How attitude ambivalence from conflicting online hotel reviews affects consumers' behavioural responses: The moderating role of dialecticism

Conflicting online hotel reviews have seen insufficient consideration in the literature. We fill this void by developing a model that conceptualizes how the conflicting attributes of font diagnosticity and language comprehension in online hotel reviews lead to the attitude ambivalence and psychological discomfort that determine consumers' behaviour, and how dialecticism moderates the associations between these attributes and attitude ambivalence. Our study uses a Chinese setting and a sample of 457 consumers who have stayed or planned to stay in 3- and 4-star hotels. Findings show significant effects of these attributes on attitude ambivalence and psychological discomfort, that psychological discomfort has a negative influence on reviews evaluation and positively affects purchase intentions, and that dialecticism positively moderates the relationships between conflicting attributes and attitude ambivalence. This study contributes to various literatures and hospitality practices (i.e., hotels and travel reviews websites) and recommends future directions for hospitality and researchers.