Examining the characteristics and effectiveness of online employee reviews

Employee reviews on platforms like Glassdoor and Indeed significantly influence organizational attractiveness of millions of prospective applicants. To deepen our understanding of this phenomenon, we examined the effects of employee review characteristics on perceived helpfulness – a proximal indica...

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Main Authors: Jenelle A. Morgan, Derek S. Chapman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Computers in Human Behavior Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824001040
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author Jenelle A. Morgan
Derek S. Chapman
author_facet Jenelle A. Morgan
Derek S. Chapman
author_sort Jenelle A. Morgan
collection DOAJ
description Employee reviews on platforms like Glassdoor and Indeed significantly influence organizational attractiveness of millions of prospective applicants. To deepen our understanding of this phenomenon, we examined the effects of employee review characteristics on perceived helpfulness – a proximal indicator of adopting shared information. Specifically, we investigated the relationship between the sentiment of organic Glassdoor reviews (ranging from positive to negative attitudes) and their helpfulness ratings. Additionally, we explored the moderating roles of overall corporate ratings and employee status in shaping the impact of employee reviews.Employing automated text analysis with Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and Structural Topic Modeling, we further delved into employee review content to extract the topics discussed and how their attributes (e.g., the extent to which the topic is discussed) influence perceived helpfulness. Drawing insights from an extensive analysis of 24,687 Glassdoor reviews, our findings revealed that negative reviews of lower rated organizations tend to receive higher helpfulness ratings, particularly when provided by former employees. The topics identified through LDA encompassed both instrumental and symbolic aspects of organizations, with their extent of discussion uniquely interacting with sentiment. Our study sheds light on the profound impact of employee satisfaction on the perceived helpfulness of online reviews. By presenting a comprehensive analysis of online reviews, this research offers valuable insights for businesses to enhance their organizational attractiveness and better understand the dynamics of online reputation management.
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spelling doaj-art-5c8d6b39fa304d1495e7542ebb9494aa2025-08-20T01:57:56ZengElsevierComputers in Human Behavior Reports2451-95882024-12-011610047110.1016/j.chbr.2024.100471Examining the characteristics and effectiveness of online employee reviewsJenelle A. Morgan0Derek S. Chapman1Corresponding author. University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive Northwest, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada.; Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, CanadaEmployee reviews on platforms like Glassdoor and Indeed significantly influence organizational attractiveness of millions of prospective applicants. To deepen our understanding of this phenomenon, we examined the effects of employee review characteristics on perceived helpfulness – a proximal indicator of adopting shared information. Specifically, we investigated the relationship between the sentiment of organic Glassdoor reviews (ranging from positive to negative attitudes) and their helpfulness ratings. Additionally, we explored the moderating roles of overall corporate ratings and employee status in shaping the impact of employee reviews.Employing automated text analysis with Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and Structural Topic Modeling, we further delved into employee review content to extract the topics discussed and how their attributes (e.g., the extent to which the topic is discussed) influence perceived helpfulness. Drawing insights from an extensive analysis of 24,687 Glassdoor reviews, our findings revealed that negative reviews of lower rated organizations tend to receive higher helpfulness ratings, particularly when provided by former employees. The topics identified through LDA encompassed both instrumental and symbolic aspects of organizations, with their extent of discussion uniquely interacting with sentiment. Our study sheds light on the profound impact of employee satisfaction on the perceived helpfulness of online reviews. By presenting a comprehensive analysis of online reviews, this research offers valuable insights for businesses to enhance their organizational attractiveness and better understand the dynamics of online reputation management.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824001040Employee reviewsElectronic-WOMReview helpfulnesse-recruitmentText analysis
spellingShingle Jenelle A. Morgan
Derek S. Chapman
Examining the characteristics and effectiveness of online employee reviews
Computers in Human Behavior Reports
Employee reviews
Electronic-WOM
Review helpfulness
e-recruitment
Text analysis
title Examining the characteristics and effectiveness of online employee reviews
title_full Examining the characteristics and effectiveness of online employee reviews
title_fullStr Examining the characteristics and effectiveness of online employee reviews
title_full_unstemmed Examining the characteristics and effectiveness of online employee reviews
title_short Examining the characteristics and effectiveness of online employee reviews
title_sort examining the characteristics and effectiveness of online employee reviews
topic Employee reviews
Electronic-WOM
Review helpfulness
e-recruitment
Text analysis
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824001040
work_keys_str_mv AT jenelleamorgan examiningthecharacteristicsandeffectivenessofonlineemployeereviews
AT derekschapman examiningthecharacteristicsandeffectivenessofonlineemployeereviews