Modeling Consumer Ratings: The Trade-Off Between Quality and Consumer Preference
ORCID
France: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7226-2750; Ghose: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4940-7277; Karki: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8672-6261
MSU Affiliation
College of Business; Department of Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Supply Chain Logistics
Creation Date
2026-03-30
Abstract
Is there such a thing as a good quality product or service or is quality purely a result of the heterogeneity in preferences of different consumers? This article looks into the trade-offs between quality and preference aspects of consumer ratings from a measurement perspective. First, we give an overview of different methods of ratings analysis with a focus on the quality and preference components of these methods. We develop a measurement framework and associated methods to analyze the relative quality and preference components in consumer ratings. This framework is tested using a Monte Carlo simulation on generated data and using an empirical case study analysis of real-world online reviews. The framework shows a good ability to distinguish between quality-based and preference-based ratings and the case study results show good face validity. In particular, an entropy-based measure gives a consistent quality-preference scale and an information-theoretic interpretation. We give suggestions for future academic work on analyzing quality and preference trade-offs in ratings analysis. We give recommendations for managers on how to utilize the framework to improve online review platforms, on whether to analyze consumer ratings using traditional preference-based methods or more quality- or knowledge-based methods, and on how to improve STP (segmentation, targeting, and positioning) strategies.
Publication Date
1-22-2026
Publication Title
European Journal of Operational Research
Publisher
Elsevier
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
France, S. L., Ghose, S., & Karki, S. (2026). Modeling consumer ratings: The trade-off between quality and consumer preference. European Journal of Operational Research, S0377221726000019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2026.01.001
