Abstract Online reviews represent an important decision aid for consumers. Therefore, the question of whether online reviews reflect the currently available information is of high importance. Nevertheless, previous research neglects information processing on online review platforms. We address this research gap and analyze whether restaurant health inspection results have an impact on the review generation process of online restaurant reviews. We find that while severe health inspection results lead to changes of online review star ratings, information processing depends on the current environment. We find indications for corrective actions after critical health inspections: on the one hand, the restaurant health score improves, which shows an increase in restaurant quality. On the other hand, we observe indications for an increased amount of fake reviews in case of poorly-graded restaurants. We contribute to theory by providing an understanding of the nature of information processing on online review platforms. For practitioners, our findings allow for an understanding of the dynamics of online review generation. Furthermore, we outline the importance of considering the risk of deceptive behavior.

中文翻译：

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在线评论平台的信息处理

摘要 在线评论代表了消费者重要的决策帮助。因此，在线评论是否反映当前可用信息的问题非常重要。然而，先前的研究忽略了在线评论平台上的信息处理。我们解决了这一研究空白，并分析了餐厅健康检查结果是否对在线餐厅评论的评论生成过程产生影响。我们发现，虽然严重的健康检查结果会导致在线评论星级的变化，但信息处理取决于当前环境。我们在严格的健康检查后发现了采取纠正措施的迹象：一方面，餐厅健康评分有所提高，这表明餐厅质量有所提高。另一方面，我们观察到有迹象表明，如果餐厅评级不佳，虚假评论数量会增加。我们通过提供对在线评论平台上信息处理性质的理解来为理论做出贡献。对于从业者而言，我们的发现有助于了解在线评论生成的动态。此外，我们概述了考虑欺骗行为风险的重要性。