Are eBay’s Feedback Ratings Consistent with the Sentiments Embedded in Textual Comments? An Empirical Study
eBay’s feedback rating system is currently widely used. In this study, we examine if eBay’s feedback rating types (+, 0, −) are consistent with the sentiments reflected in the textual comments posted by buyers. Using the datasets collected from eBay, we test the hypotheses associated with the resear...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/0718-1876/18/4/114 |
| _version_ | 1797380334624440320 |
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| author | Xubo Zhang Yanbin Tu Ke Zhong |
| author_facet | Xubo Zhang Yanbin Tu Ke Zhong |
| author_sort | Xubo Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | eBay’s feedback rating system is currently widely used. In this study, we examine if eBay’s feedback rating types (+, 0, −) are consistent with the sentiments reflected in the textual comments posted by buyers. Using the datasets collected from eBay, we test the hypotheses associated with the research questions at three levels: individual, group, and total. Overall, the types of feedback ratings are consistent with the sentiments embedded in the textual comments. However, there are some issues with eBay’s current feedback rating system: (1) at the individual level, the correlation coefficient between the ratings and the comments’ sentiments is low at 0.4311 (<0.5). While the three types of ratings are symmetric, like (−1, 0, +1), buyers’ textual comments have asymmetric distributions of sentiments among these three types. The three simple feedback ratings (+, 0, −) are not fully aligned with the sentiments revealed in the textual comments posted by buyers. We propose expanding the current three ratings into five ratings such as (−2, −1, 0, +1, +2), which might help remedy the issue. We contribute to the literature by tapping into this less-studied area vital to improving the online marketplace’s efficiency. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:36:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-65ed6dc38ae946a8af851e2acef0a196 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0718-1876 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:36:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-65ed6dc38ae946a8af851e2acef0a1962023-12-22T14:20:14ZengMDPI AGJournal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research0718-18762023-12-011842257227210.3390/jtaer18040114Are eBay’s Feedback Ratings Consistent with the Sentiments Embedded in Textual Comments? An Empirical StudyXubo Zhang0Yanbin Tu1Ke Zhong2School of Economics, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430048, ChinaRockwell School of Business, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA 15108, USACollege of Business, Central Washington University, Lynnwood, WA 98036, USAeBay’s feedback rating system is currently widely used. In this study, we examine if eBay’s feedback rating types (+, 0, −) are consistent with the sentiments reflected in the textual comments posted by buyers. Using the datasets collected from eBay, we test the hypotheses associated with the research questions at three levels: individual, group, and total. Overall, the types of feedback ratings are consistent with the sentiments embedded in the textual comments. However, there are some issues with eBay’s current feedback rating system: (1) at the individual level, the correlation coefficient between the ratings and the comments’ sentiments is low at 0.4311 (<0.5). While the three types of ratings are symmetric, like (−1, 0, +1), buyers’ textual comments have asymmetric distributions of sentiments among these three types. The three simple feedback ratings (+, 0, −) are not fully aligned with the sentiments revealed in the textual comments posted by buyers. We propose expanding the current three ratings into five ratings such as (−2, −1, 0, +1, +2), which might help remedy the issue. We contribute to the literature by tapping into this less-studied area vital to improving the online marketplace’s efficiency.https://www.mdpi.com/0718-1876/18/4/114e-commercefeedback rating systemsentiment analysissystem improvement |
| spellingShingle | Xubo Zhang Yanbin Tu Ke Zhong Are eBay’s Feedback Ratings Consistent with the Sentiments Embedded in Textual Comments? An Empirical Study Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research e-commerce feedback rating system sentiment analysis system improvement |
| title | Are eBay’s Feedback Ratings Consistent with the Sentiments Embedded in Textual Comments? An Empirical Study |
| title_full | Are eBay’s Feedback Ratings Consistent with the Sentiments Embedded in Textual Comments? An Empirical Study |
| title_fullStr | Are eBay’s Feedback Ratings Consistent with the Sentiments Embedded in Textual Comments? An Empirical Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are eBay’s Feedback Ratings Consistent with the Sentiments Embedded in Textual Comments? An Empirical Study |
| title_short | Are eBay’s Feedback Ratings Consistent with the Sentiments Embedded in Textual Comments? An Empirical Study |
| title_sort | are ebay s feedback ratings consistent with the sentiments embedded in textual comments an empirical study |
| topic | e-commerce feedback rating system sentiment analysis system improvement |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/0718-1876/18/4/114 |
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