Spread Word Of Mouth Research Articles

Dear Doc: advice for collaborators

Years ago, when Doc was a junior faculty member she became aware of a situation that changed her life. An extremely well-known senior scientist in her department took the data of a graduate student and published it in a very significant, oft-cited paper without crediting the student in any way. That this action had the tacit approval of the department chair was confusing. Dismayed by this violation of trust and feeling powerless to intervene, she decided to become the Dear Abby of Science. Working in the lab during the day she was becoming a world-renowned researcher as well as a highly revered mentor to younger scientists. At night, disguised as Dr. Doc she began advising other researchers who were looking for help with their sticky situations. As word of mouth spread about Doc more and more researchers sought out her advice about a wide range of problems in their labs and in their collaborations. She is currently entertaining a proposal from a collaborative group of editors from high-impact journals to develop a web presence that would offer insightful advice to struggling scientific collaborators around the world. The following is a selection of letters from Doc's files focused on collaboration. The names and details in the letters have been changed to protect confidentiality.

THE EFFECTS OF PERCEIVED RISK ON THE WORD-OF-MOUTH COMMUNICATION DYAD

This study examined the effects of perceived risk on the sender and the receiver of word-of-mouth (WOM) communication. Regression analysis of 675 questionnaires administered in Taiwan metropolitan areas confirmed that financial risk and performance risk have significant positive effects on WOM's influencing of the receiver's purchase decision, whereas social risk and psychological risk have significant positive effects on the sender's intention of WOM spread. Product familiarity was identified as a moderator of the relationship between expected performance risk and WOM spread. There was a negative relationship between expected performance risk and WOM spread when people were unfamiliar with the product.

Day Laborers in the Reconstruction of New Orleans

Day Laborers in the Reconstruction of New Orleans Aoife Naughton and Wes Wallace In the winter and spring of 2006, the parking lot of a Shell station at Lee Circle in downtown New Orleans became the preeminent casual labor market in the reconstruction of the city. Every morning starting at dawn, crowds of men, most of them Central and South American, but also U.S. citizens from all over the country, congregated there to await construction jobs. Throughout the morning, pick-up trucks pulled into the lot in front of the pumps, sometimes with lone contractors, sometimes in convoy from larger construction companies. The men would crowd around the trucks, jostling each other for access to the drivers. Afterwards, those picked by the drivers would jump onto the back of the trucks and speed off to work-sites. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. We photographed and interviewed a representative group of these laborers—Latino, black, and white—as well as the employees at the gas station in January, February and March 2006. In the early morning of March 17, 2006, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid arrested dozens of Latino workers waiting at Lee Circle. Afterwards the New Orleans police began to visibly control the area. Though some workers continue to [End Page 1372] gather there today, the large crowds have gone. Smaller groups gather now in the mornings away from the downtown area at different gas stations on Claiborne Avenue and Veterans' Memorial Boulevard or at the Lowe's hardware store in Metairie. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 2. Here are the stories of the men who gathered at the Shell station at Lee Circle in January and February 2006. Only their names have been changed, to protect their privacy. Chris, an employee of the gas station, explains how this place became "the spot." He says that the hotel at Lee Circle—he points to a five-story building on the other side of the rotary—was used to house contractors and workers directly after the storm. These men were good for business, buying food when business was slow in New Orleans in October and November. Then the Latino workers arrived: "They used to meet at the fitness center down the street, but then they came over here. We sell them coffee and food and stuff. At first there were just a dozen or so men, but word of mouth spread out that this was the place to come, and they came." "I just try to keep the entrance clear. I had a woman the other day get all belligerent because I was trying to keep the entrance clear. I don't mind if they wait here, I just want them to keep the entrance clear." Roberto is from Mexico, but now lives in Houston. He worked in La Place, not far from New Orleans, for a while, and is now staying in a room with no hot water in Slidell (a suburb of New Orleans). The house was damaged by other occupants, but the bathroom works and there is a shower, and a bed to sleep on, though there are no sheets. A good wage, according to Roberto, is $12 an hour for unskilled work. "Most people won't work for under $10." He has also done skilled work, such as roofing. "I got a contract [End Page 1373] a few weeks ago for $400 to work on a roof—I split the job with two other guys, and we did it in one day—we split the $400 three ways." Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 3. He says the workers are fair to each other: they split the wage evenly, even if one of them has tools and the others don't. If they have an old man on their team, they let an old man do the easy work, but they split the wage evenly. "Are there a lot of old people here?" "Look around, you'll see them. There's one—there's another one." Roberto complains that often the men don't get paid after a day's work. "I worked for one guy...