a receiver; low temporal distance of a message and high temporal distance of a receiver). The results for the positive reviews showed a significantly higher evaluation of expected service quality when the respondents were in the fit condition than in the misfit condition. This means that individuals who were planning to go on vacation in the distant future were more positively influenced by positive reviews written in the distant past than the near past. Individuals who were planning to go on vacation in the near future were more positively influenced by reviews that were written recently. This result has a practical implication for hotel booking websites. Specifically, if an individual indicates desired dates for a stay at a hotel the reservation system should generate positive reviews depending on whether the individual plans to stay there in the near or distant future. In the current research, the threshold for near and distant future was one month. This would mean that if an individual plans to stay in a particular hotel within one month, positive reviews written in the near past should have a more positive effect on the evaluation of the hotel. Therefore, such reviews should appear before positive reviews written in the distant past. On the other hand, if an individual plans to visit a hotel later than in one month the reservation system should first generate reviews written in the distant past in order to more positively influence the individual.

A moderation effect of the temporal distance of a message receiver on the relationship between the temporal distance of a message and expected service quality was also examined for negative reviews. The results for negative reviews showed a marginally significant interaction effect between the temporal distance of a message and the temporal distance of a message receiver. This implies that the two dimensions jointly influenced expected service quality. A prediction that the

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congruency between the temporal distance of the message and the temporal distance of the receiver would lead to a significantly greater influence on expected service quality compared to an incongruent situation was not supported. However, the tendency of negative reviews showed that individuals in the congruent situation evaluated expected service quality lower than individuals in the incongruent situation. Since the difference between the congruent and incongruent situation was not significant the interpretation needs to be considered with caution. Hotel booking websites should ensure that if an individual indicates that he or she is willing to stay in a hotel in the near future (in the current research, less than one month), negative reviews written in the distant past should appear before near past messages because they would be less harmful to the perceived service quality of the hotel. If the individual plans to stay in a hotel in the distant future (in the current research, more than one month) negative reviews written in the near past should appear before those written in the distant past.

The results of hypothesis 4 supported that the expected service quality of both a hotel and hostel is positively associated with a purchase intention. This means that the temporal distance of the message should influence an individual’s buying intention in a similar way as it influences expected service quality.

Limitations

Like every study, this study also has some limitations. The first limitation is related to the evaluation of a hotel as a high-level construal and a hostel as a low-level construal. As described in the methodology part, participants had to indicate what they deem important about a hotel and hostel. I assigned each word -1 or +1 point, depending on whether the keyword was abstract or concrete and then I calculated the mean value from all the words that a participant indicated. Even though the decision whether to assign -1 or +1 point for most words was based on previous research some words were evaluated subjectively. The method, chosen for confirmation that a

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hotel indeed represents a high-level construal and a hostel a low-level construal, could be improved in future research. Another limitation in the study is related to the choice of one month as a threshold value for showing the general pattern of relations between the near and distant future condition. Since previous research does not provide sufficient guidance regarding the ideal temporal cut-off point I chose the point of one month based on CLT research. CLT research uses time periods such as tomorrow, next week or one month as near future events, whereas time periods such as two-to-six months or next year as distant future events. Future research should investigate whether another cut-off point would also support my hypotheses related to the temporal distance of a message receiver. All in all, future research is needed to reexamine the rejected hypotheses by modifying the research method. Also, it is necessary to increase the generalizability of the supported results to other service industry sectors.

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Appendix I.

Ia. Alchymist Grand Hotel & Spa

Source: http://www.alchymisthotel.com

Ib. Prague Square Hostel

The effect of the temporal distance of positive and negative hotel reviews on expected service quality