The Effects of Text Complexity on Online Review Helpfulness

Abstract

This research reported in this paper extends the literature on the helpfulness of online reviews. Previous research has assessed online reviews using standard unidimensional readability algorithms. This research extends previous work by investigating a multidimensional framework, and associated measures, of text complexity and its impact on the helpfulness of online reviews. Results show that as the amount of passive voice and negation in online reviews increase, the helpfulness of said review decreases. Other significant predictors of review helpfulness include word meaningfulness, lexical diversity, and the number of modifiers per noun phrase.