{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,21]],"date-time":"2026-01-21T20:40:20Z","timestamp":1769028020195,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MIS Quarterly","issue":"4","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Product review platforms in online marketplaces differ with respect to the granularity of product quality information they provide. While some platforms provide a single overall rating for product quality (also referred to as the single-dimensional rating scheme), others provide a separate rating for each individual quality attribute (also referred to as the multidimensional rating scheme). The multidimensional rating scheme is superior to the single-dimensional rating scheme, ceteris paribus, in reducing consumers\u2019 uncertainty about product quality and value. However, we show that, when sellers respond to product ratings by adjusting their prices, compared to the single-dimensional rating scheme, the multidimensional rating scheme does not always benefit consumers, nor does it necessarily benefit sellers or society. The uncertainty associated with quality attribute rating and the extent of differentiation between competing products determines whether a finer-grained multidimensional rating scheme is superior to a coarser-grained single-dimensional rating scheme from the consumer, seller, and social planner perspectives. The main driver of the results is that more (less) granular and less (more) uncertain information exposes (hides) underlying differentiation, or a lack thereof, between competing products, which, in turn, alters upstream price competition in the presence of heterogeneous consumer preferences. The results demonstrate that focusing on the information transfer aspect of rating schemes provides only a partial understanding of the true impacts of rating schemes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.25300\/misq\/2021\/15586","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,12]],"date-time":"2022-04-12T15:59:32Z","timestamp":1649779172000},"page":"2193-2234","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Online Product Reviews: Is a Finer-Grained Rating Scheme Superior to a Coarser One?"],"prefix":"10.25300","volume":"45","author":[{"given":"Murat M.","family":"Tunc","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management, Tilburg University Tilburg, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Huseyin","family":"Cavusoglu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Naveen Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX, U.S.A."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Srinivasan","family":"Raghunathan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Naveen Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX, U.S.A."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"10933","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,1]]},"reference":[{"issue":"8","key":"2025082212255743500_b1-18_15586_rn_tunccavusoglu","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","author":"Archak","year":"2011","journal-title":"Management Science"},{"issue":"10","key":"2025082212255743500_b2-18_15586_rn_tunccavusoglu","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4629","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2017.2852","article-title":"The Value of Multidimensional Rating Systems: Evidence from a Natural Experiment and Randomized Experiments","volume":"64","author":"Chen","year":"2017","journal-title":"Management Science"},{"issue":"2","key":"2025082212255743500_b3-18_15586_rn_tunccavusoglu","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"218","DOI":"10.1287\/mksc.1040.0089","article-title":"Third-Party Product Review and Firm Marketing Strategy","volume":"24","author":"Chen","year":"2005","journal-title":"Marketing Science"},{"issue":"3","key":"2025082212255743500_b4-18_15586_rn_tunccavusoglu","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"477","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1070.0810","article-title":"Online Consumer Review: Word-of-Mouth as a New Element of Marketing Communication Mix","volume":"54","author":"Chen","year":"2008","journal-title":"Management Science"},{"issue":"3","key":"2025082212255743500_b5-18_15586_rn_tunccavusoglu","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","author":"Chevalier","year":"2006","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"issue":"3","key":"2025082212255743500_b6-18_15586_rn_tunccavusoglu","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1007\/s11129-017-9194-9","article-title":"Aggregation of Consumer Ratings: An Application to Yelp.com","volume":"16","author":"Dai","year":"2018","journal-title":"Quantitative Marketing and Economics"},{"issue":"4","key":"2025082212255743500_b7-18_15586_rn_tunccavusoglu","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1007","DOI":"10.1016\/j.dss.2008.04.001","article-title":"Do Online Reviews Matter? 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