Customer Satisfaction as a Moderator: Unpacking the Effects of Managerial Response on Future Review Engagement

Online managerial responses not only influence the customers who receive it, but also are kept online as a public reference, affecting future engagement of potential customers. Existing literature presents inconsistencies regarding the impact of responses and the optimal response strategy, leaving it unclear whether responding to positive, negative, or both types of reviews is more effective. We address this gap by proposing customer satisfaction as an important moderator, where we focus on the satisfaction of potential customers. Drawing on data from a leading travel platform in China, our findings confirm that customer satisfaction moderates the effectiveness of responses on future engagement. Responses to positive reviews are more effective when customer satisfaction is low, while responses to negative reviews are more effective when customer satisfaction is high. Our findings highlight that an effective response strategy should be contingent on the business's capability and underscore customer satisfaction as a critical strategic variable.