Online Word-of-Mouth (or Mouse): An Exploration of Its Antecedents and Consequences

This study developed an integrated model to explore the antecedents and consequences of online word-of-mouth in the context of music-related communication. Based on survey data from college students, online word-of-mouth was measured with two components: online opinion leadership and online opinion seeking. The results identified innovativeness, Internet usage, and Internet social connection as significant predictors of online word-of-mouth, and online forwarding and online chatting as behavioral consequences of online word-of-mouth. Contrary to the original hypothesis, music involvement was found not to be significantly related to online word-of-mouth. Theoretical implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

[1]  Terry L. Childers.  Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of an Opinion Leadership Scale , 1986 .

[2]  Lawrence Feick,et al.  People Who Use People: the Other Side of Opinion Leadership , 1986 .

[3]  James C. Anderson,et al.  STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PRACTICE: A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDED TWO-STEP APPROACH , 1988 .

[4]  David Gefen,et al.  Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[5]  Hong-Youl Ha,et al.  The Effects of Consumer Risk Perception on Pre-purchase Information in Online Auctions: Brand, Word-of-Mouth, and Customized Information , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[6]  David Godes,et al.  Using Online Conversations to Study Word-of-Mouth Communication , 2004 .

[7]  William R. Darden,et al.  Mutually Adaptive Effects of Interpersonal Communication , 1971 .

[8]  K. B. Murray.  A Test of Services Marketing Theory: Consumer Information Acquisition Activities , 1991 .

[9]  J. Arndt.  Role of Product-Related Conversations in the Diffusion of a New Product , 1967 .

[10]  Marsha L. Richins,et al.  The Role of Evolvement and Opinion Leadership in Consumer Word-Of-Mouth: an Implicit Model Made Explicit , 1988 .

[11]  Charles F. Hofacker,et al.  Measuring consumer innovativeness , 1991 .

[12]  P. Herr,et al.  Effects of Word-of-Mouth and Product-Attribute Information on Persuasion: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective , 1991 .

[13]  Andrew Feenberg,et al.  Virtual Community: No ‘Killer Implication’ , 2004, New Media Soc..

[14]  Gary Gumpert,et al.  Inter/Media: Interpersonal Communication in a Media World , 1983 .

[15]  S. Godin,et al.  Unleashing the Ideavirus , 2000 .

[16]  Edward F. McQuarrie,et al.  The Zaichkowsky Personal Involvement Inventory: Modification and Extension , 1987 .

[17]  Roobina Ohanian.  Construction and Validation of a Scale to Measure Celebrity Endorsers' Perceived Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Attractiveness , 1990 .

[18]  Linda L. Price,et al.  The market maven: A diffuser of marketplace information. , 1987 .

[19]  Ronald E. Goldsmith,et al.  A validity study of a measure of opinion leadership , 1991 .

[20]  Terry Daugherty,et al.  Organizational Virtual Communities: Exploring Motivations Behind Online Panel Participation , 2005, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[21]  J. Doll,et al.  Motives of Adolescents to Use the Internet as a Function of Personality Traits, Personal and Social Factors , 2001 .

[22]  Jerome B. Kernan,et al.  Analysis of Referral Networks in Marketing: Methods and Illustration , 1986 .

[23]  Peter H. Reingen,et al.  Social Ties and Word-of-Mouth Referral Behavior , 1987 .

[24]  David K. Perry,et al.  Viral Marketing or Electronic Word-of-Mouth Advertising: Examining Consumer Responses and Motivations to Pass Along Email , 2004, Journal of Advertising Research.

[25]  Narasimhan Srinivasan,et al.  An Empirical Assessment of Multiple Operationalizations of Involvement , 1990 .

[26]  Michael Gilding,et al.  ‘I’ve Never Clicked this Much with Anyone in My Life’: Trust and Hyperpersonal Communication in Online Friendships , 2004, New Media Soc..

[27]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: Structural Equation Modeling With the Simplis Command Language , 1993 .

[28]  Robert LaRose,et al.  Sharing or Piracy? An Exploration of Downloading Behavior , 2005, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[29]  J. Zaichkowsky.  Measuring the Involvement Construct , 1985 .

[30]  Meera Venkatraman.  Opinion leaders, adopters, and communicative adopters: A role analysis , 1989 .

[31]  Qimei Chen,et al.  Internet Community Group Participation: Psychosocial Benefits for Women with Breast Cancer , 2005, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[32]  James H. Myers,et al.  Personality Correlates of Opinion Leadership and Innovative Buying Behavior , 1969 .

[33]  R. Brooks,et al.  “Word-of-Mouth” Advertising in Selling New Products , 1957 .

[34]  W. Bearden,et al.  Reference Group Influence on Product and Brand Purchase Decisions , 1982 .

[35]  P. Howard,et al.  Days and Nights on the Internet , 2001 .

[36]  Richard G. Netemeyer,et al.  Measurement of Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence , 1989 .

[37]  R. Goldsmith,et al.  Social values and female fashion leadership: A cross‐cultural study , 1993 .

[38]  Em Griffin.  A First Look at Communication Theory , 2005 .

[39]  Jannie Roed.  Language Learner Behaviour in a Virtual Environment , 2003 .

[40]  L. Flynn,et al.  The King and Summers opinion leadership scale: Revision and refinement , 1994 .

[41]  John O. Summers.  The Identity of Women's Clothing Fashion Opinion Leaders , 1970 .

[42]  L. Flynn,et al.  Opinion leaders and opinion seekers: Two new measurement scales , 1996 .

[43]  Alan R. Dennis,et al.  Lessons from the Early Adopters of Web Groupware , 1998, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[44]  Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck,et al.  Paul F. Lazarsfeld/Bernard Berelson/Hazel Gaudet, The People’s Choice. How the Voter Makes Up his Mind in a Presidential Campaign, New York/London 1944 , 2007 .

[45]  P. Lazarsfeld,et al.  The people's choice. , 1945 .

[46]  Fei Xue,et al.  Internet-facilitated consumer-to-consumer communication: the moderating role of receiver characteristics , 2004 .

[47]  M. Browne,et al.  Alternative Ways of Assessing Model Fit , 1992 .

[48]  Isabella Chaney.  Opinion leaders as a segment for marketing communications , 2001 .

[49]  John A. Czepiel.  Word-of-Mouth Processes in the Diffusion of a Major Technological Innovation , 1974 .

[50]  Robert M. Schindler,et al.  Internet forums as influential sources of consumer information , 2001 .

[51]  Traci B Warrington,et al.  The Secrets of Word‐of‐Mouth Marketing: How to Trigger Exponential Sales through Runaway Word of Mouth , 2002 .

[52]  R. Lennox,et al.  Revision of the self-monitoring scale. , 1984, Journal of personality and social psychology.