Factors influencing word of mouth effectiveness: receiver perspectives

Purpose – Word of mouth (WOM) is becoming increasingly recognized as an important form of promotion, particularly within professional services environments, where credence qualities play a critical role in consumers' choices. The present paper seeks to explore the factors that are likely to enhance the chances that receivers of positive word of mouth might be influenced by such information.Design/methodology/approach – The study examines findings from six focus group discussions and 103 critical incident forms.Findings – The findings suggest that the potential for WOM to impact on perceptions or on actions depends on the nature of the sender‐receiver relationship, the richness and strength of the message and its delivery, and various personal and situational factors.Research limitations/implications – The findings are tentative and based on a relatively small sample; however, they provide a useful framework for future research into the process of WOM.Practical implications – The importance of WOM in marke...

[1]  R. Merton.  Social Theory and Social Structure , 1958 .

[2]  Mark S. Granovetter.  T H E S T R E N G T H O F WEAK TIES: A NETWORK THEORY REVISITED , 1983 .

[3]  Tim Mazzarol,et al.  Conceptualizing word‐of‐mouth activity, triggers and conditions: an exploratory study , 2007 .

[4]  G. A. Miller,et al.  Book Review Nisbett, R. , & Ross, L.Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment.Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980. , 1982 .

[5]  L. J. Harrison‐Walker.  The Measurement of Word-of-Mouth Communication and an Investigation of Service Quality and Customer Commitment As Potential Antecedents , 2001 .

[6]  Jean Hartley,et al.  Case study research , 2004 .

[7]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[8]  E. Rogers.  Diffusion of Innovations , 1962 .

[9]  A. Strauss,et al.  Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. , 1992 .

[10]  Vijay Mahajan,et al.  The Economic Leverage of the Virtual Community , 2001, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[11]  V. Zeithaml.  How Consumer Evaluation Processes Differ between Goods and Services , 1981 .

[12]  H. Bansal,et al.  Word-of-Mouth Processes within a Services Purchase Decision Context , 2000 .

[13]  Dwayne D. Gremler,et al.  The loyalty ripple effect , 1999 .

[14]  F. Buttle.  Word of mouth: understanding and managing referral marketing , 1998 .

[15]  Edward F. McQuarrie,et al.  Focus Groups: Theory and Practice , 1991 .

[16]  Ted Roselius.  Consumer Rankings of Risk Reduction Methods , 1971 .

[17]  Katherine N. Lemon,et al.  Quantifying the Ripple: Word-of-Mouth and Advertising Effectiveness , 2004, Journal of Advertising Research.

[18]  B. Ryan.  The diffusion of hybrid seed corn in two Iowa communities , 1943 .

[19]  T. Hines.  An evaluation of two qualitative methods (focus group interviews and cognitive maps) for conducting research into entrepreneurial decision making , 2000 .

[20]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[21]  D. Iacobucci,et al.  Modeling Dyadic Interactions and Networks in Marketing , 1992 .

[22]  K. Jones,et al.  Employee performance cues in a hotel service environment: Influence on perceived service quality, value, and word-of-mouth intentions , 1996 .

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

[24]  Christian Derbaix,et al.  Inducing word-of-mouth by eliciting surprise ? a pilot investigation , 2003 .

[25]  G. Hogg,et al.  An empirical investigation of the impact of non‐verbal communication on service evaluation , 2000 .

[26]  L. Ross,et al.  Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment. , 1981 .

[27]  E. Anderson.  Customer Satisfaction and Word of Mouth , 1998 .

[28]  V. Mitchell,et al.  Risk Perception and Reduction in the Purchase of Consumer Services , 1993 .

[29]  Glenn Ellison,et al.  Word-of-Mouth Communication and Social Learning , 1995 .

[30]  J. Arndt.  Word of mouth advertising : a review of the literature , 1967 .

[31]  R. Dye.  The buzz on buzz. , 2000, Harvard business review.

[32]  W. Mangold,et al.  Word‐of‐mouth communication in the service marketplace , 1999 .

[33]  C. I. Hovland,et al.  The Influence of Source Credibility on Communication Effectiveness , 1951 .

[34]  M. Gilly,et al.  A dyadic study of interpersonal information search , 1998 .

[35]  Arch G. Woodside,et al.  Effects of Word of Mouth Advertising on Consumer Risk Taking , 1976 .

[36]  V. Mahajan,et al.  Introduction Strategy for New Products with Positive and Negative Word-of-Mouth , 1984 .

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

[38]  Richard Taylor,et al.  Knowledge diffusion dynamics and network properties of face-to-face interactions , 2004 .

[39]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Problems and Strategies in Services Marketing , 1985 .

[40]  Dwayne D. Gremler,et al.  Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: What motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the Internet? , 2004 .

[41]  N. Marr,et al.  How Damaging is Negative Word of Mouth , 1995 .

[42]  P. Bone.  Word-of-mouth effects on short-term and long-term product judgments , 1995 .

[43]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. , 1988 .

[44]  Peter A. Dacin,et al.  Spreading the word: Investigating antecedents of consumers’ positive word-of-mouth intentions and behaviors in a retailing context , 2005 .

[45]  John A. Martilla.  Word-of-Mouth Communication in the Industrial Adoption Process , 1971 .

[46]  Christine T. Ennew,et al.  Managing word of mouth communication: empirical evidence from India , 2000 .

[47]  Mark S. Granovetter.  Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness , 1985, American Journal of Sociology.

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

[49]  Jerry R. Wilson,et al.  Word-Of-Mouth Marketing , 1991 .

[50]  Robert A. Peterson,et al.  Some Limits on the Potency of Word-Of-Mouth Information , 1989 .

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

[52]  K. File,et al.  Word-of-Mouth Effects in Professional Services Buyer Behaviour , 1994 .

[53]  Tomás Bayón,et al.  The effect of word of mouth on services switching , 2004 .

[54]  J. B. Newman,et al.  SPOKEN AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS. , 1964, Journal of abnormal psychology.