Online word-of-mouth communication in the form of product reviews is a major information source for consumers and marketers about product quality. The literature has used the mean of online reviews to predict product sales, assuming that the mean reflects product quality. However, using a...

This paper studies the impact of consumers' social learning from the reviews of early adopters of a new product. We consider a two-period setting with an introduction (penetration) period followed by the product maturing period. Early buyers make purchase decisions in the introduction period...