Do salespeople's online profile pictures predict the number of online reviews? Effect of a babyface

被引:7
作者
Yim, Alexis [1 ]
Price, Bradley [2 ]
Agnihotri, Raj [3 ]
Cui, Annie Peng [2 ]
机构
[1] Radford Univ, Davis Coll Business & Econ, Radford, VA USA
[2] West Virginia Univ, John Chambers Coll Business & Econ, Morgantown, WV USA
[3] Iowa State Univ, Ivy Coll Business, Ames, IA USA
关键词
Sales; Facial recognition technology; Personal selling; Babyface; Service; Online reviews; eWOM; FACIAL MATURITY; PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS; CONSUMER REVIEWS; MODERATING ROLE; FACE; IMPACT; SALES; CREDIBILITY; IMPRESSIONS; INVOLVEMENT;
D O I
10.1108/EJM-03-2022-0173
中图分类号
F [经济];
学科分类号
02 ;
摘要
PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of a salesperson's babyface in his/her profile picture on the number of online reviews the salesperson receives. In addition to testing the direct relationship, this study explores the moderating roles of salesperson gender and consumer involvement. Design/methodology/approachResponding to the call for field-based consumer research, the authors test their theory using an experimental design and a field study. Study 1 employs an experimental design in high and low involvement service settings to test the effect of a babyface on consumers' intention to write online reviews. Study 2 uses field data, utilising real estate salespeople's online profile pictures to test the effect of salespeople's babyface on the number of online reviews they receive. It does so by using an artificial intelligence facial recognition application interface. FindingsA salesperson's babyface results in fewer online reviews in situations in which consumers are highly involved in the purchase process. By contrast, a salesperson's babyface engenders more online reviews when consumers purchase low involvement services. The adverse effect of a babyface on the number of online reviews, however, attenuates when a salesperson is female. Research limitations/implicationsLimited information about salespeople, a skewed number of online reviews and blurry online profile pictures from a real-world data set constitute the study's limitations. Practical implicationsWhen consumers are highly involved in the purchase process, salespeople should appear mature in their online profile photos to engender more online reviews. However, salespeople providing low involvement services should opt for online profile pictures reflecting babyish facial features to generate more online reviews. Originality/valueResearch has shown that salespeople's physical appearance plays an important role in consumers' perceptions of salespeople and their performance. Although abundant research and practice have shown the importance of online reviews, less is known about how online profile pictures affect online reviews. Thus, building on well-studied cases of an overgeneralization effect, this work examines the extent to which salespeople's babyface features in their online profile picture affects the number of online reviews received in a real-world setting.
引用
收藏
页码:1886 / 1911
页数:26
相关论文
共 134 条
[1]   Drivers and Performance Implications of Frontline Employees' Social Capital Development and Maintenance: The Role of Online Social Networks* [J].
Agnihotri, Raj ;
Mani, Sudha ;
Chaker, Nawar N. ;
Daugherty, Patricia J. ;
Kothandaraman, Prabakar .
DECISION SCIENCES, 2022, 53 (01) :181-215
[2]   Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales [J].
Agnihotri, Raj ;
Dingus, Rebecca ;
Hu, Michael Y. ;
Krush, Michael T. .
INDUSTRIAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 2016, 53 :172-180
[3]   If looks could sell: Moderation and mediation of the attractiveness effect on salesperson performance [J].
Ahearne, M ;
Gruen, TW ;
Jarvis, CB .
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN MARKETING, 1999, 16 (04) :269-284
[4]   Does demand fall when customers perceive that prices are unfair? The case of premium pricing for large sizes [J].
Anderson, Eric T. ;
Simester, Duncan I. .
MARKETING SCIENCE, 2008, 27 (03) :492-500
[5]   Deriving the Pricing Power of Product Features by Mining Consumer Reviews [J].
Archak, Nikolay ;
Ghose, Anindya ;
Ipeirotis, Panagiotis G. .
MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, 2011, 57 (08) :1485-1509
[6]  
Babin LaurieA., 1999, J RETAIL CONSUM SERV, V6, P91, DOI DOI 10.1016/S0969-6989(98)00004-6
[7]   Online first impressions: Person perception in social media profiles [J].
Bacev-Giles, Chantal ;
Haji, Reeshma .
COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR, 2017, 75 :50-57
[8]   Very first impressions [J].
Bar, Moshe ;
Neta, Maital ;
Linz, Heather .
EMOTION, 2006, 6 (02) :269-278
[9]   WERE THE PHYSIOGNOMISTS RIGHT - PERSONALITY-CORRELATES OF FACIAL BABYISHNESS [J].
BERRY, DS ;
BROWNLOW, S .
PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN, 1989, 15 (02) :266-279
[10]   SOME COMPONENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF A BABYFACE [J].
BERRY, DS ;
MCARTHUR, LZ .
JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 1985, 48 (02) :312-323