Any feedback is welcome: Peer feedback and user behavior in online communities

Abstract

User rating and peer feedback are becoming increasingly central to the day-to-day operation of digital platforms. Complex social feedback effects arise during this process in online communities. We study peer feedback and its impact on user behavior in an online review platform. We found an asymmetric effect between positive and negative feedback. More interestingly, when compared with no feedback, we found that negative feedback improves review quality and frequency. These novel findings call for careful design of online peer feedback systems. In particular, we note that simply removing the downvote button seems not the optimal solution as our results reveal that no feedback is a worse alternative. Our results suggest negative peer feedback could potentially be beneficial to online communities if served appropriately.

Publication Title

27th Annual Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2021

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