{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]],"date-time":"2026-06-20T07:13:42Z","timestamp":1781939622670,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":72,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,13]],"date-time":"2019-05-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1557705600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JD"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,13]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of Goodreads\u2019 user-generated book reviews from a linguistic perspective for insights into the psychological aspects of reviewers\u2019 perceptions and behaviors. This examination of users\u2019 language and perspectives may shed light on the role and value of user-generated reviews in complementing the traditional representation of resources and facilitating the discoverability of cultural objects.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study involved a textual analysis of 474,803 unique reviews of Goodreads\u2019 2015 top-rated books generated by 9,335 Goodreads\u2019 reviewers. In order to better understand the nuances of user-generated reviews, a content analysis was applied to 2,500 reviews of each of the five top-ranked titles in Goodreads\u2019 Fiction Literature genre category.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>The analysis of user-generated reviews demonstrates that language is a quite stable and reliable dimension across Goodreads\u2019 users. The high rate of function words utilized, in particular I-words, coupled with positive emotion words, suggests that reviewers tended to convey their opinions in order to influence other individuals\u2019 reading choices, or in Bourdieu\u2019s (1985) terms, influence cultural production. In line with previous studies of user-generated reviews, the prevalence of positive reviews may also imply their unreliable nature. This study supports the importance of transparency regarding inclusion of user-generated reviews in traditional systems of knowledge representation, organization and discovery, such as WorldCat.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study contributes to better understanding of linguistic characteristics of Goodreads\u2019 reviews, including the role and value of user-generated reviews in complementing traditional representation of resources and facilitating discoverability of cultural objects.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/jd-07-2018-0104","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,27]],"date-time":"2019-02-27T04:46:00Z","timestamp":1551242760000},"page":"612-626","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Investigation of Goodreads\u2019 reviews: Kakutanied, deceived or simply honest?"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"75","author":[{"given":"Lala","family":"Hajibayova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2020092315051283100_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"855","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2017.06.023","article-title":"How online consumer reviews are influenced by the language and valence of prior reviews: a construal level perspective","volume":"75","year":"2017","journal-title":"Computer in Human Behavior"},{"issue":"8","key":"key2020092315051283100_ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1485","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1110.1370","article-title":"Deriving the pricing power of product features by mining consumer reviews","volume":"57","year":"2011","journal-title":"Management Science"},{"key":"key2020092315051283100_ref003","volume-title":"Statistics for Psychology","year":"2006"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020092315051283100_ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"547","DOI":"10.1016\/j.concog.2010.10.001","article-title":"Linguistic correlates of self in deceptive oral autobiographical narratives","volume":"20","year":"2011","journal-title":"Consciousness and Cognition"},{"key":"key2020092315051283100_ref005","volume-title":"Variations across Speech and Writing","year":"1991"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2020092315051283100_ref006","first-page":"219","article-title":"Using register-diversified corpora for general language studies","volume":"19","year":"1993","journal-title":"Journal of Computational Linguistics"},{"issue":"1\/2","key":"key2020092315051283100_ref007","first-page":"13","article-title":"The market of symbolic goods","volume":"14","year":"1985","journal-title":"Poetics"},{"key":"key2020092315051283100_ref008","volume-title":"Language and Symbolic Power","year":"1992"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020092315051283100_ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.1017\/S1062798701000230","article-title":"Television","volume":"9","year":"2001","journal-title":"European Review"},{"key":"key2020092315051283100_ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cobeha.2017.07.017","article-title":"Language-based personality: a new approach to personality in a digital world","volume":"18","year":"2017","journal-title":"Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences"},{"key":"key2020092315051283100_ref011","volume-title":"Constructing Grounded Theory","year":"2014"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020092315051283100_ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"345","DOI":"10.1509\/jmkr.43.3.345","article-title":"The effect of word of mouth on sales: online book reviews","volume":"43","year":"2006","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"key":"key2020092315051283100_ref013","unstructured":"Chung, C. and Pennebaker, J. 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