A Strategic Approach on Expert Evaluations: Three Essays on Restaurant Guides

In today’s information-saturated world, the consumption choices made by individuals and social actors are increasingly shaped by evaluations provided by critics, experts, or end-users. These evaluations play a crucial role in determining the success or failure of products and services, as well as in shaping the reputations and careers of those who offer them in the market. Evaluators thus act as powerful agents of social stratification across various sectors. This dissertation aims to analyze the social construction of evaluations and the role of gatekeepers in our society. Specifically, it focuses on ratings and evaluations in the culinary field, where critics and gastronomic guides hold positions of authority. The first two chapters explored how these actors influence consumer preferences and construct and legitimize their roles within the culinary field. The third chapter investigates producers’ reactions to changes in their ratings, exploring the influences of repeated evaluation activities. Through the analysis of the criteria used in evaluations, the dynamics of mutual influence among experts’ evaluation outcomes, and the managerial responses to online consumer reviews, this dissertation aims to reveal these processes, flows, and influences by examining the relationship between local and global levels through both qualitative and quantitative methods.