Who is more likely to initiate referrals? Effect of consumer's regulatory focus on referral intention

Abstract

Under the context of the online referral reward program (ORRP), this research explores the effect of consumers’ regulatory focus (promotion-focused vs. prevention-focused) on their referral intention and explores its mechanism and boundary condition. The results of four experiments show that compared to prevention-focused consumers, promotion-focused consumers have higher self-efficacy to complete the referral task; and thus, have higher referral intention. This effect will be attenuated when the social distance between inviters and invitees is small. The findings contribute to the research on ORRP and regulatory focus and provide guidance for firms to optimize ORRPs.