“I” or “You”: Whom Should Online Reviewers Direct Their Attention To, and When?

Online reviews are pervasive and important in the digital age. However, people may write reviews with different focuses of attention: directed toward themselves or toward future readers. The present paper examines how a focus on future review readers (prospective consumers) influences these readers' perception of review helpfulness. Despite the widely shared view that other-focus leads to positive outcomes, we propose that the effect of other-focus on review helpfulness perceptions is more nuanced. Drawing on the literature on attentional focus and persuasion, we develop a theoretical framework suggesting that reviewers' other-focus may influence consumers' perceived review helpfulness through both positive and negative processes, and that the overall effect of other-focus is dependent on the review's two-sidedness. Results of an archival analysis using Apple's App Store and two experiments provide consistent support for our hypotheses. Our findings challenge the predominant view of the positive effect of other-focus, reveal a critical boundary condition and possible reasons, and provide important implications for product/service providers, review platforms and reviewers.