Is user’s rating becoming overpowering? The risks of inappropriate use of digital feedback

Digital technologies have made it easy to generate feedback on the performance of products and services. They have contributed significantly to reducing the information asymmetries between producers and consumers, between suppliers and users of public goods, and between politicians and citizens. It seems that Web 2.0 has enhanced the effectiveness of the "voice" evoked by Albert Hirschman in the 1970s. But they can also provide an illicit form of worker assessment which users often provide without being aware of. Is there a risk that the feedback provided and the connected rating may become too invasive, so much as to constitute a threat to the confidentiality of individual data? We distinguish between three types of feedback: (1) bottom-up feedback, occurring when many persons evaluate and comment on the performance of organizations; (2) the transversal one, which happens when a series of individuals exchange comments, appreciations and reciprocal evaluations; (3) the top-down one, when organizations assign a rating to individuals. This tripartition may be useful to design policies for control over data, individual behaviour and workers' protection, mitigating current and potential risks.Design/methodology/approach The internet revolution has given more and more possibilities to companies, users and consumers to provide an assessment of their employees, service providers and products. While the possibility to read and write these assessments has become part of our everyday life, less attention has been paid to the social implications for workers and consumers. This paper digs into the underlying complexity and risks of users' ratings.Findings We suggest distinguishing between three different sorts of users' ratings: bottom-up (when individuals assess organizations) among peers (when individuals with equal weight discuss among themselves) and top-down (when organizations assess individuals).Research limitations/implications To consider the hidden role of users' feedback should not only lead to understand what we are doing but also to introduce norms to prevent improper use of these ratings.Practical implications The reflections provided in the paper may suggest revising the practice of using online ratings and feedback.Social implications To what extent should online users' ratings and feedback be left to total autonomy or should they somehow be regulated? This will have implications for regulations like those that have been introduced in Europe for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Also, trade unions should make sure that users' ratings and feedback are not used by employers to assess their employees. And those providing this feedback, such as consumers, should be informed if their inputs are used for Human Relations Management, which could lead to the sack workers.Originality/value Too little attention has so far been devoted to properly understand what the implications of ratings and online feedback are. As it often happens, it seems that fiction and cinema have been quicker to point out the risks. Hopefully, the article will help social scientists to devote more attention to this recently emerging aspect of contemporary life.