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1 – 10 of over 3000Yang Li, Ran Tan and Xiang Gong
This study aims to investigate the psychological mediating mechanisms through which omnichannel integration affects customer word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviors in omnichannel retailing.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the psychological mediating mechanisms through which omnichannel integration affects customer word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviors in omnichannel retailing.
Design/methodology/approach
Guided by prior omnichannel retailing studies, the authors identify taxonomy of customer WOM behaviors with three archetypes, namely, face-to-face WOM, online store WOM, and social media WOM. Then, the authors draw on social exchange theory (SET) to explain how omnichannel integration influences customer WOM behaviors through the mediating roles of perceived personal preference fit and perceived social relatedness. The authors empirically tested the model using structural equation modeling and multiple mediation analysis with a field survey of 335 omnichannel customers.
Findings
Perceived personal preference fit positively influences face-to-face WOM and social media WOM, whereas perceived social relatedness is positively associated with face-to-face WOM, online store WOM, and social media WOM. Furthermore, transactional integration and relational integration positively affect perceived personal preference fit, whereas relational integration has a positive effect on perceived social relatedness. Finally, perceived personal preference fit mediates the effects of transactional integration and relational integration on face-to-face WOM and social media WOM. Perceived social relatedness mediates the effects of relational integration on face-to-face WOM, online store WOM, and social media WOM.
Originality/value
The authors' study advances the omnichannel retailing literature by proposing a taxonomy of customer WOM behaviors in omnichannel retailing and identifying the mediating mechanisms through which omnichannel integration influences customer WOM behaviors.
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Kirsten Cowan, Teea Palo, Duncan Chapple and Yiwei Zhang
The purpose of this study is to address these questions. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is increasingly important in business-to-business (B2B) decision-making. Yet, research on this topic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to address these questions. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is increasingly important in business-to-business (B2B) decision-making. Yet, research on this topic is rather limited, and often borrows from business-to-consumer (B2C) WOM literature. The question remains as to whether these assumptions realistically occur in B2B WOM. Specifically, this study explores the following questions: What value does B2B WOM have? Why do social media influencers in B2B engage in WOM? What type(s) of social media influencers spread WOM in B2B?
Design/methodology/approach
To address these questions, this study adopts a qualitative research strategy. This study focuses on industry analysts in information technology markets who often influence the buying decisions of customers through their expertise and recommendations of technology solutions. Based on interviews with these influencers, this study explicates B2B WOM, an area the authors know much less of in comparison to B2C WOM.
Findings
This study reveals differences in who spreads WOM within B2B, their roles, key features of their content and how they spread WOM. Second, this study demonstrates the types of actors spreading WOM in B2B in relation to the type of WOM and how it actually influences B2B markets.
Originality/value
This study broadens the current definition of WOM and, specifically, showcases WOM not only as amplifying messages but as a means to co-create the market itself with vendors and clients. This research offers several contributions to the B2B WOM literature and influencer practice.
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Anne Martensen and Lars Grønholdt
The purpose of this paper is to examine how received word-of-mouth (WOM) influences consumer emotions and, in turn, behavioral attitude and intention.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how received word-of-mouth (WOM) influences consumer emotions and, in turn, behavioral attitude and intention.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual model is developed by extending the theory of reasoned action framework to include WOM and emotions. The conceptual model is operationalized through a structural equation model, and the model is estimated and tested by using the partial least squares method. A survey among 509 consumers in Denmark forms the empirical basis for the study.
Findings
The paper finds that positive and negative WOM has an asymmetric influence on emotions, behavioral attitude and intention, i.e. that consumers respond differently to positive and negative WOM. The paper also finds that positive WOM has a larger impact than the social norm on behavioral attitude and intention and that negative WOM has an impact equal to that of the social norm. Furthermore, the study finds that emotions are an important mediator for both WOM and social norm.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is limited to a large travel agency in Denmark.
Practical implications
This paper has clear implications in terms of measuring the importance of WOM and emotions in consumer decision-making. It may serve as a useful basis for a practical WOM marketing strategy, which is a critical and increasingly applied element of customer-focused companies’ marketing strategies.
Originality/value
This paper provides new insights into how WOM works and the interplay between WOM, emotions and social norm in consumer decision-making.
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Jie Gu, Xiaolun Wang and Tian Lu
The purpose of this paper is to explain the “good-to-good” app switching phenomenon that has not been specifically addressed in the prior switching literature. Drawing on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the “good-to-good” app switching phenomenon that has not been specifically addressed in the prior switching literature. Drawing on the consumer learning theory, this study explores how external social word of mouth (WOM) and internal satisfaction influence app users’ switching intention through social learning route and analogical learning route. This study also examines the moderating effect of app heterogeneity.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was used to collect data. Two categories of mobile apps with different levels of within-category heterogeneity were targeted in survey questions. A total of 525 valid survey responses were collected.
Findings
Social WOM about a competing app increases users’ switching intention through both social norm influence and social information influence, resulting in a direct effect on switching intention and an indirect effect through the perceived attractiveness of a competing app. Users’ satisfaction with an adopted app positively influences the perceived attractiveness of an unadopted competing app, offering evidence for analogical learning in user switching. Meanwhile, users’ satisfaction imposes a direct negative effect on switching intention. A higher level of within-category heterogeneity strengthens (weakens) the positive effect of social WOM (satisfaction) on users’ perceived attractiveness of a competing app.
Originality/value
This study complements the existing switching literature by disentangling the “good-to-good” switching phenomenon in the mobile app market from the consumer learning perspective. This study extends the understanding of cross-category user switching by considering different levels of product heterogeneity.
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Jorge Arenas-Gaitán, Francisco J. Rondan-Cataluña and Patricio E. Ramírez-Correa
The aim of this study is to analyze the antecedents of word-of-mouth (WOM) in a social networking sites (SNS) context, based on social identification theory and uses and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to analyze the antecedents of word-of-mouth (WOM) in a social networking sites (SNS) context, based on social identification theory and uses and gratification theory. This general objective can be divided into two sub-objectives. First, to measure the relationship between social identity, altruism and perceived encouragement as antecedents of WOM in SNS. Second, to study the existence of SNS-user segments which have differentiated behaviors according to the proposed model.
Design/methodology/approach
Partial least squares (PLS) has been used to analyze both validity and reliability of the measurement scales and the estimation of the structural model. Next, the heterogeneity of SNS-users has been analyzed using the finite mixture segmentation FIMIX-PLS. Furthermore, a multi-group analysis (MGA-PLS) has been used to analyze the differences between the behaviors of the resulting segments.
Findings
The main conclusion of this study is that social identity and perceived encouragement are worthy predictors of WOM. Additionally, there is a strong relationship between social identity and perceived encouragement. Another significant consequence is the existence of a large quantity of unobserved heterogeneity. Unsociable users, habitual users and obligated users show different behaviors regarding the relationships between the variables of the proposed model.
Originality value
The results indicate that in general WOM communications transmitted by SNS-users are not motivated by altruism or by their willingness to help others. In addition, social identity and perceived encouragement are good predictors of WOM. Another originality of this research is that considering only one general model hides a large amount of unobserved heterogeneity: different segments of users showed diverse behaviors regarding the model’s variables.
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Mauricio Palmeira, Gerri Spassova and Jordi Quoidbach
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether people’s intuitions regarding the social consequences of word of mouth (WOM) match the actual consequences. The authors investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether people’s intuitions regarding the social consequences of word of mouth (WOM) match the actual consequences. The authors investigate the expectations people have about how sharing WOM (positive or negative) will change others’ perceptions of them and then compare these expectations to the actual impact of WOM.
Design/methodology/approach
Six studies were conducted. Study 1 predicted how sharing their experiences with various products or services would change others’ opinion of them. Studies 2a/2b contrasted participants’ intuitions about the potential social consequences of sharing WOM with the consequences. Studies 3a/3b and 4a/4b tested for the hypothesized mediating mechanism. Studies 5a/5b focused on negative WOM and used participants’ own reviews to compare intuitions with impact. Study 6 explored whether considering one’s own consumption experience mitigates the negative social impact of WOM.
Findings
Consumers expect positive WOM to improve perceptions as it conveys only positive cues about the communicator (i.e. helping intentions and a positive personality). Negative WOM is expected to have neutral impact, as it conveys mixed cues (i.e. helping intentions but a negative personality). In contrast, the authors show that sharing negative WOM tends to be quite detrimental, whereas sharing positive WOM has little impact. People are largely unaware of these effects.
Research limitations/implications
The research contributes to the literature on WOM and social transmission by comparing people’s intuitions about the social consequences of WOM with its actual consequences. The authors acknowledge that they used mostly WOM messages that were pre-written (vs spontaneously generated by participants). This may have constrained the generalizability of the results. Several potential moderators remain to be investigated, such as the role of message extremity, the interpersonal closeness between communicator and receiver, whether the WOM was solicited vs spontaneous, online vs offline, etc.
Practical implications
Greater effort is needed to raise consumers’ awareness about the gap between their expectations and the actual social consequences of WOM. Furthermore, marketers responsible for designing product review opportunities should be encouraged to provide consumers with more flexible options, such as the ability to easily remove an online review. Finally, consumers transmitting negative WOM in particular should be aware that their negative tone may compromise the persuasiveness of their message by making the receiver more vigilant and thus less receptive.
Originality/value
The authors are the first to directly contrast people’s intuitions about the social consequences of WOM with its consequences. Unlike the previous literature, the authors investigate people’s intuitions directly, and investigate the consequences of positive and negative WOM by comparing them to a neutral no-WOM condition. They also shed light on the specific personality traits people infer from WOM.
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Keith S. Coulter and Anne Roggeveen
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how source, network, relationship, and message/content factors affect how consumers respond to a word‐of‐mouth (WOM) communication in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how source, network, relationship, and message/content factors affect how consumers respond to a word‐of‐mouth (WOM) communication in an online social network.
Design/methodology/approach
Hypotheses were addressed using two online surveys. The first of these examined persuasive WOM communications on Facebook, the second investigated WOM communication on Twitter.
Findings
It was found that closeness to the source of a persuasive communication may have less of an impact on message acceptance in online social networks compared to traditional WOM. The number of persons in a product network, as well as whether those members of a product network are also members of one's friend network, are important factors that determine message acceptance.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates differences between online versus traditional WOM, and has important implications for marketing practitioners.
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Volker G. Kuppelwieser, Philipp Klaus, Aikaterini Manthiou and Linda D. Hollebeek
The customer experience (CX), as revealed in the literature-based debate, has been variously viewed as either a driver or an outcome of customer-perceived value (CPV). However…
Abstract
Purpose
The customer experience (CX), as revealed in the literature-based debate, has been variously viewed as either a driver or an outcome of customer-perceived value (CPV). However, the association of CPV, CX and word-of-mouth (WoM) behavior remains nebulous to date, thereby generating an important research gap. In response and to bridge this gap, this study aims to explore CX’s role in the CPV–WoM behavior relationship, the role of WoM behavior arising from CX and whether CX acts as a core mediator (vs a moderator) in the association of CPV and subsequent consumer-behavior outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
By conducting two studies spanning a broad range of services, this paper explores the relationship between CPV, CX, and WoM behavior through structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings are that CX plays a crucial role in the CPV–WoM relationship, thereby confirming the existence of a direct link between CPV (social/hedonic/utilitarian value), CX and WoM. The results also highlight CX’s mediating role in the relationship between social and utilitarian (but not hedonic) values. Moreover, the results reveal that the EXQ scale, measuring CX, comprises distinct experiences perceived by high and low CX-based customer segments, respectively.
Practical implications
CPV (utilitarian, hedonic, social) not only affects consumers’ behavioral intentions but also, more importantly, their WoM behavior. Therefore, managers need to consider all three values. Moreover, managers should shift their focus from social value perceptions to CX. The results suggest that managers need to devote additional resources to the development of a suitable CX, which will help mitigate consumers’ online and/or offline brand-related WoM. This study indicates the context in which managers must emphasize the construct that produces positive outcomes.
Originality/value
By identifying a direct relationship between CPV, CX and the ensuing consumer-behavior outcomes, the study offers important theoretical insight into CX’s nomological network.
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Yan Li, Ruijuan Wu and Dongjin Li
The purpose of this paper is to examine how subjective characteristics of social network sites (SNSs) affect consumers' positive and negative word-of-mouth (WOM) sharing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how subjective characteristics of social network sites (SNSs) affect consumers' positive and negative word-of-mouth (WOM) sharing.
Design/methodology/approach
The data used for this study were obtained from an online survey with a sample size of 369 consumers. Structural equation modeling was performed to test hypotheses and examine the research questions.
Findings
The authors found that the perceived anonymity of an SNS is negatively correlated with its perceived interpersonal closeness of friends, and the number of friends in an SNS is positively correlated with its perceived interpersonal closeness of friends. With regard to positive WOM, the perceived anonymity of the SNS has a significant negative influence on consumers' WOM, and both perceived interpersonal closeness and the number of friends have a significant positive influence on consumers' WOM. But, in the case of negative WOM, only perceived interpersonal closeness of friends has a significant positive influence on consumers' WOM.
Practical implications
When attempting to promote positive WOM, marketers should choose consumers who possess the “right” subjective characteristics of SNSs (i.e. low anonymity, high interpersonal closeness of friends and a large number of friends). At the same time, marketers should monitor the emergence of consumers' negative WOM, especially those consumers who have a high level of interpersonal closeness of friends in SNSs, and respond to the content of negative WOM without delay.
Originality/value
This study investigates the influence that subjective characteristics of SNSs have on consumers' WOM sharing and therefore contributes to the literature on the antecedents of WOM generation and also contributes to the research that compares positive WOM with its negative counterpart.
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Biao Luo, Zheyu Zhang, Yong Liu and Weihe Gao
The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers respond to online word of mouth (WOM) with different valence (i.e. what does it say) and from different sources (i.e. who…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers respond to online word of mouth (WOM) with different valence (i.e. what does it say) and from different sources (i.e. who said it) in an important emerging economy, China.
Design/methodology/approach
Theory with experiments.
Findings
The authors find that Chinese consumers seek confirmatory information and pay greater attention to WOM that agrees with their initial attitude. Consumers with a high (vs low) need for cognition are more likely to rate WOM from far (vs closer) social distance as more impactful on themselves. For public-consumption products, the consumers are influenced more by “who said it” (source) than by “what does it say” (valence). The reverse holds for private consumption.
Research limitations/implications
The paper could be extended to other online behaviors. It can also be extended to empirical testing using market data.
Practical implications
Since Chinese consumers tend to focus on online information that is consistent with their initial attitude, it can be more difficult for either the seller or third-party website to utilize online WOM as a persuasive tool in China than in other countries. Firms may also customize their online strategies based on product category. For products that are consumed in private, WOM content is more important than source. If the firm wants to facilitate consumer interaction and influence, greater attention should be paid to make the content easy to access and utilize.
Social implications
Due to the explosive growth of e-Commerce in China, many global and Chinese firms rushed to set up online communities to facilitate information exchange among consumers. Our findings indicate that the impact of these communities may have been overvalued. Chinese consumers are influenced by online information, but if the majority of the online messages are from anonymous strangers, consumers tend to discount their credibility.
Originality/value
Our study represents an earlier effort to predict, and test, how online WOM can be associated with the specific cultural and market environments. It provides direct implications for both consumer behavior and firm strategy.
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