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11 – 20 of over 18000
Article
Publication date: 1 October 1995

Jeffrey G. Blodgett, Kirk L. Wakefield and James H. Barnes

Presents a dynamic model of the consumer complaining behaviorprocess. Is unique in that it distinguishes between negativeword‐of‐mouth that occurs prior to seeking redress (or in…

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Abstract

Presents a dynamic model of the consumer complaining behavior process. Is unique in that it distinguishes between negative word‐of‐mouth that occurs prior to seeking redress (or in lieu of seeking redress) and negative word‐of‐mouth that occurs after seeking redress. Another unique aspect of this study is that it specifically recognizes positive word‐of‐mouth as a possible post‐complaint response. The results indicate that the major factor that determines why some dissatisfied consumers seek redress and give the seller a chance to remedy the problem, while others exit and engage in negative word‐of‐mouth behavior, is the perceived likelihood of success. Results also show that, once a dissatisfied customer seeks redress, that person expects to receive a fair settlement but, more importantly, to be treated with courtesy and respect. Based on these results, discusses the pervasive effects of customer service on consumer complaining behavior, and offers managerial recommendations.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 December 2021

Xin Wang, Ivan Ka Wai Lai and Baoyi Song

Mainland Chinese students are the largest group of international students globally. The role of international students in destination marketing can be seen as “Word-of-Mouth

Abstract

Purpose

Mainland Chinese students are the largest group of international students globally. The role of international students in destination marketing can be seen as “Word-of-Mouth Champions”. This study attempts to examine the effect of place attachment and affinity for Mainland Chinese students on generating word-of-mouth intention towards their place of study.

Design/methodology/approach

Six well-trained research assistants collected paper-based questionnaires in six institutions in Macao. They chose every tenth student who passed by to fill in the questionnaire at six locations in each institution. This study employed partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to estimate the strength of causal relationship among place identity, place dependence, affinity and intention to word-of-mouth.

Findings

The results of the survey from 327 students in Macao indicate that place dependence, place identity and affinity drive Mainland Chinese students to provide word-of-mouth regarding Macao. Place dependence has a positive influence on place identity, and place identity has a positive influence on affinity with residents. However, place dependence has no significant direct effect on affinity.

Practical implications

Evidence from this study indicates the importance of students' word-of-mouth as they as sojourners, in particular, the students' place attachment and affinity for residents is critical to positive their Word-of-mouth on destinations. This research offers insights about the potential group which need require attention.

Originality/value

This study fills a research gap by exploring the relationship between place attachment and social distance in influencing Mainland Chinese students' behaviour, a relationship that has rarely been investigated in tourism research. Practical recommendations are provided to the governments, universities and education enterprises according to the results of the study. From both theoretical and practical perspectives, the findings from this study suggest promoting international students to turn into real “Word-of-Mouth Champions”.

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9792

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 March 2015

Setenay Kucukemiroglu and Ali Kara

– The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing online word-of-mouth communication engagement behavior of college students on social networks such as Facebook.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing online word-of-mouth communication engagement behavior of college students on social networks such as Facebook.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey instrument designed to measure the constructs assumed to have an influence on word-of-mouth communication on social networks was administered to college students who are actively using Facebook. Structural equation model was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

Results of the study show that social capital and trust were two important factors that positively influenced opinion-giving and opinion-seeking behaviors, which, in turn, influenced the word-of-mouth behavior on Facebook. Although these results were not significantly different from the findings reported in the literature, the results emphasize that the impact of social capital and trust on word of mouth increased through the opinion-seeking/giving path.

Research limitations/implications

Although the college students are ideal users for Facebook, the use of college students could limit the generalizability of the results to other populations. Furthermore, the authors have only investigated a few constructs that are assumed to contribute to the online word-of-mouth communication behavior. Other studies should include a more comprehensive list of construct and test their impact.

Practical implications

The study contributes to the literature on word-of-mouth communication in online social networking sites. Organizations could benefit from this knowledge by understanding that social networking sites should be considered as a key component of the integrated marketing communication strategy, and specific targeting efforts could be directed for those users with high levels of opinion-seeking/giving.

Originality/value

Although online social networking has been popular, not many empirical studies have been conducted on consumers’ engagement in the word-of-mouth communication in social networking sites, such as Facebook. This study attempts to fulfill the gap.

Details

International Journal of Commerce and Management, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1056-9219

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 September 2018

Estelle van Tonder, Daniël J. Petzer, Naomi van Vuuren and Leon T. De Beer

The purpose of this paper is to explore the proposed relationships between perceived usefulness (a dimension of perceived value), the relationship quality factors (competence…

2411

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the proposed relationships between perceived usefulness (a dimension of perceived value), the relationship quality factors (competence trust and continuous commitment) and positive word-of-mouth intentions in an electronic banking setting.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted among 511 electronic banking customers.

Findings

Continuous commitment was found to mediate the relationships between perceived usefulness and competence trust with positive word-of-mouth intention, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

The results indicate the role of perceived value and relationship quality in contributing to positive word-of-mouth intention.

Practical implications

The findings could also guide banking institutions in managing their existing electronic banking customers more appropriately and to encourage them to engage in word-of-mouth behaviour that will convince other potential users of the benefits of the service.

Originality/value

Little is known on a mediated model noting the connection between perceived value, the relationship quality factors competence trust and continuous commitment and positive word-of-mouth intention. The findings provide more insight into the matter and accordingly contribute to the developing body of knowledge on perceived value, relationship quality and behavioural intention and their importance to the stream of research on positive word of mouth.

Details

International Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 36 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-2323

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2006

Dong‐Geun Oh

This study aims to investigate the influences of the selected antecedents on each type of complaining intentions and its relationship to complaining behavior of 582 university…

1778

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the influences of the selected antecedents on each type of complaining intentions and its relationship to complaining behavior of 582 university library users in South Korea.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through a survey, using a convenience sample of 582 dissatisfied university library users from five major universities located in Taegu Metropolitan City and Kyoung‐pook Province in South Korea. The sample was proportionate to general users in the university libraries in these areas.

Findings

Perceived severity of dissatisfaction and personal norms had significant influences on the choice of negative word‐of‐mouth intention, direct and indirect voice intentions, and third‐party complaint intention. Societal benefits had significant influences on the choice of exit, negative word‐of‐mouth intention, and direct and indirect voice intentions. Difficulty of complaining and service importance had significant influences on negative word‐of‐mouth intention, and likelihood of success had significant influences on the direct and indirect voice intentions. There were significant relationships between experiences of doing the same types of complaining behavior before and the same types of complaining intentions.

Research limitations/implications

This study was exploratory inorder to separate complaining intentions from the complaining behavior itself. Some variables, including external attribution and loyalty, which were not proved to be critical variables for complaining intentions, need to be investigated further to investigate whether or not they can be a useful variable for complaining behavior and intentions of academic library users. Some results from this study did not confirm the results of the study on the public library users that measured the complaint behavior and intentions together. Compared with the results of the study on the public library users, the values of adjusted R square in the regression of each dependent variables were much higher in this study except for the case of exit intention.

Practical implications

This study proved that the complaining intention model, separated from complaining behavior, could successfully be applied to academic library services.

Originality/value

Opines that feedback information through complaints can solve many problems and/or improve performance and service quality – and eventually help libraries satisfy their customers.

Details

Library Management, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2006

Magnus Söderlund

The contemporary interest in customer loyalty has resulted in a proliferation of multi‐item scales containing an aggregated mix of items that appears to reflect different aspects…

12942

Abstract

Purpose

The contemporary interest in customer loyalty has resulted in a proliferation of multi‐item scales containing an aggregated mix of items that appears to reflect different aspects of loyalty. The most common application of this aggregation approach is to include two specific loyalty facets, repatronage intentions and word‐of‐mouth intentions, in the same loyalty measure and to proceed as if they reflect the same underlying construct. The purpose of this paper is to examine – and question – this practice in conceptual, methodological, and empirical terms.

Design/methodology/approach

Two empirical studies in service settings were conducted and multi‐item measures were used to collect data on repatronage intentions, word‐of‐mouth intentions, and satisfaction. A structural equation model approach was used to compare an aggregated measurement approach with an approach which models the two loyalty constructs as two separate factors.

Findings

The results indicate that repatronage intentions and word‐of‐mouth intentions can indeed be seen as two discrete constructs.

Practical implications

The results indicate that caution is called for when the investigator is measuring customer loyalty with multi‐item measures. Indeed, the lumping together of such facets as repatronage intentions and word‐of‐mouth intentions is likely to conceal significant aspects of loyalty per se and its relation to other variables in the nomological net.

Originality/value

Only a very limited number of existing studies measure customer loyalty with multi‐item scales and with an explicit assumption that several discrete facets of loyalty exist.

Details

International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0956-4233

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 April 2016

Lloyd C. Harris, Raymond P. Fisk and Hana Sysalova

While the links between customer word-of-mouth and desirable organizational outcomes have been widely studied, the possibility that customers might routinely exaggerate their…

1129

Abstract

Purpose

While the links between customer word-of-mouth and desirable organizational outcomes have been widely studied, the possibility that customers might routinely exaggerate their consumption experience stories has been neglected. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The first exploratory study examined exaggerated and unexaggerated word-of-mouth and the targets of such activities. The second exploratory study focussed on customer-exaggerated negative word-of-mouth and its drivers. The two experimental studies generated deeper insights into attributions of service failure and exaggerated negative word-of-mouth.

Findings

This research explicitly addresses customer exaggeration regarding service consumption and the reasons customers engaged in such behaviors. Study 1 focussed on the scope and targets of exaggerated word-of-mouth, and Study 2 concentrated on identifying the drivers of exaggerated negative word-of-mouth. Studies 3 and 4 experimentally elucidated the cognitive mechanisms leading to exaggeration.

Research limitations/implications

Contributions include deeper understanding of the phenomenon of exaggerated negative word-of-mouth and developing and testing a model of the factors associated with consumers’ exaggerated negative word-of-mouth.

Practical implications

Implications include possible organizational and public policy actions to prevent Pinocchio customers from exaggerated negative word-of-mouth.

Originality/value

This paper explores the nature and scope of exaggerated customer word-of-mouth and contributes insights in four ways. First, this research explores the scope of consumer exaggeration during word-of-mouth storytelling and the intended targets of such communications. Second, this research focusses on exaggerated negative word-of-mouth and develops a conceptual model of the drivers of such activity. Third, the theory is tested and contributes empirical insights into exaggerated negative word-of-mouth. Fourth, through experiments, insights are gained into the cognitive mechanisms leading to exaggeration and the effects of attribution differences in personal vs service provider blame.

Details

Journal of Service Management, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-5818

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 November 2021

Lin Wang, Zhihua Wang, Xiaoying Wang and Yang Zhao

The purpose of this paper is to assess the influence mechanism of the word-of-mouth reputation of influencers.

4583

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the influence mechanism of the word-of-mouth reputation of influencers.

Design/methodology/approach

This study explored word-of-mouth reputation from four characteristics of information source of influencers: credibility, professionalism, interactivity and attractiveness. The grounded theory was used to extract the characteristic indicators of influencers and used questionnaire surveys to obtain 218 valid samples. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was used for the configuration analysis.

Findings

The results revealed the following: (1) a causal asymmetric correlation exists between the driving mechanism of high word-of-mouth reputation and non-high word-of-mouth reputation; (2) influencers matching high word-of-mouth reputation comprises potential, developmental and almighty types, whereas live streaming influencer matching non-high word-of-mouth reputation comprises elementary and groping types; and (3) all factors must be combined to play a role, and neutral permutations of two solutions were found among the three overall solutions to attain high word-of-mouth reputation; (4) the combination of high user activity and high exposure is the core configuration that results in high word-of-mouth reputation.

Practical implications

This study provides recommendation for consumers, live streamers, brand and e-commerce platform on how to promote the sustainable and healthy development of influencer marketing.

Originality/value

This study focused on elucidating how the characteristics of information source affect the word-of-mouth reputation of influencers and have a reference value for the research on word-of-mouth reputation in the context of live commerce.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 34 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 September 2019

Decha Dechawatanapaisal

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of organizational identification in the relationship between person-organization fit and intention to stay as well…

1381

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of organizational identification in the relationship between person-organization fit and intention to stay as well as word-of-mouth referrals. The study also examines the role of perceived external prestige as a moderator of the relationship between organizational identification and intention to stay and word-of-mouth referrals.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 2,649 millennial employees working in various companies located within the Central Thailand Industrial Estates. The hypothesized relationships were tested and analyzed by means of a confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, hierarchical regression and a bootstrapping procedure.

Findings

The results revealed that the direct relationships between person-organization fit and intention to stay as well as word-of-mouth referrals were found to be partially mediated by organizational identification. In addition, perceived external prestige was found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between organizational identification and word-of-mouth referrals, but found no effect on employee retention.

Research limitations/implications

The current research took place among the millennial workers in Thai organizations, which needs to be extended to other generational cohorts or different culture settings for more generalization.

Practical implications

The results imply that managers should routinely assess and monitor person-organization compatibility, and ensure that corporate cultures, values and norms are properly communicated and mutually shared among the millennial workers. The aim is to inspire them to perceive better fits and proudly identify with their workplace. Such efforts are likely to induce not only retention, but also should encourage word-of-mouth referrals.

Originality/value

This study extends existing knowledge by assessing the relationships among person-organization fit, organizational identification and perceived external prestige as well as their impacts on intention to stay and word-of-mouth referrals by millennial employees, which has not been extensively investigated in the literature.

Details

Evidence-based HRM: a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-3983

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 February 2014

Beomjoon Choi and Beom-Jin Choi

– This research aims to examine the consequences of customer justice perception and the role of customer affection in the context of service failure and recovery.

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Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to examine the consequences of customer justice perception and the role of customer affection in the context of service failure and recovery.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Findings

The authors' findings indicate that procedural and interactional justice perceptions significantly influence customer affection, with distributive justice perception being significant only if the failure severity is high. The present research also provides evidence for the links between customer affection and loyalty, and customer affection and word-of-mouth respectively, indicating that strengthening the emotional tie between customers and companies is crucial after service failure and recovery.

Research limitations/implications

The present research makes a significant contribution by demonstrating the relationship between customer affection and other key constructs such as justice perception, customer loyalty, and word-of-mouth intention.

Practical implications

Customers' distributive justice perception has a significant impact on customer affection especially in a severe service failure situation. Therefore, managers may need to provide monetary compensation for service recovery in a timely manner along with apologies to enhance customer affection when customers experience a high-magnitude service failure. On the other hand, in the case of a low-magnitude service recovery, providing apologies and prompt response to service failures may be enough to win customers back.

Originality/value

The current findings highlight the importance of customer affection in service recovery. The effect of customers' distributive justice perception on customer affection, which is moderated by service failure severity, is also highlighted.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 48 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

11 – 20 of over 18000