How consumers evaluate movies on online platforms? Investigating the role of consumer engagement and external engagement

This study examines how the causal patterns of consumers’ engagement and experts’ external engagement are associated with their online evaluation of movies. To this end, this study identifies the interplay of two dimensions (personal and interactive engagement) of consumers’ engagement and external engagement in their evaluation of movies and offers four propositions. This study utilizes fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on an original dataset of 264 movies released during 2018–2021 to test these propositions. Findings indicate seven configurations of consumers’ engagement behavior and external engagement that explain high movie ratings. This study presents fresh insights into how two dimensions of consumer engagement behavior and external engagement combine to explain movie ratings better. The findings accentuate the importance of synergies between dimensions of consumer engagement behavior and external engagement in driving the evaluation of movies.