WOM Intention Research Articles

CSR communication in hospitality: Fostering hotel guests’ climate (change) engagement

This study aimed to explore effective corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication strategies to increase hotel guests’ engagement in climate change initiatives. Utilizing regulatory fit theory and construal level theory, three scenario-based experimental designs were devised. These designs empirically analyzed the responses of 1500 hotel guests to 12 different types of CSR communication messages. Framed along goal framing (either gain or loss) and temporal/spatial/social distance (either far or close), these messages allowed guests to articulate their attitudes and behaviors concerning climate change engagement. All three experiments revealed that CSR communication became more persuasive with regulatory fit, leading to increased intentions for green word-of-mouth (green WOM) and a willingness to pay a green premium (green WTPP). To further validate the findings, the study also investigated the moderating effect of temporal/spatial/social distance on message framing. We found that temporal distance amplified the congruence between goal framing and regulatory focus, resulting in heightened green WOM intentions. Social distance also increased this alignment, resulting in heightened green WOM intentions and green WTPP. This study contributes to the literature on hotel guest climate (change) engagement by examining the concept through CSR communication strategies. It offers a valuable perspective on the nexus of guest engagement, CSR, and sustainability, contributing uniquely to theory and practice in these interconnected fields.

The Combined Effect of Brand Gestalt, Brand Awareness, and Brand Image on Ecotourism WOM Intention

The Combined Effect of Brand Gestalt, Brand Awareness, and Brand Image on Ecotourism WOM Intention

The double whammy effect of gender and age on customer responses: a focus on tour guides

Sustainability in a workplace is built upon the inclusion of aging workers and gender equality. Although prior tourism research has examined the impact of employees’ age and gender on customers’ behavioral responses, little effort has been made to examine the joint effect of these two characteristics. Thus, using an extended stereotype content model, this study examines the mechanisms through which tour guides’ age and gender affect customers’ WOM intentions. Across two experimental studies, we identified a significant influence of the two-way interaction of age and gender such that older (vs. younger) age decreased WOM intentions for female tour guides but not for their male counterparts. We further identified that warmth and competence differences explain the effect of age on WOM intentions for male and female tour guides differently. For female tour guides, the negative influence of age on WOM intentions was explained by lower levels of perceived warmth. In contrast, participants perceived older male tour guides as less competent than their younger counterparts, which then significantly influenced decreased WOM intentions. However, customers showed higher levels of warmth toward older tour guides, and this perceived warmth inference counteracts the perceived deficiency in competence. These findings have significant theoretical and practical implications.

Comprehending Determinants and Outcomes of Cultural Tourism to India

This study explores relevant cultural motives amongst foreign tourists visiting India for cultural tourism and explains their role in the formation of destination satisfaction using the S-O-R theory. The conceptual model is empirically tested through a survey using 378 samples using Exploratory Factor Analysis followed by Structural Equation Modelling. Our research found that motives, namely learning local culture, seeking spiritual experiences, experiencing novelty, engaging in social consumption, and experiencing relaxation, are the five principal drivers determining cultural tourist destination selection. This study identifies that tourism motives influence destination satisfaction and positively contribute to WOM intentions. Our research suggests that administrators must create thematic recreation/entertainment options that underscore the local flavour to improve destination satisfaction amongst foreign cultural tourists.

What makes viewers loyal toward streamers? A relationship building perspective and the gender difference

PurposeCultivating loyal customers is a pressing concern for streamers. The present study investigates how to build interpersonal relationships with streamers and whether different interpersonal relationship factors lead to repurchase intention and WOM intention in live streaming commerce. The moderating effect of gender is also examined.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered questionnaire was completed by 429 live streaming commerce users in mainland China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that all four streamer attributes (expertise, authenticity, attractiveness, and homophily) have a positive influence on swift guanxi, and swift guanxi is effective in predicting both calculative commitment and affective commitment. In addition, all interpersonal relationship factors (swift guanxi, calculative commitment, and affective commitment) significantly affect repurchase intentions, with only affective commitment being linked to WOM intention. Also, the moderating role of gender was confirmed in expertise – swift guanxi, attractiveness – swift guanxi, cognitive commitment – repurchase intention and affective commitment – repurchase intention linkages.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the live streaming commerce literature by integrating swift guanxi, calculative commitment, and affective commitment to understand the repurchase intention and WOM intention from the relationship-building process perspective. In addition, this paper enriches the source credibility and source attractiveness models by identifying gender boundaries on the effectiveness of these models in predicting swift guanxi.

The Influence of Perceived Value, And Trust on Wom and Its Impact on Repurchase Intention

Objective: to analyze the relationship between Perceived Value to WoM, trust to WoM and Repurchase Intention of Coffee Shop. Theoretical Framework: This study uses a consumer behavior framework, especially the theory of reason action and word of mouth. Method: This research uses a quantitative approach with a survey design using a sample of 165 with convenience sampling technique. The data analysis technique used is Structural equation modeling (SEM); with the Smart PLS device to test the outer model and inner model. Result: Based on the results of data analysis, it shows that perceived value, trust and word of mouth have a direct effect on repurchase intention. Apart from that, Perceive value and trust have an indirect effect on repurchase intention with word of mouth as a mediation. Implications: The results of this study show that to increase repeat purchases by consumers, it is necessary to increase consumer trust and perceived value to increase word of mouth Originality/Value: The results of the study contribute to coffee shop efforts to increase repurchase intentions in the future by increasing consumer value and trust

Enhancing the Attendee Experience: The Power of Event Sponsorship

Sponsorship has evolved to become a major component of corporate strategic plans. While there is an abundance of research on the benefits sponsorship provides brands, a significant gap exists in the literature understanding the impact sponsorship has on event attendees’ experience. Framed with the Consumer-Centric Sponsorship-Linked Marketing Communication Model, the current paper utilizes two studies to assess the impact of event sponsorship to enhance attendees’ experience and how that enhancement impacts attendee outcomes. Results of Study 1 indicated sponsor’s enhancement of attendees’ experience significantly predicted attendees WOM and purchase intention directed towards the sponsor. Study 2 findings suggested that sponsors’ enhancement of attendees’ experience also significantly impacted attendees event satisfaction and future attendance at the festival. The paper contributes to the sponsorship and events literature by exploring the bidirectional nature of event sponsorship in creating value for a variety of stakeholders.

The role emotions play in loyalty and WOM intention in a Smart Tourism Destination Management

This study applies an extension of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by including moral regulation and negative and positive emotions to determine the attitudinal and emotional factors that influence tourist loyalty and word-of-mouth. Structural equation modeling was applied to a sample of 303 face-to-face interviews with tourists visiting the smart tourism destination of Cáceres, a city that has also been declared a World Heritage site. The results indicate that the original components of the TPB, moral norms and positive and negative emotions significantly impact loyalty and intention to recommend the smart destination. Additionally, the proportion of variance explained shows that including moral norms and positive and negative emotions significantly improve the explanatory power of the original model. The joint communication of information in local campaigns and through social networks offering memorable experiences is the main strategy destination managers should follow in order to promote socially and environmentally responsible attitudes, positive emotions, and a greater intention to recommend the destination and build loyalty to it.

패션 인플루언서의 속성이 소비자의 구매의도 및 구전의도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

This study aimed to examine the effect of fashion influencer attributes on consumers" purchase intention and the intention and factors of consumers who purchased their recommended products to continuously share and use the information they provided. As a result of the study, first, the attributes of fashion influencer were classified into attractiveness, reliability, expertise, and information, and they were found to have a significant effect on brand attachment and customer satisfaction. Second, brand attachment and customer satisfaction were found to have a significant effect on purchase intention, and they were found to have an effect on WOM intention through purchase intention. Third, it was found that the attributes of fashion influencer, such as attractiveness, reliability, and information, had a significant effect on purchase intention and WOM intention. However, it was found that expertise did not affect purchase intention and WOM intention. In addition, professionalism was found to have a significant effect on purchase intention when brand attachment and customer satisfaction mediated. Finally, purchase intention was verified by verifying the mediating effect of fashion influencer"s attractiveness, reliability, expertise, information, and WOM intention. It was found that purchase intention had mediating effect on attractiveness, reliability, information, and WOM among influencer"s attributes, but there was no mediating effect in expertise. This study aims to present important basic data for fashion marketing using fashion influencers in the future and marketing plans that can be used for efficient consumer management.

팬 커뮤니티 마커와 스포츠소비자행동 : 팬 커뮤니티 마커, 팬 커뮤니티 동일시, 팀 동일시, 구전의도 간의 구조적 관계를 중심으로

This study aimed to examine the structural relationships among fan community markers (that consist of shared consciousness, rituals and traditions, collective intelligence, and reciprocal altruism), fan community identification, team identification, and WOM intentions. To achieve this aim, structural equation modeling was conducted with samples from supporters of Korean football clubs(n=365). The results of this study are as follows. First, fan community markers had positive effects on fan community identification, team identification, and both fan community-related and team-related WOM intentions. Second, fan community identification had a positive effect on fan community-related WOM intention, while team identification had a positive effect on team-related WOM intention. Third, fan community identification partially mediated the relationship between fan community markers and fan community-related WOM intention, whereas team identification partially mediated the relationship between fan community markers and team-related WOM intention. The findings provide sport marketers with a deeper understanding of how to build fan community markers that foster fan community members’ approach behaviors.

Investigating Health and Fitness App Users’ Stickiness, WOM, and Continuance Intention Using S-O-R Model: The Moderating Role of Health Consciousness

Regardless of its advantage, generally, statistics show low levels of mobile application retention for a long time by users. Thus, the current study tries to provide a deeper understanding of the health and fitness app users’ engagement and stickiness based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, as well as testing the moderating role of the health consciousness in the effect of users’ satisfaction and app-love on stickiness, WOM, and continuance intention. Data was collected from 394 respondents recruited using Google Forms using the self-selection sample technique. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. According to the findings, ISS model components (information quality, system quality, and service quality) significantly influence user engagement with health and fitness applications. Furthermore, user engagement has a significant and positive influence on user satisfaction and app-love. Furthermore, app satisfaction and app-love positively impact stickiness intention, word-of-mouth, and continuance intention. Moreover, the influence of user satisfaction on WOM and continuance intention is moderated by health consciousness. Additionally, the influence of app-love on stickiness intention, WOM, and continuance intention is moderated by health consciousness. This is the first study to integrate the ISS model and the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, as well as the health consciousness construct as a moderator, to propose a holistic framework of user engagement, satisfaction, app-love, stickiness intention, WOM, and continuance intention with health and fitness apps in the emergent markets.

The Moderating Effect of the Sense of Power on Green (NonGreen) Appeal in Promoting Sustainable Consumption

Sustainable behavior could be promoted via green advertising. Based on the agentic–communal model and the construal level theory, this paper explores the moderating effect of sense of power on the effectiveness of green and nongreen appeals through a random experiment. We expect that in a powerlessness mindset, a green appeal outperforms a nongreen appeal and that in a power mindset, a nongreen appeal outperforms a green appeal with a reduced effect size. As expected, the results show that low-power consumers are more likely to be persuaded when the appeal emphasizes the green attribute rather than the nongreen attribute, whereas the converse holds (not significantly) for high-power consumers. The results also show a significantly positive effect of green appeal on WOM intention. The moderated serial multiple-mediator model indicates that attitudes toward the ad and brand serially mediate the effectiveness of advertising, which is moderated by power. Overall, those results demonstrate that the success of an appeal can be affected by psychological sense of power. The practical implications are also discussed.

Effect of Bio Cosmetic Brand Equity on Brand Loyalty and WOM Intention

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the brand equity factors for bio cosmetics and to examine how brand equity for bio cosmetics affects brand loyalty and word of mouth intention through empirical analysis.Methods: Adults in their 20s or older living in the Seoul metropolitan area who had experience in using bio cosmetics were used as the sample group. It was conducted for 2 weeks from the 2nd week to the 3rd week of March 2022, and only 232 valid data were used for the final analysis, excluding insincere responses.Results: First, it was found that brand trust and brand image, which are brand equity of bio cosmetics, had a significant effect on brand loyalty. Second, brand loyalty of bio cosmetics was found to have a significant effect on word of mouth intention. Third, brand image and brand trust, which are brand equity of bio cosmetics, were found to have a significant effect on word of mouth intention. Fourth, the partial mediating effect of brand loyalty on the relationship between brand equity (brand image, brand reliability) and word of mouth intentions of bio cosmetics was confirmed.Conclusion: This study is meaningful in that it empirically examines the relationship between brand equity and word of mouth intentions for bio cosmetics and examines the mediating effect of brand loyalty. It will have great implications for the bio-cosmetics industry preparing for the post-corona era.

Effects of brand attitude, perceived value, and social WOM on purchase intentions in luxury product marketing

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant change in customer behavior, including in the luxury product business. One crucial part of customer behavior is purchase intention. Understanding purchase intention is an essential basis for developing various marketing innovations. This study aimed to establish a model of the interaction of factors that influence purchase intention in luxury products today, especially in Indonesia. The study used a cross-sectional study approach. This study’s respondents were social media users who would buy luxury products. The research sample size was 381 users. The Lime Survey was applied to collect data and was accessed online. The questionnaire statement items used a Likert scale from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree), including Perceived Value (9 items), Social WoM (3 items), Brand Attitude (3 items), and Purchase Intention (3 items). The model validation was analyzed using bootstrapping to process the Structural Equation Model (SEM) under Smart-PLS software. The analysis results show that the three variables simultaneously (R-square = 0.419) moderately can be used to explain Purchase Intention. However, the factors that affect Purchase Intention are only Perceived Value (p-value = 0.000) and Brand Attitude (p-value = 0.000), but not Social WoM (p-value = 0.203). This study concludes that marketing innovation is critical to focus on the prestige of luxury product users through perceived value and brand attitude. Information from other users is not reliable enough to build purchase intention because luxury product users tend not to trust products from other users. Still, they believe more in the perceived prestige. Acknowledgments Faculty of Economics and Business of Universitas Negeri Sebelas Maret facilitates using LIME Survey software for this research.

Customer adoption of p2p mobile payment systems: The role of perceived risk

Peer-to-peer (P2P) payments are experiencing strong growth due to the notable interest in mobile payments and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals’ behaviours. This research analyses the success factors in customers’ adoption of Bizum, a prototypical P2P mobile payment system already used by almost half of the Spanish population. Using data from real Bizum users and structural equation modelling, it was confirmed that: (1) customers’ attitudes and perceptions of control over the mobile app increased use and WOM intentions; (2) the subjective norm (i.e., social approval) is not important for the adoption of this P2P service; (3) the direct effect of perceived risk on behavioural intentions is not significant and that perceived risk is moderated by perceived security, such that its negative effects are significant when users perceive lower levels of security; (4) age and gender do not significantly influence adoption, which suggests that the service might be used by a wide spectrum. Finally, from a practical viewpoint, this research contributes to the understanding of the success factors underlying P2P platforms, which can help managers better develop their market penetration strategies in a highly competitive sector.

From horizontal to vertical relationships: how online community identification fosters sport fans’ team identification and behavioural intentions

PurposeWith the remarkable advancements in information and communication technologies, comprehending online sport fan communities is being pushed further up in the agenda of sport teams worldwide. Based on social identity theory, the main purpose of this research paper is to test the mechanism of how horizontal relationships developed through online communities lead to vertical relationships such as team identification and behavioural intentions.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of online baseball fan community members in South Korea (N = 400) and employing structural equations modelling, the current research examined the structural relations among online community identification, team identification, behavioural intention and WOM intention while testing moderating effect of perceived authenticity.FindingsThis study finds that online community identification has a significant positive impact on team-level consumer outcomes: team identification, behavioural intention and WOM intention. Team identification is verified as a significant determinant of both behavioural intention and WOM intention. Moreover, the partial mediating role of team identification in the relationships between online community identification and behavioural intentions are corroborated.Originality/valueThe present study furnishes essential information for identifying the underlying mechanism of how fan-to-fan horizontal relationships cultivate team-to-fan vertical relationships in the context of the virtual fan community.

How firms can create delightful customer experience? Contrasting roles of future reward uncertainty

The recent emergence of customer experience management has sparked renewed interest in customer delight. Building upon social comparison theory and the uncertainty literature, this research examines a dual-path model (surprise and exclusivity) for creating delightful customer experience through bolstering self-enhancement and a contrasting moderating effect of future reward uncertainty in reward programs. We posit that a surprise (vs. exclusive) reward has a positive effect on customer delight through self-enhancement, but only when perceived uncertainty of receiving a similar reward in the future is high (vs. low). We verify our predictions with data from a laboratory experiment and a field survey, supplemented with multiple waves of customers’ actual behavioral loyalty data and confirm the impacts of customer delight on attitudinal (repeat and WOM intentions) and behavioral (both short- and long-term) loyalty. Our findings offer companies actionable managerial guidelines for building customer loyalty through creating delightful customer experience.

Is social media marketing worth it for luxury brands? The dual impact of brand page satisfaction and brand love on word-of-mouth and attitudinal loyalty intentions

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the relationships between customer perceptions of luxury companies’ brand pages (i.e. brand page value and self-expressive brands) and customers’ affective (i.e. brand page satisfaction and brand love) and behavioral (i.e. word-of-mouth [WOM] and attitudinal loyalty intentions) responses.Design/methodology/approachStructural equation modeling was used to analyze the data of 290 social media users in the USA who followed at least one luxury brand on social media.FindingsThe results demonstrated that consumers’ brand page satisfaction, influenced by the brand page’s information and entertainment value, was related to brand love and WOM intentions. Meanwhile, brand love – defined as emotional devotion to a brand – was influenced by self-expressive brands and was positively related to both WOM and attitudinal loyalty intentions.Originality/valueThis study identifies a set of customer perceptions that drive consumers’ affective and behavioral responses and that can be used to guide luxury brands to best use their brand pages on social media. By developing and testing a dual-impact model consisting of brand page satisfaction and brand love, this study provides practical directions for luxury brand managers and marketers who wish to transform their followers into both brand advocates who elevate the brand through WOM communications and loyal customers who are committed to affiliating with and supporting the brand.

The Effect of Service Quality, Price Perception and School Image on WOM Intention Mediated by Satisfaction Variables at Yadika 4 Vocational School, Tangerang

The Effect of Service Quality, Price Perception and School Image on WOM Intention Mediated by Satisfaction Variables at Yadika 4 Vocational School, Tangerang

Antecedents and Consequences of Patient Satisfaction in the Context of Private Hospitalization Services

This study aims to investigate the impacts of perceived quality and perceived value on patient satisfaction as well as the influence of patient satisfaction on hospital’s brand image, patient loyalty and word-of-mouth intention in the context of private hospitalization services. With regards to the conceptualization of perceived quality, this study also attempts to uncover the underlying dimensions of hospitalization quality in the specific context of private hospital. This study surveyed 254 patients who were admitted for at least three days at private hospital in Malaysia, revealing that patient satisfaction with hospitalization services could be explained directly or indirectly by five hospitalization quality domains namely outcome quality, rights and privacy, medical quality, service quality, and servicescape. The findings of this study also show that patient satisfaction has significant impacts on all the three consequences variables – brand image, patient loyalty and WoM intention. The two major contributions of this study include the conceptualization of hospitalization quality domains and the newly developed measurement of perceived value in the context of profit-oriented healthcare institutions.