Author Identifier
Muhammad Aftab Alam: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1657-5795
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
Volume
85
Publisher
Elsevier
School
School of Business and Law
Publication Unique Identifier
10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104304
RAS ID
78599
Abstract
Movies evoke strong human emotions that resonate in the content of online reviews, known as electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Existing literature suggests that positive content enhances, and negative content reduces movie sales, with negative content having a stronger effect. We demonstrate that there is a limit to the negative emotional content's impact on sales, beyond which it boosts sales. We extract positive and negative emotional content from 80 Hollywood movie reviews (N = 23,046) and empirically examine their influence on movie sales. Results indicate that for high eWOM volume, the effect of positive content increases progressively, while negative content has diminishing returns. Grounded in ‘Emotions as Social Information’ (EASI) theory, this study provides marketers and researchers with a new understanding of how emotional content in eWOM influences moviegoers' choice of movie and sales. Our typology—Flop, Hype, Star, and Hit—helps predict movie sales and design targeted strategies.
DOI
10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104304
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Ullah, R., Alam, M. A., & Zeb, A. (2025). How emotions in online reviews affect movie sales: Evidence from Hollywood. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 85, 104304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104304