Title
From Conflicts And Confusion To Doubts: Examining Review Inconsistency For Fake Review Detection
Abstract
Inconsistency in online consumer reviews (OCRs) may cause uncertainty and confusion to consumers when they make purchase decisions. However, there is a lack of a systematic and empirical investigation of review inconsistency in the literature. This research characterizes review inconsistency from multiple aspects, including rating-sentiment, content, and language, and proposes hypotheses about their effects on fake OCR detection by drawing upon deception and attitude-behavior consistency theories. We characterize review inconsistency with 22 features, and test the hypotheses with machine learning models developed for fake OCR detection. Our empirical evaluation results using real OCRs not only confirm the presence of review inconsistency, but also demonstrate significant positive effects of review inconsistency on the performance of fake OCR detection. The research findings have important implications for improving the effectiveness of consumer decision making and the trustworthiness of OCRs.
Year
DOI
Venue
2021
10.1016/j.dss.2021.113513
DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Online consumer reviews (OCRs), Review inconsistency, Fake review detection, Sentiment analysis
Journal
144
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
0167-9236
2
0.37
References 
Authors
0
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Guohou Shan120.37
Zhou Lina220.71
Dongsong Zhang381.48