Companies are encouraging and incentivizing contributors of online word-of-mouth (WOM) through gamification elements such as badges, mayorships, points, and such. We study how gamification elements, which capture and signal contributors’ accumulated expertise, affect consumers’ perception of contributors’ knowledge, and therefore the perceived effectiveness of their contributed WOM. We focus on...

We investigate how consumer word of mouth (WOM) develops over time and in turn influences new product adoption. We develop a dynamic aggregate-level model of WOM development and new product diffusion that explicitly captures consumers’ learning of product quality from both marketing communications and WOM. It allows us to measure how effectively firms’ marketing efforts generate WOM (buzz) and ...

Purpose: This paper reports on research on the antecedents of Word of Mouth (WOM) behavior among Iranian women in the context of grocery shopping. Design/methodology/approach: Using a survey instrument, we empirically test the conceptual model of De Matos and Rossi (2008). Findings: We find support for the model and find satisfaction, commitment, loyalty, trust, perceived value and quality to b...

Universities nowadays face an increasing competition for high-potential students. As students rely on opinions of their peers when deciding for a study program, universities benefit from positive word-of-mouth (WoM). A good way to increase positive WoM is to establish a favorable reputation among their current students. Therefore, this study investigates reputational drivers with a focus on the...

Online social networks (OSNs) are becoming an important propagation platform for Word of mouth (WOM). Therefore, it is of great significance to study the propagation of WOM in OSNs. A WOM propagation model named N-P-N is proposed in this paper, and some simulation experiments are carried out to investigate the mechanism of WOM propagation. From the sensitivity analysis of degree of initial info...

Internet, as a new channel of WOM, enables consumers to get multiply WOM messages. However, there is a very real consumer situation that consumers may receive opposite messages (positive-negative) from the same sources. According to tie strength, this paper divides e-WOM sources into strong tie sources and weak tie sources, examining how e-WOM sources moderate the influence of e-WOM presentatio...

Free sampling in digital format has become a common business practice in the online market offering consumers first-hand experience with products, due to its low marginal cost and extensive online distribution. At the same time, online word of mouth (WOM) has also been a prevalent strategy on the Internet for increasing product visibility and providing trustworthy product information. Those two...

This study investigates the relationships among service encounter, service value, patient satisfaction, and word-of-mouth (WOM) intention from the viewpoint of interactive marketing. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey. A total of 372 questionnaires were obtained and 350 of these questionnaires were valid (94.09%), and a structural equation model was used to analyze the data. This ...

Firms use social media marketing to promote products and collect consumer feedback for the product development process. Their practice of investing in retailer-hosted Word-of-Mouth (internal WOM) is supported by a positive feedback mechanism between internal WOM and retail sales. Internal WOM is a sales influencer: consumers can get informed about a product by a large volume of internal WOM. It...

A2 W of mouth (WOM) plays an increasingly important role in shaping consumers’ attitudes and buying behaviors. Prior work in marketing has mainly focused on the aggregate impact of WOM on product sales as well as the generation of WOM. Very little attention has been paid to the consumption or usage of WOM. In this paper, utilizing a unique data set that collects information from the automobile ...