Purpose

In September 2019, Booking.com changed from the smiley-based scoring system (2.5–10) to the purely 10-point evaluation system (1–10). The smiley-based service evaluation is based on the multi-dimensional (M-D) system, whereas the purely 10-point service evaluation is based on the single-dimensional (S-D) system. This paper aims to focus on how a change in review posting policies impacts service evaluations regarding review generation and distribution.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors exploit the natural experiment using Booking.com when the site changed its scoring system from a multidimensional smiley-based service evaluation system to an S-D scoring system. The authors collected online reviews posted on two travel agencies (Booking.com and Priceline.com) between September 2019 and October 2020. A quasi-experimental approach, Difference-in-Differences, was used to isolate the impacts of the new scoring system from the impacts of the change in the service evaluation environment, i.e. COVID-19.

Findings

The change in the scoring system considerably alters review distributions by decreasing the portion of positive reviews but increasing the portion of highly positive reviews. Using the theory of emotion work (Hochschild, 1979, 2001), DID is also the reason that the former M-D smiley-based system could have underrated, highly positive reviews of services. Using the information transfer theory (Belkin, 1984), the authors reason the asymmetric transfer of information when users consume reviews from the older (M-D) system but are required to generate reviews on a newer (S-D) system.

Practical implications

The findings would provide online review platform management with a deeper understanding of the consequences of changes in service evaluations when the scoring system is changed.

Originality/value

Though the change in the scoring system would affect how customers evaluate the services of hotels, the causal impacts of switching to the new S-D scoring system have not yet been thoroughly covered by prior hospitality and service evaluation literature, which this research aspires to do.

中文翻译：

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评分系统的变化会影响服务评估吗？来自 Booking.com 的证据

目的

2019 年 9 月，Booking.com 从基于笑脸的评分系统（2.5-10）更改为纯 10 分评价系统（1-10）。基于笑脸的服务评价基于多维（MD）系统，而纯10分服务评价基于单维（SD）系统。本文旨在关注评论发布政策的变化如何影响关于评论生成和分发的服务评估。

设计/方法/途径

当网站将其评分系统从基于多维笑脸的服务评估系统更改为 SD 评分系统时，作者利用使用 Booking.com 的自然实验。作者收集了 2019 年 9 月至 2020 年 10 月期间在两家旅行社（Booking.com 和 Priceline.com）上发布的在线评论。使用准实验方法 Difference-in-Differences 将新评分系统的影响与服务评估环境变化的影响，即 COVID-19。

发现

评分系统的变化通过减少正面评论的部分但增加高度正面评论的部分来显着改变评论分布。使用情绪工作理论 (Hochschild, 1979, 2001)，DID 也是以前基于 MD 笑脸的系统可能低估服务的高度积极评价的原因。使用信息传递理论 (Belkin, 1984)，作者推断当用户从旧 (MD) 系统消费评论但需要在较新 (SD) 系统上生成评论时信息的不对称传递。

实际影响

研究结果将使在线评论平台管理人员更深入地了解评分系统发生变化时服务评估变化的后果。

原创性/价值

虽然评分系统的变化会影响客户如何评价酒店的服务，但切换到新的 SD 评分系统的因果影响尚未完全涵盖之前的酒店和服务评估文献，而本研究希望做到这一点。