The financial impact of online customer reviews in the restaurant industry: A moderating effect of brand equity

The salient impact of electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) on firm performance has been widely noticed by scholars and practitioners. While eWOM serves as an important source of information that helps reduce perceived uncertainty risks in service purchases, it is highly likely that other sources of information are simultaneously used with eWOM in the purchase decisions. Thus, this study empirically examined the financial effects of restaurant eWOM (review volume and review rating) and their changes in the presence of brand equity. Three-stage least squares analysis was employed in the empirical investigation. Our findings revealed that review volume and review rating contributed to restaurant profitability. Brand equity was found to moderate the effects of the review attributes on restaurants profitability, which implies that eWOM has a greater influence on the financial performance of weak-branded restaurants than strong-branded ones. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.