e-WOM via Photo Sharing, Organizational Niche Width and Reputation: Empirical Tests from the Restaurant Domain –the Case of Yelp.com

We examine the interaction effects of the photo density in a review and organizational niche width on organizational reputation. Utilizing a step-wise regression model, we empirically tested the model based on 96,588 photos in 1,241,046 reviews from 15,517 restaurants from Jan 2004 to June 2016, within which 13,995 photos are on the inside, 12,865 photos on the outside, 15,329 photos on the food, 14,764 photos on the drink, 15,035 photos on the menu. Our results indicate that that (1) sharing more photos especially outside photos in a review hurts restaurant reputation while sharing photos more on food, drink and menu of a restaurant increases its reputation; and (2) for the restaurant as a generalist occupying multiple cuisines, the more photos shared in a review, the better a restaurant reputation will be; (3) we also find that for the restaurant as a specialist occupying few cuisines, the more photos shared on food and drink in a review, the better a restaurant reputation will be.