Abstract
This article uses linguistic analysis to help users discern the authenticity of online reviews. Two related studies were conducted using hotel reviews as the test case for investigation. The first study analyzed 1,800 authentic and fictitious reviews based on the linguistic cues of comprehensibility, specificity, exaggeration, and negligence. The analysis involved classification algorithms followed by feature selection and statistical tests. A filtered set of variables that helped discern review authenticity was identified. The second study incorporated these variables to develop a guideline that aimed to inform humans how to distinguish between authentic and fictitious reviews. The guideline was used as an intervention in an experimental setup that involved 240 participants. The intervention improved human ability to identify fictitious reviews amid authentic ones.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1525-1538 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 1 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2017 ASIS&T
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Information Systems
- Computer Networks and Communications
- Information Systems and Management
- Library and Information Sciences