Online platforms from Amazon to Goodreads to IMDb tap into the so-called “wisdom of the crowd” to rate products and experiences. But recent research suggests that more experienced buyers tend to select better products and therefore expect higher quality, which leads them to rate more stringently. This means that higher-quality products could paradoxically receive lower average ratings than their less-sophisticated competitors. Researchers used data from IMDb, a leading movie platform, to document this bias, and propose an easy-to-implement algorithm to adjust ratings to better align with external proxies of quality.
Today, consumers often begin a new TV series by confirming its “fresh” status on Rotten Tomatoes, book a restaurant based on its Yelp ratings, and consult product reviews before making a purchase on Amazon.
