People are happier on weekends, yet the online reviews they write on Saturdays and Sundays are harsher. An analysis of almost 400 million ratings found weekend reviews carry fewer 5-star scores and more low ones, and the reason appears to be who shows up to write them.
The study is by Andreas Bayerl and Verena Schoenmueller of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Jacob Goldenberg of Reichman University and Columbia University, and Florian Stahl of the University of Mannheim. It was published online in the Journal of Marketing Research on October 15, 2025.
A small dip that shows up almost everywhere
The researchers gathered 33 datasets covering more than 20 million products, businesses, movies and employers reviewed by more than 60 million users. They included Amazon, Yelp, Google, Tripadvisor, Glassdoor, IMDb, Trustpilot, China’s Dianping and Brazil’s Olist.
On average, weekend reviews scored 0.04 stars lower. Relative to weekdays, the share of 5-star ratings was 3% lower and the share of 1-, 2- and 3-star ratings was about 6% higher. Twenty-six of the 33 platforms, or 79%, showed a significant weekend dip, two showed none and five showed a small reverse effect.
The pattern held for the same product or business reviewed on both weekdays and weekends, ruling out the idea that worse things simply get reviewed at weekends. It also tracked local calendars. On the Iranian marketplace BaSalam, Friday had the lowest ratings; for Google reviews of businesses in Israel, Saturday did.
Employer review sites showed the biggest effect. On the German site kununu, weekend reviews averaged 0.33 stars lower. German public holidays offered a neat test: on Reformation Day, a holiday only in Protestant states, employer reviews there averaged 3.28 stars against 3.52 in Catholic states, and the pattern flipped on All Saints’ Day, a holiday only in Catholic states.
Weekend reviewers are a different crowd
The team tested and largely ruled out several explanations. Fake reviews could not account for it, since the effect held among verified reviews. Crowded restaurants made it slightly bigger but did not explain it. Weekend reviews were not more analytical, which argues against the idea that people with spare time think more critically.
What fit best was what the authors call temporal self-selection. Many users review only on weekends, and they give lower ratings than people who review only during the week. Their texts contain fewer words about friends, family and other people and more words related to sadness, and on platforms that record it they have fewer friends, which the authors read as signs of lower social connectedness.
Platforms with a reviewer social network showed a weaker weekend effect.
Ask for reviews on a weekday
The effect is small, but the authors argue it matters for listings with few reviews, where a handful of weekend ratings can move the average. Across five further studies, including tests where review requests were sent at random on weekdays or weekends, solicited reviews also showed the weekend dip.
In one experiment, more people responded to a request on a Wednesday than on a Saturday, 380 against 281, and the Saturday responders reported slightly more social disconnection and had written fewer past reviews. The practical upshot from the authors is simple: businesses that want fewer negative reviews should send their requests on weekdays.
Study Details:
- Title: The Weekend Effect in Online Reviews
- Authors: Andreas Bayerl, Verena Schoenmueller, Jacob Goldenberg, Florian Stahl
- Journal: Journal of Marketing Research
- Publication Date: October 15, 2025
- DOI: 10.1177/00222437251391808