Insights into managers' response behavior: Priority and effort

Managerial response plays an important role in bridging customers and hotel managers in the online environment. Extant studies have examined the effect of managerial response on online reputation, customer satisfaction, and customer revisits, among others. However, the actual response behavior of managers to customer reviews remains unclear. To address this research gap, we collect data from a leading travel website and empirically analyze the response priority and effort of managers. Findings show that managers have preferences in their responses. (1) Managers prioritize digest, negative, and long reviews when responding to customers. The probability of managerial responses to digest reviews is 1.9 times that of general reviews. (2) Managers also exert additional effort when responding to such reviews. A one-score decrease in customer review leads to an approximately 17-word increase in managerial response. This study concludes by presenting the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.