Win by Hook or Crook? Self-Injecting Favorable Online Reviews to Fight Adjacent Rivals
Authors: Wang, Le; Luo, Xin (Robert); Qiu, Liangfei; Xu, Feng; Cui, Xueying
Journal: Information Systems Research (2025)
<jats:p> Literature has long assumed that unethical behaviors are fueled by competition. This study challenges this prevailing notion by introducing a conceptual distinction between rivalry and competition. We show that rivalry-induced deterrence triggers the formation of mutual forbearance in self-injecting favorable reviews. Mutual forbearance collapses when one party unilaterally engages in self-injecting behaviors, prompting the other party to retaliate by increasing their self-injecting activities. The presence of an additional rival leads to a 3.2% decrease in self-injecting intensity. Furthermore, self-injecting intensity increases by 0.095% for every 1% rise in that of the rivals and increases by 0.041% for a 1% rise in that of the nonrival competitors. Given the apparent role of rivalry in reducing self-injecting behaviors, platforms should strategically consider how system designs and policies can cultivate firms’ feelings of rivalry and avoid non-rival competition. We recommend platforms consider including evaluations from peer hotels as an alternative index for recommending hotels to potential consumers. Introducing peer evaluations to the current online review systems…