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Owner‐managers of small businesses invariably cite word of mouth recommendations as the principal way in which they attract new customers. Marketing theory is under‐developed in this field with little empirical evidence about the recommending behaviour of small business customers and referral groups. The case study of an independent health club reported here illustrates how these processes can be researched and the results used to influence word of mouth recommendations. The owner‐manager of the club carried out some basic research on his customer base in order to identify the types of members who were most active in recommending the club, and the stimuli that led to recommendations being made. A key finding was that newer members were more likely to recommend than those who had been members for some time, contradicting the implications of relationship marketing theories that long standing customers generate most recommendations. Membership more than doubled following a number of activities designed to increase recommending behaviour. The most important stimuli to recommendations were believed to be involvement with the club, incentives and experiential factors. The case study indicates that word of mouth strategies benefit from research to find out which customers are recommending the business, what they are recommending about the business and what prompts them to do so.

This study explores the role of smart voice assistants (SVAs) as purchase recommenders, a phenomenon the authors term “word of voice” (WOV) communication. By integrating human–computer interaction (HCI) literature and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) research, the authors examine what makes consumers trust in SVA-transmitted WOV communication following their initial interactions with their SVAs during a purchase process (i.e. post-trust); and the authors propose that consumers' perceptions of their SVAs' smart capabilities (i.e. cognitive, emotional and social) are critically important for building this trust. Moreover, the study explores the influence of post-trust on consumers' adherence to WOV communication, measured by three types of behavioural intentions.

Data from a survey of 202 United States (US)-based SVA users who employ them to obtain purchase recommendations were collected and analysed. They confirmed the validity of the measurement scales and provided input for the partial least squares modelling (PLS-SEM).

The results demonstrated that post-trust in WOV communication partially or totally mediates the effect of smart capabilities on consumer adherence to WOV communication; identified the key role of cognitive, emotional and social smart capabilities for building consumers' post-trust in WOV and demonstrated the influence of this trust on behavioural intentions.

The present study contributes by examining the employment of SVAs as recommenders during the purchase process; the authors term this type of communication WOV. It analyses consumers with experience of using SVAs in their purchase processes, revealing that post-trust in WOV communication is the psychological mechanism that explains how the smart capabilities of SVAs determine consumer adherence to the recommendations they receive.

Few library studies have investigated recommendation classifications for e‐book (electronic book) usage, while none have directly compared what recommendation sources (word‐of‐mouth, advertising, and expert recommendation) might influence e‐book usage intentions. To fill this gap in the literature, the main purposes of this study are to: examine how users perceive the influence of recommendations on the intention to use e‐books for academic purposes; and to measure the level of the perception of trust and perceived risk when users receive e‐book recommendations from peers, advertisers, and experts.

Data for this study were collected from 382 academic digital library users between the ages of 18 and 25. A multiple regression analysis was then conducted to identify the key causal relationships.

The comparison of three recommendation sources (word‐of‐mouth, advertising, and expert recommendations) revealed that word‐of‐mouth (WOM) played a more important role than other recommendations in determining the intention to use e‐books in an academic digital library. In addition, enhancing the perceived trust and reducing the risk towards the use of e‐books can mediate the relationship between recommendation sources and the behavioural intentions to use e‐books.

This study assessed self‐reported behavioural intention as part of its survey and, as a result, could have introduced unintentional inaccuracies.

Librarians should emphasise e‐book advantages (e.g. easy searching, easily accessible index) to get positive recommendation if users follow all of the recommendations of the source. They can also create online discussion forums to provide usage intention discussions, which can influence users' perceptions of trust and risk and increase the willingness of potential users to read e‐books.

Little has been written on the intentions of using e‐books. Therefore, this conceptual model is novel. This model is also useful in explaining how recommendations stimulate the intentions of using e‐books by enhancing the perceived trust and reducing the perceived risk; these findings may generally be applicable to librarians, current users, and potential users.

The purpose of this paper is to study the responses of young consumers to suspected covert and overt product-brand recommendations in a blog.

Experimental design was applied to investigate the effect of covert and overt marketing on young consumers’ perceptions of blogger credibility and their behavioural intentions.

Overt marketing had a negative effect on behavioural intentions, such as future interest in the blogger, intention to engage in word-of-mouth, and purchase intention. Covert marketing did not affect the intended behaviour. Neither covert nor overt marketing influenced the blogger’s credibility.

The study was delimited to a small sample; one blog, one type of product recommendation, and a well-known brand. Young, well-educated consumers with experience in reading blogs may be able to filter the brand recommendations and focus on the content of the blog.

This study has implications for bloggers, companies, and policy makers. Although overt marketing is the most open and the recommended form of blog marketing, the study showed that overt marketing has negative effects. Therefore, bloggers need to carefully consider how they present a sponsorship.

The study makes three important contributions. First, it answers the call for research on consumer reactions to covert (deceptive) and overt marketing tactics. Second, it contributes to blog marketing research by studying a case of suspected covert marketing where consumers do not know whether the blog is sponsored or not. Third, the study contributes to knowledge around young consumers, demonstrating that covert and overt tactics do not affect blogger credibility.

Customers are increasingly interested in reading discussions, experiences, recommendations and reviews on social media platforms related to services and products in which they are highly interested. The purpose of this paper is to find the availability of user-generated content (UGC) in the context of Islamic banks and how it can enhance the level of brand engagement and purchase intention of customers.

The methodology for this research is designed by following the features of qualitative research methods and a social constructivism approach. Furthermore, non-directive and semi-structured in-depth interviews are constructed to accumulate research data from marketing teams and customers of Islamic banks. The respondents have been carefully chosen on the basis of purposive sampling and their level of awareness related to Islamic banks.

Islamic banks are more frequently using traditional marketing tools that are unable to enhance levels of information among the targeted population and prove an expensive way of marketing. The findings reveal that Islamic banks lag behind in adopting the latest information exchanging technologies compared to conventional banking systems. A lack of skilled people, reputation and trust, lack of e-marketing strategy and lower levels of investment in social media platforms are major barriers to generate UGC, brand engagement and purchase intention among the targeted market of Islamic banks.

The effective and competent use of various social networking platforms can enhance UGC related to Islamic banking products and services. UGC can generate interactive communication, services reviews, feedbacks, intention to purchase, social influence, social trust and positive customer perception among the targeted population of Islamic banks. The study has summarized and offered practical recommendations to show how Islamic banks can address challenges and enjoy a high level of profitability compared to conventional banking systems.

The present study uncovered the steps that must be taken by the top management of Islamic banks to enhance levels of awareness, online product reviews and recommendations, e-word of mouth and purchase intentions of the targeted market. The study enhanced understanding regarding how a higher level of investment in social networking platforms, safe and secure banking systems and skilled IT professionals can address the challenges of Islamic banks. Furthermore, these factors can create positive UGC, social influence, social brand engagement and purchase intention of customers in Islamic banks. These primary factors must be considered by Islamic banks to compete with conventional banking products and services.

The paper aims to fill a gap in the literature in relation to the determinants of customer value within the research and development (R&D) industry and word‐of‐mouth. It investigates whether context specific variables, such as organizational type and contract length, change customer value evaluations and the value – intention to repurchase – recommend system.

A survey of Australian customers of a research and development service organization was conducted. Structural equation modelling was used to develop a model investigating factors that affect customer value, intent to re‐purchase, and word‐of‐mouth/recommendation.

Relationship benefits, service benefits and sacrifice all had a significant influence on customer value. Efficient use of time is crucial for sacrifice evaluation. Relationship benefits were larger for government organizations than private organizations. Importance of value to recommend the organization to others was higher for longer contracts and government customers.

Results show that R&D organizations need to concentrate on both the technical service/science aspects and the relationship aspects in their contracts. Government institutions tended to emphasize the relationship benefits while private businesses considered service benefits, relationship benefits and sacrifice nearly equal in their determination of value. Intent to contract R&D organization for further work and the willingness to recommend it to others as a highly specialized and competent service provider seem to be higher for government customers and longer contracts.

This paper investigates customer value in a little researched industry, R&D. The findings are relevant for similar professional business‐to‐business services.

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?

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate cognitive and affective customer service in Thailand's maltichannel retail environment. The research used the stimulus–organism–response model of consumer behaviour. The study's theoretical framework incorporated the multichannel service quality framework (Sousa and Voss, 2006) and a decomposed measure of customer experience, including cognitive and affective customer experience (Gao et al., 2021). Outcomes investigated included repurchase intention and word-of-mouth intention.

A quantitative survey of Thai consumers (aged 18 and over) who had purchased from multichannel retailers at least one time in the past year (n = 502) was conducted. Data were collected online and analysed using a structural equation modelling approach.

Significant factors in cognitive customer experience and affective customer experience included breadth of channel choice, transparency of channel, content consistency and process consistency. Effects differed in strength on these effects. Cognitive customer experience and affective customer experience influenced repurchase intention and word-of-mouth intention, with a stronger effect from affective customer experience.

This research presents an integrative model for customer experience in multichannel marketing, incorporating a well-established model of multichannel service quality and a decomposed measure of customer experience. It also illustrates the difference between cognitive customer experience and affective customer experience, which have different effect sizes from antecedents and different effects on outcome variables. This finding is a significant theoretical advancement.

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of online pharmacies in Qatar using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology-2 (UTAUT-2) framework. Specifically, this study examines the impact of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, habit, technology trust, perceived risk and users’ level of awareness of behavioral intention, which in turn affects the adoption of online pharmacies. Furthermore, this study explores the moderating role of word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations on the relationship between behavioral intention and online pharmacy adaptation.

This study adopted a descriptive, quantitative approach to investigate the UTAUT-2 model in the context of consumers’ adoption of e-pharmacy in Qatar. Through convenience sampling, 455 responses were collected from regular customers accessing online pharmacy services. The data were analyzed using Smart-PLS 3.2 software to examine the hypothesized relationships.

The results showed that WOM recommendations significantly enhanced the relationship between behavioral intention and adopting online pharmacies in Qatar. This study identified the factors that may hinder or enable the adoption of online pharmacies, including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, habit, technology trust, perceived risk and users’ level of awareness.

This study contributes to the existing literature on technology acceptance by extending the UTAUT-2 model and recognizing three additional variables (perceived risk, technology trust and technology awareness). These need to be investigated against UTAUT-2 variables to detect the significance of their impact on adapting the e-health concept in Qatar. The potential for cultural change to accelerate the adoption of online pharmacies is highlighted. Future research should explore the role of moral and cultural factors in technology adoption.

The results underscore the economic and social significance of e-pharmacy adoption, particularly within the context of a developing country. Considering the positive intentions expressed by individuals toward e-pharmacy, it becomes crucial for managers and decision-makers to make strategic choices to address any challenges that may arise. Policymakers are encouraged to enhance their services and implement various development initiatives to expand e-pharmacy accessibility and availability.

This study builds upon previous research on e-commerce in the pharmaceutical industry and provides a comprehensive understanding of customers in developing countries. Extending the UTAUT-2 model and identifying additional variables contributes to the knowledge of e-health concepts in Qatar. The findings have practical implications for developing strategies to promote online pharmacy adoption in Qatar and other countries.

This study aims to adopt a mixed-methods approach (accounting and business data) to analyse the effects of the financial institution’s governance on both the knowledge of social responsibility and the consumer’s attitudes and behaviours, and testing the moderating role of the brand identification in the banking sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this concept has been neglected in previous studies.

Data were collected from a sample of 600 respondents in two major Tunisian cities. Participants were selected on the basis of a convenience sampling in which the structural equation modelling method was adopted through SMART PLS 3.0 software.

The results showed that good corporate governance has a positive influence on the knowledge of the company's social responsibility, which positively influences its brand image. Therefore, the company's brand image positively influences the customer’s satisfaction, which positively influences the recommending behaviour of the financial institutions in the COVID-19 era. However, the brand identification has no moderating effect.

Managers of financial institutions are advised to pay particular attention to good corporate governance, as it is mandatory for these companies to assume social responsibility and make it known to clients. Therefore, it is obvious to create a good image in the mind of the consumers to satisfy them to recommend the company in question. It is interesting to mobilise the period of health crisis (COVID-19) to create a favourable attitude among the customers because they are sensitive when evaluating and ranking financial institutions according to the relationships that exist especially during this period.

In fact, there are many studies that dealt with the banking sector. Some of them dealt with the sector through the institutional accounting section while others dealt with the sector through the commercial and marketing section. Therefore, the first contribution of this research is to test a mixed model made up of accounting and commercial data. This model is among the first to determine the effects of the financial institution's governance on the knowledge of social responsibility and on the consumer’s attitude and behaviour to test the moderating role of brand identification in the banking sector. The second contribution is to test this model in a period of health crisis (COVID-19). The third contribution is the use of a mixed sample of data collected from two regions. Then, the fourth contribution is the addition of tests for the verification, robustness and validation of the results obtained. Finally, the fifth contribution is the addition of control variables to test their effects on the research model.