Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 55 (2020) 102145

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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser

Exploring customer sentiment regarding online retail services: A

topic-based approach
Jia-Jhou Wu a, Sue-Ting Chang b, *
a
Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No. 43, Keelung Road, Sec. 4, Taipei 106, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
b
Department of Business Administration, National Taichung University of Science and Technology, No. 129, Sanmin Road, Sec. 3, Taichung 404, Taichung, Taiwan,
ROC

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: User-generated content is a valuable source for understanding online shoppers’ emotions. Using text-mining
Online retailing techniques, this study identifies seven topics regarding online retail services in online posts: product, retailer
Cross-border online shopping promotion, delivery, payment, communication, return/refund, and price. The topics are associated with the
Topic modeling
sentiment polarity of online shoppers’ posts. This study further explores whether the emotional responses from
Latent dirichlet allocation
Sentiment analysis
domestic and cross-border online shoppers differ with regard to these topics. The results show that differences
exist in these two groups’ sentiments concerning product and payment. Furthermore, there are differences in the
two groups’ respective negative emotions (i.e., anger, sadness, and fear) concerning delivery, communication,
and return/refund. The findings of this study provide online retailers with important managerial implications.

1. Introduction
The Internet enables users to create and share content on various
platforms, including blogs, forums, online communities, bulletin board
systems, and review websites. Apart from sharing personal experiences,
customers also show their emotions or feelings in user-generated content
(UGC), such as customer reviews. Customer sentiment (expressed by
positive or negative emotional words) in UGC has been investigated in
several recent studies (Geetha et al., 2017; Ibrahim et al., 2017; Eslami
and Ghasemaghaei, 2018; Nisar et al., 2019; Park, 2019; Park et al.,
2019; Guo et al., 2020; Tata et al., 2020). Sentiment polarity in UGC
clearly reflects customers’ perceptions of different services (Geetha
et al., 2017). Furthermore, potential customers who read online reviews
are significantly affected by the sentiment polarity of reviews (Plotkina
and Munzel, 2016; Eslami and Ghasemaghaei, 2018; Guo et al., 2020).
Despite the growing attention given to online shoppers’ UGC, few
retailing studies have investigated the relationships between online
shoppers’ sentiments and topics discussed in UGC. Online shoppers’
emotions can significantly influence their satisfaction and purchase
intention (Kim and Lennon, 2013; Luo and Chea, 2018). Knowing the
factors associated with positive or negative customer sentiment can help
online retailers capture customers’ concerns and focus on key issues,
thereby improving service quality and enhancing customer satisfaction.
The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationships be­
tween sentiment polarity expressed and main topics discussed in textual
content generated by online shoppers.
Cross-border electronic commerce (e-commerce) has become a new
trend in online shopping (Wagner et al., 2016). Accenture, an American
consulting firm, once reported that one in every four online shoppers in
2015 was a cross-border shopper and the size of business to consumer
(B2C) cross-border e-commerce market was about USD 304 billion. By
2020, the proportion of the global online shopping population will grow
from a quarter to a half, and the overall size of B2C cross-border market
is estimated to grow to USD 994 billion. In China, the cross-border
e-commerce sales revenue reached USD 450 billion in 2015 and
doubled to USD 990 billion in 2018 (Fredick, 2015). With the popularity
of cross-border e-commerce, different aspects of this e-commerce mode
have received attention from researchers, including shopper behavior
(Huang and Chang, 2019), logistics (Ai et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2015),
tariff system and tax law (Bieron and Ahmed, 2012), and online payment
system (He et al., 2006; Miao and Jayakar, 2016).
Since the characteristics of cross-border e-commerce directly affect
online shoppers’ experiences (Gomez-Herrera et al., 2014), the
emotional responses of cross-border online shoppers may be different
from those of domestic online shoppers. To gain a comprehensive un­
derstanding of online shoppers’ emotions, it is important to include both

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: d9808101@mail.ntust.edu.tw (J.-J. Wu), sueting25@gmail.com (S.-T. Chang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102145
Received 14 August 2019; Received in revised form 6 January 2020; Accepted 26 April 2020
Available online 14 May 2020
0969-6989/© 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
J.-J. Wu and S.-T. Chang
domestic and cross-border online shoppers’ UGC in research on
customer sentiment. The second objective of this study was to investi­
gate how the associations between sentiment polarity and topics in UGC
differ by shopping mode (domestic or cross-border). This study applied
text-mining techniques to analyze online shoppers’ UGC. Our findings
are crucial for online retailers to develop effective marketing strategies
for different shoppers.
2. Related work
2.1. Online shoppers’ emotions
Previous research has indicated that online shoppers’ emotions play
an important role in determining customers’ purchase intention and
satisfaction, as well as their intention to recommend and complain (Kim
and Lennon, 2013; Luo and Chea, 2018). The antecedents of online
shoppers’ emotions have been examined in several previous studies on
e-commerce. Based on the view of environmental stimuli that trigger
emotional reactions, Eroglu et al. (2001) showed that the atmospheric
design significantly influences the affective states of users. More
recently, scholars have applied the cognitive appraisal theory to explain
the formation of online customers’ emotions (Ethier� et al., 2006; Kuo
and Wu, 2012; Kim and Lennon, 2013; Luo and Chea, 2018). The theory
suggests that emotion is an individual’s reaction towards a situation
with a specific meaning. Emotions are elicited as a result of a person’s
appraisal of an event (Frijda, 1986; Lazarus, 1982; Roseman, 1984;
Smith and Ellsworth, 1985). Ethier
� et al. (2006) found that customers
experience positive emotions when their appraisals of online shopping
experience are favorable. Kim and Lennon (2013) showed that cus­
tomers’ negative emotions are significantly associated with the
appraisal that making a purchase at the online retailer they visit is risky.
In addition, customers’ evaluation of incident-handling following a
service failure can determine the valence of their affective state (Kuo
and Wu, 2012; Luo and Chea, 2018).
2.2. Sentiment in user-generated content
In addition to conducting surveys or experiments, analyzing UGC is
another approach to study customers’ emotions. In UGC, emotional
words are naturally embedded in the descriptions of personal experi­
ences. Therefore, UGC provides rich data for investigating users’ emo­
tions. A number of studies have been conducted to explore emotions
expressed in UGC. For example, Geetha et al. (2017) found a significant
correlation between the sentiment polarity (i.e., positive, negative, or
neutral sentiment) of customer reviews and customer ratings. Sentiment
polarity is a useful indicator of customer satisfaction (Park, 2019; Park
et al., 2019). It can help firms better understand existing customers.
Furthermore, UGC can exert considerable influence on many potential
customers due to its easy availability. Guo et al. (2020) found that
sentiment expressed in words can significantly affect review readers’
intention to purchase products. The sentiment polarity in UGC was also
found to be significantly related to product sales and revenue growth
(Hu et al., 2014; Eslami and Ghasemaghaei, 2018; Nisar et al., 2019). In
the context of online shopping, prior research found that the sentiment
polarity of different online retailers’ tweets (for example, Amazon vs
Argos) can reflect the different positioning of retailers in the market
(Ibrahim et al., 2017). The significant role of sentiment polarity has been
widely recognized.
The topic of the content is also a research focus in the field of UGC.
Ibrahim and Wang (2019) identified major topics in the tweets of five
British online retailers, such as delivery timeliness, product availability,
store-related issues, sales promotion, product price. In their study, the
relationship between topics and retailing events was revealed. For
example, before Christmas, delivery timeliness is the most prominent
topic discussed but after Christmas, product experience becomes the
dominant topic. The topics reflect what online shoppers care about.
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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 55 (2020) 102145
Recently, scholars have further explored the interplay between topics
and sentiment polarity in UGC. For instance, applying sentiment anal­
ysis and topic modeling techniques to customer reviews on budget air­
lines, Lim and Lee (2019) found that the sentiment of reviews
concerning punctuality, flight delay, reservation change, cancellation is
negative. By contrast, the sentiment of reviews regarding seat comfort
and aircraft conditions is positive. Their findings pointed out clear di­
rections for budget airlines to improve their service quality. In the online
retailing literature, the relationships between sentiment polarity and
topics in online shoppers’ UGC have not yet been adequately studied.
Further research on this issue is certainly needed.
2.3. Cross-border online shoppers
Research on cross-border online shopping showed that shoppers’
purchase intention is mainly affected by perceived risks/costs, perceived
benefits, and perceived trust (Wagner et al., 2016; Huang and Chang,
2019; Zhu et al., 2019; Ramkumar and Jin, 2019). Online shoppers are
driven by benefits such as wider product selection from making pur­
chases on foreign websites, but they also perceive additional risks or
costs. Specifically, cross-border e-commerce involves more complex
delivery processes, and shoppers are normally charged additional
shipping fees. In addition, consumers may encounter language barriers.
As for payment, customers may need to use a method that differs from
the ones they use domestically. Furthermore, cross-border e-commerce
transactions are subject to different laws and regulations. For example,
consumer protection regulations regarding online transactions can vary
across countries. Shoppers may worry that after-sales service from
foreign retailers is not accessible. It could be expected that the emotional
responses of cross-border online shoppers are different from those of
domestic shoppers. Recent studies on cross-border online shopping have
offered a better understanding of shoppers’ purchase intention. How­
ever, it remains unclear how the emotional responses from cross-border
and domestic online shoppers differ. As mentioned earlier, the
emotional expression in UGC provides a valuable source of information
to explore shoppers’ sentiments. In this study, we conducted sentiment
analysis and topic modeling to analyze UGC to address the critical issue.
3. Research methods and data collection
3.1. Topic modeling
Recent advancements in internet technology have enabled users to
easily generate and share textual and image content online. Internet
users frequently write reviews about products or services and exchange
opinions with other consumers. Since the amount of textual information
on the Internet is massive, researchers have utilized topic modeling to
explore the content of such information. Topic modeling aims to identify
a set of representative topics in a text corpus. Unlike studies that adopt
questionnaire surveys or focus groups to investigate the determinants of
satisfaction, Guo et al. (2017) used topic modeling to extract the di­
mensions of tourist satisfaction from hotel customers’ reviews. Some of
the dimensions identified by their research, such as homeliness, event
management, and pets, have been overlooked in previous studies (Guo
et al., 2017). Topic modeling was also employed to explore the influence
that UGC exerts on other internet users. Applying Latent Dirichlet
Allocation (LDA), a topic modeling technique, Heng et al. (2018)
investigated how the helpfulness of Amazon’s customer reviews was
affected by the topics discussed by online food shoppers. In addition,
topic modeling can be used to analyze online reviews for competitive
products (Wang et al., 2018) or to compare the differences between
review platforms (Xiang et al., 2017).
To extract hidden topics from the textual content created by online
shoppers, we used the topic modeling technique, LDA (Blei et al., 2003).
This algorithm is widely applied in online-shopping and tourism studies
(Guo et al., 2017; Heng et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2018). LDA assumes
J.-J. Wu and S.-T. Chang
that all documents share a mixture of topics, and a set of words is
frequently used to discuss a specific topic. The technique generates a set
of words for each topic and the probability distribution of these words.
This distribution reflects the relative importance of each word in the
topic. LDA also assumes that each document may cover more than one
topic. The probability of a document belonging to a topic can be esti­
mated through LDA. Since shoppers can write freely about their expe­
riences on the Internet, LDA is an appropriate method for analyzing
online textual content.
3.2. Sentiment analysis
Among text-mining techniques, sentiment analysis is typically used
for detecting discrete emotions or emotional polarity. This study
employed a lexicon-based approach to extract the sentiment expressed
in documents. This approach was selected because the lexicon is easily
accessible and its automated coding process is transparent. This study
focused on customer sentiment. The tools used in sentiment analysis
should be able to effectively measure the emotional expression. We used
the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to analyze online shop­
pers’ UGC. Although the LIWC may not be able to accurately capture
complex sentence structures, it performs well in detecting emotional
expression in documents (Tausczik and Pennebaker, 2010). The LIWC’s
sentiment dictionary has been validated via different methodologies.
Researchers found that the emotion word count scores of the LIWC
correspond closely to different emotional experiences manipulated in
the experiments (Kahn et al., 2007). In addition, the researchers
compared human ratings and the LIWC counts and the results showed
high consistency (Alpers et al., 2005; Bantum and Owen, 2009). The
LIWC’s emotional dictionary is a valid and reliable tool, which can
capture the emotional disclosure presented in the text. The LIWC has
also been used in recent studies on online customer reviews (Park, 2019;
Park et al., 2019).
Another advantage of the LIWC is that it is available in multiple
languages. This study used the Chinese language version of the LIWC.
Therefore, the UGC used for our analysis required no translation from
Chinese to English. The LIWC consists of several subcategories. We used
the LIWC’s dictionaries on positive and negative emotions to map each
document. Based on the results, the positive and negative sentiment
scores of a document were further calculated. Each positive (negative)
emotional word detected in the document was assigned a þ1 positive
(þ1 negative) sentiment score. Expressions of negation were accounted
for when calculating these scores. When a negation modifier (e.g., not or
never) appears in one of the three words preceding a positive emotional
word in a sentence, a þ1 negative sentiment score was given rather than
a positive score. For example, when a document contains a sentence “I
am not happy,” a þ1 negative sentiment score was assigned to the
document. When a negation modifier precedes a negative emotional
word, a þ1 positive sentiment score was given.
For a deeper understanding of the differences in online shoppers’
emotional responses, this study detected specific emotional words in the
posts. Early studies found that positive emotions differentiate less
clearly from each other than negative emotions (Fredrickson, 1998).
More recently, scholars found that the differentiation of discrete positive
emotions is mainly exhibited in nonverbal expressions such as voice and
touch (Shiota et al., 2017). Considering this characteristic, our text
analysis focused on discrete negative emotions. In selecting the focal
emotions, this study drew on the cognitive appraisal theory (Frijda,
1986; Lazarus, 1982; Roseman, 1984; Smith and Ellsworth, 1985).
Smith and Lazarus (1993) proposed and examined four appraisal themes
that elicit different negative emotions. According to their model, the
main appraisal themes for anger, guilt, fear, and sadness are
other-blame, self-blame, threat, and helplessness, respectively. In the
case of shoppers’ self-blame, service failures are not primarily caused by
online retailers. Thus, guilt was not considered in our study. We selected
three negative emotions (i.e., anger, fear, and sadness) for our analysis.
3
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 55 (2020) 102145
As for the detection of specific emotional words, we used the discrete
emotion dictionaries of the LIWC to map each document. For example,
the Anger dictionary of the LIWC contains over 200 anger-related words.
3.3. Data collection
Online forums are websites that provide a platform on which users
can discuss various topics. This study examined text on the PTT Bulletin
Board System (https://term.ptt.cc/), which is the largest comprehensive
online forum in Taiwan where users share opinions and exchange
comments. We compiled a list of major domestic and global online re­
tailers (e.g., Amazon and Rakuten). From the e-shopping discussion
board of this system (see https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/e-shopping/index.ht
ml), we collected 14,303 posts, the titles of which contained one of
the retailers on the list we created. The posts were posted between 2013
and 2018. On the discussion board, users can share their online shopping
experience, ask questions, and seek opinions from other users. Mean­
while, the discussion board is managed by administrators, and posts
unrelated to online shopping will be deleted. Since this study focused on
online retail services, posts that merely discussed the products bought
online (i.e., product reviews) were excluded. Our analysis was con­
ducted on a final set of 8979 posts.
3.4. Pre-processing of the text
Unlike English in which words are delimited by white space, term
segmentation is required for Chinese text before word count analysis can
be conducted. To convert each post to terms/words, we used a Chinese
text segmentation toolkit, Jieba, working along with a manually created
dictionary containing e-commerce terms such as shipping fee and credit
card. This made the results of term/word segmentation more precise and
suitable for our research context. Subsequently, stop words such as “we”
and “these” were filtered because they provided limited information.
After text preprocessing procedures, topic extraction and sentiment
analyses were conducted.
4. Analysis and results
4.1. Topic extraction
Following previous studies (De Battisti et al., 2015; Xiang et al.,
2017), we used the perplexity scores to determine the optimal number of
topics for creating the LDA model. Perplexity is a model-fit indicator. A
lower perplexity value indicates better model quality. The results of the
assessment revealed that the perplexity value decreased sharply as the
number of topics increased to seven. When the number of topics
exceeded seven, the indicator decreased only slightly. Accordingly, the
number of topics was set to seven. Next, topic modeling was performed.
Words that occurred frequently within each topic were identified
through the LDA. Table 1 lists the top terms/words for each topic. Each
topic was named independently by two e-commerce scholars and one
e-commerce practitioner based on the topic’s most frequently used and
distinctive words. Further discussions were made regarding discrep­
ancies in topic-naming. Specifically, when experts disagreed on the
name of a given topic that was generated by the LDA, the posts
belonging to this topic were randomly selected and read by three ex­
perts. They exchanged opinions and renamed the topic until a consensus
was reached. The seven topics were labeled as follows: “delivery,”
“communication,” “price,” “return/refund,” “product1,” “payment,” and
“retailer promotion.” Sample posts of each topic with a probability
greater than 0.5 estimated by the LDA model are shown in the Appendix.
To evaluate the LDA model in this study, we used the framework
1
The topic “product” refers to products for sale on online-shopping plat­
forms, not those that have already been purchased.
J.-J. Wu and S.-T. Chang Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 55 (2020) 102145

Table 1 calculated, the sentiment polarity of a post was subsequently deter­

Results of topic extraction. mined. The sentiment polarity of a text can be categorized as positive,
Topic 1: Delivery Topic 2: Topic 3: Price Topic 4: Return/ negative, or neutral (Singh et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2019). Following the
Communication refund method in the literature, we subtracted the negative sentiment score
Pickup Customer service Coupon Seller from the positive sentiment score (Singh et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2019). If
Product Receive Cheap Return the value is greater than zero, the sentiment of the post is classified as
Convenience Dispatch Compare Product positive, and if the value is less than zero, the sentiment is classified as
store negative. If the value is equal to zero, the sentiment of the post is marked
Problem Phone Bought Refund
Firm Rely Sale Buyer
as neutral. The numbers of positive, negative, and neutral posts in this
Dispatch Handling Whether Bid study were 2,202, 3,148, and 3,629, respectively.
Shipping fee Counterparty Exchange Shipping fee
Order Conclusion Web address Vendor
Carrier Inquiry Rating Request 4.3. Regression analysis
Text Time Quality Problem
Call Provide Like Agree In several previous studies that used topic modeling (Xiang et al.,
Inform Inform Price Unable 2017; Heng et al., 2018), regression analysis was adopted to examine the
Message Rating Took Logistics
Tell Invoice Goods Defect
relationships of topics with specific variables. For example, Xiang et al.
Store Say Recommend Handling (2017) explored the associations between topics (measured as the
probability of a customer review belonging to a specific topic) and
Topic 5: Product Topic 6: Payment Topic 7: Retailer promotion
customer ratings. The present study examined the relationships between
Report Account Product
topics and sentiment polarity. The dependent variable, sentiment po­
Color Cancel Event
Bundling Payment Shopping
larity, was a categorical variable (negative, neutral, or positive senti­
Auction Order Discount ment). The independent variables were the probability of a post
Feeling Transaction Buy belonging to the seven topics. The post’s length was included as a con­
Brand Problem Reply trol variable. Since the dependent variable was categorical, a logistic
Size Cellphone Points
regression model was considered appropriate. Ordinal and multinomial
Compare Use Internet
Regulation Checkout Free shipping logistic regression are applicable when the dependent variable has more
Specifications Credit card Time than two categories, which was the case in the present study. Ordinal
Website Remittance Login logistic regression was not chosen because the assumption of propor­
Share System Rewards tional odds was not fulfilled. We used the multinomial logistic regression
IE Website Use
Vendor Bank Platform
model, as it does not require any set of categories to be ordinal. In
Open App Member addition, the assumption of this method does not require variables to be
normally distributed or the relationship between variables to be linear
Note: All topic words presented were translated from Chinese to English. IE is the
(Tabachnick et al., 2007). We chose Category 3 (positive) as the refer­
abbreviation for Internet Explorer.
ence category. Table 2 lists the results of the regression analysis for all
posts.
proposed by Hagen (2018). First of all, regarding the seven sets of topic
Table 2 (a) shows a comparison of category 1 (negative) to the
words generated by the LDA model, two human raters evaluated
reference category. The negative and significant coefficient for “prod­
whether the topic words contained in one set can be classified into one
uct” (coefficient: 0.071) indicates that a “product” post is more likely to
group (i.e. interpretability). Six sets were rated as high interpretability
be in the reference category (i.e., positive sentiment polarity) than in the
and one was rated as moderate. The percent agreement of the raters was
non-reference category (i.e., negative sentiment polarity). Moreover, the
0.857. Regarding whether a post assigned to a certain topic by the LDA
results of a comparison of category 2 (neutral) to the reference category
model was relevant to the set of topic words, 92% of the posts were
(see Table 2 (b)) show that “product” is not a discriminating factor be­
coded as “relevant.” The inter-rater agreement was 82.1%. Second,
tween category 2 (neutral) and the reference category (coefficient:
human raters assigned a topic to each of the randomly selected posts
0.041, nonsignificant). Thus, the sentiment polarity of a “product” post
from the dataset after reading. The results were then compared with
is more likely to be positive. Additionally, as shown in both comparisons
those assigned by the LDA. Cohen’s Kappa coefficient between human
raters and the LDA was 0.883. Third, we compared our topics and those
Table 2
of previous UGC research using LDA (Ibrahim and Wang, 2019). The
Results of multinomial logistic regression using the full data set (N ¼ 8979).
important topics identified by Ibrahim and Wang’s (2019) study on
tweets were delivery timelines, campaign, reliability, product avail­ Independent variable (a) (b)

ability, product experience, brand experience, store-related issues, sales Category 1 Category 2
promotion, product price, return and refund, customer support, Coefficient Odds ratio Coefficient Odds ratio
responsiveness, etc. Since those posts related to product review were
Post length .000 1.000 -.018*** .982
excluded before our analysis, product experience and brand experience Product -.071* .931 -.041 .959
would not be topics identified in this study. Also, the major domestic Retailer promotion -.288*** .750 -.061*** .941
retailers discussed in the posts only offer online services, and Price -.045 .956 -.069 .934
cross-border online shoppers hardly visit foreign retailers’ physical Delivery .222*** 1.248 .469*** 1.599
Payment .128** 1.137 .194*** 1.214
stores. Thus, store-related issues were rarely discussed by posters.
Return/refund .232*** 1.261 .093** 1.098
Except for the differences, the seven topics extracted in the present study Communication . 398*** 1.489 .189*** 1.208
were highly consistent with the topics found by Ibrahim and Wang
Note: Dependent variable is sentiment polarity. The categories of sentiment
(2019). In summary, the evaluation results of the LDA model were
polarity are as follows: Category 1, negative sentiment; Category 2, neutral
acceptable.
sentiment; and Category 3, positive sentiment. Category 3 was used as the
reference category.
4.2. Determining sentiment polarity *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001.
Pseudo R2 ¼ 0.178.
After the positive and negative sentiment scores of each post were Likelihood-ratio test: Chi-square ¼ 1534.88; P-value ¼ 0.00.

4
J.-J. Wu and S.-T. Chang Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 55 (2020) 102145

(see Table 2 (a) and (b)), a “retailer promotion” post has a higher Table 4
probability of being in the reference category (i.e., positive sentiment Results of multinomial logistic regression (domestic online shopping, N ¼ 2816).
polarity) (coefficient: 0.288 and 0.061, significant). Furthermore, the Independent variable (a) (b)
results indicate that “price” is not a factor that differentiates the three
Category 1 Category 2
categories (coefficient: 0.045 and 0.069, nonsignificant), meaning that
“price” is not associated with sentiment polarity. Coefficient Odds ratio Coefficient Odds ratio

From Table 2 (a), the positive and significant coefficient of “delivery” Post length .000 1.000 -.019*** .981
(coefficient: 0.222) indicates that a “delivery” post is more likely to be in Product -.060 .942 -.086 .918
Retailer promotion -.354*** .702 .105 1.111
the non-reference category (i.e., negative sentiment polarity) than in the
Price -.029 .971 .009 1.009
reference category. Moreover, Table 2 (b) reveals that a “delivery” post Delivery .389*** 1.475 .577*** 1.780
has a higher probability of being in the non-reference category (i.e., Payment .227*** 1.255 .358*** 1.430
neutral sentiment polarity) than in the reference category (coefficient: Return/refund .366*** 1.442 .194** 1.215
0.469, significant). In addition, the odds ratio of a “delivery” post being Communication .534*** 1.706 .213* 1.238

in category 1 (negative) or category 2 (neutral) rather than category 3
(positive) are 24.8% and 59.9% higher, respectively (odds ratio: 1.248
and 1.599). These results demonstrate that a “delivery” post is more
likely to be either in category 2 or, to a lesser extent, in category 1, than
it is to be in category 3. Another topic with a similar sentiment polarity is
“payment.” As for “refund/return” and “communication,” the sentiment
polarity of a post with either one of these topics has a higher probability
of being in category 1 or, to a lesser extent, category 2, meaning that the
sentiment polarity is more likely to be negative or neutral, and unlikely
to be positive.
To address the second research issue, the posts were divided into two
groups (i.e., domestic or cross-border). The classification was based on
whether the online retailer discussed in the post was domestic (i.e.,
located in Taiwan) or not. We conducted multinomial logistic regression
on the two subsets of data. The results of the regression analysis show
two differences in the sentiment polarity of the posts from the two
groups of shoppers (see Tables 3 and 4). Specifically, the results reveal
that the sentiment polarity of a “product” post written about cross-
border shopping is more likely to be positive (coefficient: 0.099, sig­
nificant), whereas “product” is not associated with the sentiment po­
larity of a post from a domestic shopper (coefficient: 0.060 and 0.086,
nonsignificant). Moreover, the results indicate that the sentiment po­
larity of a “payment” post from a cross-border shopper is more likely to
be neutral (coefficient: 0.143, significant), and that the sentiment po­
larity of a post with the same topic from a domestic shopper is more
likely to be either negative or neutral (coefficient: 0.227 and 0.358,
significant).
4.4. Detection of discrete negative emotions
The detection of discrete negative emotions helps online retailers
Table 3
Results of multinomial logistic regression (cross-border online shopping, N ¼
6163).
Independent variable (a) (b)
Note: Dependent variable is sentiment polarity. The categories of sentiment
polarity are as follows: Category 1, negative sentiment; Category 2, neutral
sentiment; and Category 3, positive sentiment. Category 3 was used as the
reference category.
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001.
Pseudo R2 ¼ 0.264.
Likelihood-ratio test: Chi-square ¼ 750.59; P-value ¼ 0.00.
understand what causes customer dissatisfaction. We examined the
posts concerning the topics of delivery, communication, return/refund,
and payment because the results of our regression analysis show that
these four topics are associated with negative sentiment. Three sub­
categories (i.e., anger, fear, and sadness) of the LIWC dictionary were
used to detect emotional words in the posts. We filtered all posts with
negative sentiment scores greater than 0. Since the LDA model gener­
ated the probabilities of each post belonging to the seven topics, we
selected posts with a probability of greater than 0.4 in at least one of the
four topics of delivery, communication, return/refund and payment.
After the initial screening, two scholars were invited to review the
content of the posts. The posts that were not highly relevant to the given
topic were excluded. When two (or more) of the four probability values
of a post belonging to these four topics were greater than 0.4, the content
of the post was discussed by the two scholars. Then, the post was
assigned to an appropriate topic based on the scholars’ judgment. We
compared the length of the posts used for detecting emotional words.
There was no statistically significant difference in the length between
the posts regarding domestic and cross-border online shopping. Subse­
quently, the number of words in each post related to anger, fear, and
sadness was calculated. Table 5 lists the average word count of the three
negative emotions in the posts. The results show that the negative
emotions from cross-border shoppers (exhibited in the posts) differ from
those of domestic shoppers, although their sentiment polarities are all
negative. We further discuss the specific negative emotions in the next
section.
5. Discussion

Category 1 Category 2 5.1. Sentiment polarity

Coefficient Odds ratio Coefficient Odds ratio

This study finds that retailer promotion is a positive topic for both
Post length .000 1.000 -.017*** .983 domestic and cross-border online shopping. This means that when on­
Product -.099* .906 -.024 .976
line shoppers discuss and share information on sales promotions or
Retailer promotion -.238*** .788 -.098 .907
Price -.046 .955 -.090 .914 campaigns, positive sentiments are evoked. Sales promotion is an
Delivery .167*** 1.182 .445*** 1.560 important tool used by practitioners and a research focus for marketing
Payment .060 1.062 .143*** 1.154 scholars. However, this factor has been understudied in the literature in
Return/refund .155*** 1.168 .047 1.048 relation to shoppers’ emotions or the dimensions of satisfaction (Hol­
Communication .306*** 1.359 .178*** 1.195
loway and Beatty, 2008; Kim and Lennon, 2013). The present study
Note: Dependent variable is sentiment polarity. The categories of sentiment demonstrates the crucial role of sales promotion in online retailing.
polarity are as follows: Category 1, negative sentiment; Category 2, neutral Overall, product is a positive topic. This is particularly salient for
sentiment; and Category 3, positive sentiment. Category 3 was used as the cross-border online shopping. By contrast, product is an irrelevant factor
reference category.
in determining the sentiment of posts on domestic online shopping. Our
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001.
findings are in line with previous research. For instance, Wagner et al.
Pseudo R2 ¼ 0.144.
Likelihood-ratio test: Chi-square ¼ 836.69; P-value ¼ 0.00.
(2016) investigated the factors affecting customers’ intention to engage

5
J.-J. Wu and S.-T. Chang
Table 5
Mean word count per post for the three negative emotions.
Domestic shopping
Topic Fear Anger Sadness
Delivery 0.254 0.381 0.236
Return/refund 0.206 0.413 0.655
Communication 0.342 0.726 1.013
Payment 0.308 0.276 0.138
Note: In the posts concerning cross-border shopping, payment was a neutral topic; hence, fear-, anger-, and sadness-related words were not counted.
in cross-border online shopping and identified the wider range of
products and exclusive brands to be the main contributing factors. It is
likely that unique products (not sold in local markets) offer greater
novelty, which triggers discussion and elicits shoppers’ positive senti­
ments. Thus, having a wider selection of products is a competitive
advantage for global online retailers compared with domestic retailers.
We find that retailer promotion, delivery, communication, return/
refund, and payment are negative or neutral topics, regardless of
whether the post is about domestic or cross-border online shopping. It is
noteworthy that payment is simply a neutral topic for posts concerning
cross-border shopping, but payment could be either a negative topic or a
neutral topic for domestic shopping. A possible explanation for this
difference is the use of internationally accepted payment systems such as
PayPal. Such systems reduce the financial risk and uncertainty for online
shoppers. As Gomez-Herrera et al.’s (2014) study indicated, new pay­
ment systems (e.g., PayPal) significantly promoted cross-border
e-commerce in Europe. Lastly, price is not related to the polarity of
sentiment in posts. This may be because price is a factor that can trigger
positive (e.g., gaining discounts) or negative (e.g., being overpriced)
emotions.
Ibrahim et al. (2017) conducted a study on the emotional polarity of
tweets regarding British retailers. Their study found a considerable
number of tweets related to retailers with neutral sentiment, indicating
that shoppers are seeking others’ opinions about retailers or exchanging
information in social media. UGC is not merely used for sharing negative
or positive shopping experiences with retailers. The findings of this
study align with their observations. Some topics are found to be either
neutral or negative, or just neutral (e.g., cross-border payments). Online
retailers should not overlook neutral topics, because these topics have
still attracted much discussion from shoppers. Our findings extend the
current literature on neutral sentiment polarity in UGC concerning on­
line shopping.
5.2. Discrete negative emotions
5.2.1. Anger, sadness, and fear
This study examined three specific negative emotions (i.e., anger,
sadness, and fear) in the posts concerning delivery, return/refund,
communication, or payment. Past literature suggests that these three
emotions arise as a result of different cognitive appraisal themes or di­
mensions (Ellsworth and Smith, 1988; Smith and Lazarus, 1993; Keltner
and Lerner, 2010; Lerner et al., 2015). An individual feels angry when an
unfavorable situation is appraised as being caused by others. Sadness is
experienced when people cannot obtain what they want or when the
situation is interpreted as being helpless or uncontrollable. Fear is
associated with the appraisals of uncertainty and threat. Furthermore,
the cognitive appraisal theory suggests that emotions are associated
with an individual’s tendency to take certain actions. An angry person
tends to hold others accountable. People tend to acquire new goods
when they feel sad. A fearful person seeks to reduce uncertainties. When
individuals’ subsequent efforts bring about an effective change in the
situation, the reappraisal will lead to a different emotional state (Smith
and Lazarus, 1990). Since shoppers are likely to experience negative
emotions after service failures, their action tendencies should be
considered when online retailers select their recovery strategies.
6
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 55 (2020) 102145
Cross-border shopping
Total Fear Anger Sadness Total
0.872 0.528 0.257 0.193 0.979
1.275 0.465 0.488 0.348 1.302
2.082 0.620 1.101 0.537 2.259
0.723
To deal with shoppers’ negative emotions, retailers can adopt
different recovery strategies such as correction, apology, explanation,
compensation, and assistance (Forbes et al., 2005; Kuo et al., 2011; Jung
and Seock, 2017). Prior studies have provided valuable insights for
service recovery. First, anger can lead to justice-seeking behaviors or
prompt the customer to hold the retailer liable. To calm angry cus­
tomers, service providers should listen to complaints, provide an
explanation, offer a quick apology, and correct their mistakes (Nguyen
and McColl-Kennedy, 2003). Second, feelings of fear prompt people to
reduce uncertainty or to flee. Menon and Dube (2004) found that
anxious customers respond positively to the assistance or comfort pro­
vided by firms. Thus, firms should provide assistance to customers to
help reduce their sense of uncertainty. Third, Sadness accompanies the
tendency to seek rewards or attempt to acquire new goods (Raghuna­
than and Pham, 1999); therefore, offering compensation (e.g., a gift or
coupon) is a proper strategy for dealing with sad customers.
5.2.2. Domestic shoppers’ negative emotions
The average word count for the words associated with the three
negative emotions in the posts written about delivery, return/refund,
payment, or communication by domestic online shoppers is reported in
Table 5. First, concerning delivery, the average number of anger-related
words is higher than that of fear- or sadness-related words. Product
delivery problems (e.g., losses, delays, and product damage) are mostly
caused by retailers or carriers rather than customers. Online shoppers
are likely to get angry when such problems occur. Second, customers
may have no choice but to request a refund or return under some cir­
cumstances. This means that their initial expectations of making a
purchase were not met. Not obtaining what they want can make shop­
pers feel sad. They may also feel angry if the retailer or seller is
responsible for the situation. The results indicate that sadness- and
anger-related words are more common than fear-related words in posts
concerning returns or refunds.
Concerning payment for domestic online shopping, the average
number of fear- and anger-related words in posts is slightly higher than
that of sadness-related words. This may be due to customers’ concerns
about financial risk or because they blame the failures on payment
systems. As for communication, online shoppers seek assistance or file
complaints to customer service representatives when they encounter
problems. The negative emotions (e.g., anger or sadness) evoked by
unpleasant events that occurred prior to the shoppers’ contact with
customer service staff are reflected in the communication process.
Meanwhile, communication failures can trigger negative emotions as
well. Thus, communication is a topic that accompanies a mixture of
negative emotions, as evidenced by the higher total number of anger-,
sadness-, and fear-related words, as compared with other topics.
Besides, the results indicate that sadness-related words are more
common than anger- and fear-related words in the posts concerning
communication. It is likely that strong helplessness was experienced by
shoppers during the process in which they request assistance. Sadness-
related words are also shown more frequently in the posts concerning
communication (p < 0.001) and return/refund (p ¼ 0.052) written by
domestic shoppers than those by cross-border shoppers.
J.-J. Wu and S.-T. Chang
5.2.3. Cross-border shoppers’ negative emotions
According to the cognitive appraisal theory, when online shoppers’
appraisals of shopping experience are different, their emotional re­
sponses also vary. As shown in Table 5, with regard to delivery, refund/
return, and communication, the average number of fear-related words
embedded in the posts concerning cross-border online shopping are
significantly higher than those concerning domestic online shopping (p
< 0.001, 0.05, and 0.05 for delivery, return/refund, and communica­
tion, respectively). Online shoppers’ feelings of fear may be aroused by
the general characteristics of cross-border online shopping. First, the
delivery and goods distribution of cross-border e-commerce involve
more processes such as international transportation, transshipment, and
customs declaration and clearance. The entire delivery process is more
complex and uncertain (Hsiao et al., 2017). Moreover, warranties may
not be applicable to cross-border online shoppers due to retailers’ policy
or consumer protection regulations. Wagner et al. (2016) found that the
inability to file a warranty claim is the major concern among
cross-border online shoppers. They are fearful when attempting to
request a return or refund. Lastly, the emotion of fear is also exhibited in
the communication process.
In addition to fear-related words, anger-related words are used more
frequently in the posts concerning communication (p < 0.05), which is
another difference between cross-border and domestic online shoppers.
When communicating with retailers, cross-border online shoppers are
likely to experience misunderstandings caused by language barriers or
late replies due to different business hours across time zones. These
factors may lead to a stronger attribution that the retailer should be
blamed (other-blame). As for delivery or return/refund, there is no
statistically significant difference in the number of anger-related words
written by two groups of online shoppers.
The above comparisons demonstrate that the emotional responses
embedded in the posts from domestic and cross-border online shoppers
are different in terms of specific emotions, despite the posts being
considered similar in terms of sentiment polarity. Previous studies
showed that the perceived risk and trust in retailers significantly influ­
ence cross-border online shoppers’ decisions (Zhu et al., 2019; Ramku­
mar and Jin, 2019). This is consistent with our results. The present study
further reveals that cross-border shoppers experience stronger fear on
three topics: delivery, return/refund, and communication.
It is worth further discussing the communication with foreign re­
tailers. Our findings regarding communication are inconsistent with
some prior studies. For example, Wagner et al. (2016) revealed that
communication is one of the activities that cross-border online shoppers
are less afraid of. In Huang and Chang’s (2019) study on the intention to
shop at foreign websites, the results from the Taiwan sample showed
that shoppers are not concerned about communication costs. However,
our findings show that anger-related expressions are more common in
the posts about communication from cross-border online shoppers than
those from domestic online shoppers. This means that cross-border on­
line shoppers may underestimate the costs of communicating with
foreign retailers. The problem is more serious than they expect. This
issue deserves special care from global retailers.
6. Conclusion
6.1. Theoretical contributions
Through analyzing the UGC created by online shoppers, this study
contributes to online retailing research by providing new insights into
online shoppers’ emotional responses toward online retail services.
First, this study identified seven key topics and investigated the re­
lationships between these topics and sentiment polarity expressed in
UGC about online shopping. This study advances research on online
shoppers’ emotional responses presented in UGC by revealing the spe­
cific topics with positive, negative, and/or neutral sentiment. Second,
we further investigated how the relationships between topics and
7
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 55 (2020) 102145
sentiment polarity in UGC from domestic and cross-border online
shoppers vary. Most previous studies on online shopping focused on
either domestic or cross-border retailing services. This study included
both of them. In terms of sentiment polarity and three negative emo­
tions, the similarities and differences in the two groups of shoppers’
emotional responses were revealed. The study provides a more thorough
understanding of online shoppers. Third, our findings show that the
sentiment polarities of different documents may be classified as the same
category, while the results of detecting discrete emotions in them are
varying. Our study demonstrates the advantages of combining the two
modes of sentiment analysis: sentiment polarity and discrete emotion
detection.
6.2. Managerial implications
This study’s findings provide practical implications for online re­
tailers. Research showed that positive emotions increase online shop­
pers’ satisfaction. Also, the positive sentiment in UGC can prompt online
review readers’ adoption. We found that promotion is a positive topic.
Online retailers can elicit shoppers’ positive emotions by conducting
sales promotions. Moreover, this study indicates that in UGC concerning
cross-border online shopping, product is a positive topic, which is not
the case in domestic online shopping. This means that local retailers
need extra efforts to encourage stronger positive sentiments in UGC
regarding products. Research showed that product features can induce
positive emotions (Desmet, 2003). For example, products with novelty
can surprise users. In addition, Shukla and Babin (2013) revealed that
the depth and breadth of product assortment can evoke customers’
positive emotions. Enhancing product assortment and introducing
products that can induce positive emotions are helpful for local retailers.
To deal with domestic online shoppers’ negative emotions, retailers
should adopt appropriate strategies. First, when problems concern do­
mestic delivery processes, shoppers are likely to get angry and worried.
Retailers or carriers are advised to explain and apologize to alleviate
anger, along with assistance to reduce customers’ feelings of uncer­
tainty. Second, shoppers who ask for a return or refund experience more
sadness and anger. In addition to apologizing, online retailers may opt to
provide a coupon to shoppers for a future purchase when a return or
refund is requested for non-personal reasons. Third, domestic online
retailers can form partnerships with reputable banks and provide a
reliable transaction system to reduce customers’ fear of financial loss. As
for global retailers, the results of our study indicate that cross-border
online shoppers experience stronger fear and encounter severe prob­
lems during communication. It is imperative to build trust and provide
quick assistance to foreign shoppers. For example, when a cross-border
delivery is delayed, firms should provide rapid updates on the trans­
portation status and arrival time of products ordered. Meanwhile,
improving customer service quality is important for both local and
global retailers, but global retailers should give special training in
communication and/or foreign language skills to their customer service
staff to minimize communication problems.
Furthermore, since UGC can considerably influence other shopper’s
decisions, it is vital to monitor key topics discussed by shoppers on UGC
platforms. By doing this, online retailers can know when and what ac­
tions should be taken to solve or clarify shoppers’ concerns. Priority and
care must be given to the problems related to the four negative topics,
because shoppers may share their experiences online when they are not
satisfied with the responses from retailers. Moreover, the discussion
(including neutral topics) on UGC platforms also reveals what kind of
information shoppers are seeking. Common inquiries posted by shoppers
can serve as a base for updating the frequently asked questions section of
retailers’ websites. This can help online shoppers to readily obtain ser­
vice information.
J.-J. Wu and S.-T. Chang Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 55 (2020) 102145

6.3. Limitations and future directions
This study has some limitations. First, this exploratory study adopted
a probabilistic topic modeling approach. The appropriateness of topic
assignments could not be fully ensured, although the model evaluation
indicated a fairly high level of agreement between human raters and the
LDA model. Future studies using other research methods are encouraged
to examine the relationship of topics with sentiment polarity. Second,
the topics identified in this study were extracted from posts written by
shoppers. Some factors, such as website quality, may not be frequently
discussed by customers but may still have an effect on customer satis­
faction. These factors should not be overlooked by retailers. Third, this
study focuses on customers’ experience in using online retailers. Our
findings may not be generalizable to shoppers who make purchases on
the official websites of product manufacturers. Future studies can collect
and analyze textual data from customers who use official online chan­
nels. Finally, replies from other shoppers to the posts were not collected
and analyzed in our study. Research showed that the replies from re­
tailers have a significant impact on the emotional responses of shoppers,
especially negative emotions (Ibrahim et al., 2017). Following opinions
from people with similar experiences may change posters’ emotional
states. Further research on replies is needed.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology,
Taiwan (R.O.C.) (No: MOST 108-2410-H-025-001).

Appendix. Sample posts of topics

Topic Samples of posts

Delivery “Recently, Shopee has an in-store pickup program. No shipping fee if an order is $99 or more and pick it up at Hi-Life convenience stores. Many people used it.
But I found something weird. Does anyone run into the same problem? A few days ago, I asked the seller to deliver the product to Hi-Life. This morning, I got a
message informing my parcel has arrived. I went to Hi-Life and reported my order number. The store clerk said that there was no parcel for me. I showed the text
message, the clerk replied, “it is at logistics center, not the store.” I checked the website, its systems also showing that it has arrived at the store. Anyway, their
SMS notification system is so weird. It texted me that the parcel has arrived, but it was not true.”
Communication “I placed an order with an 8-hour express delivery at Yahoo this morning. The order showed that my product will arrive no later than 02/05 20:00. But they still
didn’t dispatch at 19:30. I called customer service at 20:00. During the phone call, the reps kept repeating, “sorry for this, I’ll forward it to the relevant
department and reply …” I asked, “when can I get a reply?” “In two working days.” I was running out of patience. It was absurd! It takes two days to respond to an
inquiry on 8-h express delivery, and what’s more, the reps kept repeating the sentence. It that a recorder? Don’t promise if you can’t fulfill!”
Price “I used up the L’oreal Paris Extraordinary Oil (red) I bought last time. I am considering if I should switch conditioners because the price is a little high for me.
After comparing prices, I found Mise en scene Perfect Serum (Rose). A lot of people recommend it. Add the item into shopping cart and shoppers can get a $500
off coupon! Only $1080 for five bottles. $216 per bottle. Also, it is 100 ML!! \�▽�/”
Return/refund “I bought two pairs of shoes on Ruten. I thought they were inferior to the ones displayed on the web page when I received them. I wanted to return the goods. But
the seller disagreed, saying that the consumer protection law was only applicable to large shopping malls such as YAHOO and BOOKS. Was this excuse
unreasonable? I said I could pay the freight, but the seller still would not accept the return of the shoes.”
Product “I have been curious about the quality of products from the vendor. The price is OK. The products mainly adopt the pink and light colors full of youth (attached
links here are pieces I want to buy. (mobile version of the website) Cotton & Linen Macaron V-neck. My feeling is that it is super versatile. But the cotton and linen
clothes I bought from other sellers before felt very ragged. I am a little worried, but still want to buy. Stitching contrast-color and solid-color tops. Is it white
translucent fabric? The other two items also look good, but I consider these two. Could anyone who has bought them share experience ><.”
Payment “I can pay with the PayPal balance when bidding on eBay. Today I selected Buy It Now for the first time. When I checked out, I found there was not enough
money in my PayPal balance (I normally deposit the amount of money to be paid before payment). And then the system paid it with credit card! But the point was
that it was my mother’s credit card! My mother’s! Credit Card! I did not want her to know that I was shopping. My question: if I cancel the transaction, where the
money will go? The credit card balance or my PayPal balance?”
Retailer “I just shopped at Rakuten, Japan. I just happened to find a promotional event. Free shipping for overseas delivery service if an order is JPY 10,000 or more and
promotion the freight within JPY 2000. Also, it is direct delivery by EMS. It is a good deal for light and short products! Share with you:> Expires at 3/27 9:59 a.m. Terms &
Conditions: The deal is valid for the 10,000 stores participated in this event; Order is JPY 10,000 or more and the freight within JPY 2000. If the freight exceeds
JPY 2,000, pay the excess part only (reference freight: EMS 1 kg JPY 1800). Check it out if you want to buy products at stores in Japan and see if your shipping fee
is within the range.”
Note: All sample posts provided were translated from the original Chinese posts.

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