The impact of consumer heterogeneity in the product life cycle on the diffusion patterns of user reviews and sales

Extant studies have yielded conflicting results on the impact of user review volume, valence, and variance on sales. To resolve the conflict, our study proposes including consumer heterogeneity at different stages of the product life cycle (PLC). Utilizing the Bass model and mimicking the measurements of innovators and imitators in the PLC, we found that initiators and followers can effectively capture the dynamic nature of the user reviews. Analyzing 1,050,120 user reviews from the film industry reveals that volume significantly positively impacts early PLC sales and valence influences later PLC sales. Surprisingly, polarized reviews positively affect sales throughout all periods.