A series of controlled experiments examine how the strategy of incentivizing reviews influences consumers’ expressions of positivity. Incentivized (vs. unincentivized) reviews contained a greater proportion of positive relative to negative emotion across a variety of product and service experiences (e.g., videos, service providers, CPG companies). This effect occurred for both financial and non-financial incentives, and when assessing review content across multiple natural language processing tools and human judgments. We propose that incentives influence review content by modifying the experience of writing reviews. That is, when incentives are associated with review writing, they cause the positive affect of receiving an incentive to transfer to the review writing experience, making review writing more enjoyable. In line with this process, the effect of an incentive on review positivity attenuates when incentives are weakly (vs. strongly) associated with review writing (i.e., incentive for “participating in an experiment” vs. “writing a review”) and when the incentive does not transfer positive affect (i.e., when an incentive is provided by a disliked company). By examining when incentives do (vs. do not) adjust the relative positivity of written reviews, this research offers theoretical insight into the literature on incentives, motivation, and word-of-mouth, with practical implications for managers.

一系列受控实验研究了激励评论的策略如何影响消费者的积极表达。在各种产品和服务体验（例如，视频，服务提供商，CPG公司）中，激励式（相对于非激励式）评论所包含的积极情绪相对于消极情绪的比例更大。对于财务和非财务激励措施，以及在评估多种自然语言处理工具和人工判断的评论内容时，都会发生这种影响。我们建议，激励措施可以通过修改撰写评论的经验来影响评论的内容。也就是说，当激励措施与评论写作相关联时，它们会带来积极的影响，即获得激励以转移到评论写作经验中，从而使评论写作更加愉快。按照这个过程，当奖励与评论撰写（即“参加实验”与“撰写评论”的动机）弱（相对于强烈）相关时，奖励对评论阳性的影响减弱。 （即，当不受欢迎的公司提供激励措施时）。通过检查激励措施何时（相对于不调整）来调整书面评论的相对积极性，本研究提供了有关激励措施，动机和口碑的文献的理论见解，对管理者具有实际意义。当不受欢迎的公司提供激励措施时）。通过检查激励措施何时（相对于不调整）来调整书面评论的相对积极性，本研究提供了有关激励措施，动机和口碑的文献的理论见解，对管理者具有实际意义。当不受欢迎的公司提供激励措施时）。通过检查激励措施何时（相对于不调整）来调整书面评论的相对积极性，本研究提供了有关激励措施，动机和口碑的文献的理论见解，对管理者具有实际意义。