Journal article
EXPRESS: More Satisfied or More Aroused? Understanding the Effects of Arousal in Online Reviews on Product Demand from New Versus Returning Customers in the Service Sector
Production and operations management, Vol.35(2), pp.489-511
02/2026
DOI: 10.1177/10591478251345136
Abstract
Online reviews play an important role in explaining product demand. Our study extends the literature by assessing how arousal (the intensity of the emotion), an important dimension of emotion, and valence (the positiveness of the emotion) can affect product demand across different customer groups. Specifically, regarding product demand from new customers, consumers infer service quality from expressed valence and arousal from other consumers’ reviews. Regarding product demand from returning customers, consumers develop perceptions of service quality based on experienced valence and arousal (reflected in their reviews). We then examine product demand from new customers (Study 1 and Study 2a) as well as that from returning customers (Study 1 and Study 2b), and establish the external and internal validity regarding the moderating effects of arousal on different types of product demand. The results reveal that, although arousal has positive moderating effects for both new and returning customers, the strengths of the moderating effects differ. Furthermore, valence and arousal from other customers do not have significant effects for returning customers. Our study contributes to the literature by clarifying the moderating effect of arousal on product demand and by providing a more nuanced understanding of product demand at the customer profile level. Our results thus offer important practical suggestions regarding how to explain product demand across different customer groups by considering the textual information (i.e., arousal) of customer reviews.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- EXPRESS: More Satisfied or More Aroused? Understanding the Effects of Arousal in Online Reviews on Product Demand from New Versus Returning Customers in the Service Sector
- Creators
- Jing ZhangJian XuXuequn WangWeiguo FanXiaoxu YaoZhonghua Yang
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Production and operations management, Vol.35(2), pp.489-511
- DOI
- 10.1177/10591478251345136
- ISSN
- 1059-1478
- eISSN
- 1937-5956
- Publisher
- Sage
- Grant note
- National Social Science Foundation of China: 23BJY012 Research Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education: 24YJC790229 Special Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China: 72442025 Key Project of Social Science Planning Foundation of Liaoning Province: L23AGL008 Key Project of Liaoning Provincial Education Department: JYTZD2023056
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China (23BJY012), the Research Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education (24YJC790229), Special Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72442025), the Key Project of Social Science Planning Foundation of Liaoning Province(L23AGL008), and the Key Project of Liaoning Provincial Education Department (JYTZD2023056).
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 05/13/2025
- Date published
- 02/2026
- Academic Unit
- Business Analytics
- Record Identifier
- 9984823067002771
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