The Culture 500 researchers dropped all positive spike months from the sample. After the positive spikes were removed, the remaining months with a large number of reviews were indistinguishable from the full sample.

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To detect potentially problematic reviews, the Culture 500 researchers identified positive spikes: company-months in which both the number of reviews and the overall company rating were two or more standard deviations above the monthly mean.

Positive Review Spike Detection in Culture 500

MIT Sloan Management Review project page on measuring culture in leading companies, including the Culture 500 dataset. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/measuring-culture-in-leading-companies/

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Positive review spikes were exceedingly rare in the Culture 500 sample, accounting for 0.1% of company-months.

Rarity of Positive Review Spikes in Culture 500 Sample

Not all review spikes indicate that a company is gaming the system. Review surges can occur by chance, from positive or negative news events, or when companies ask employees to write honest reviews without attempting to influence the content. Some positive spikes can also happen by chance or be triggered by positive news.

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