Word-of-mouth Valence Research Articles

Investor’s Intrinsic Motives and the Valence of Word-of-Mouth in Sequential Decision-Making: Modeling of Triple Serial Mediation

Word-of-Mouth (WoM) is a socially embedded process, and investors engage in social considerations to achieve self-motives. Investors attempt to share negative WoM (NWoM) to emotionally connect (self-affirm) to strengthen existing social ties following prior losses. In contrast, investors attempt to share positive WoM (PWoM) to self-enhance to attract others into developing new social ties. Thereby, this study aims to predict the impact of prior losses or gains on investors’ later decisions by engaging in the valence of WoM to achieve different underlying self-motives and social-motives. This study used experimental data and employed PROCESS tool model 6 to check the validity of the proposed triple serial mediation model. Findings support the viability of the triple mediation model that investors seek to achieve different underlying self-motives and social-motives manifested in PWoM or NWoM, following prior gains or losses. Investors seek to self-affirm by strengthening components of social-motives through engaging in NWoM, following prior losses. While investors seek to self-enhance to develop components of social-motives through sharing PWoM, following prior gains. Findings provide significant implications for researchers, managers, financial advisors, and analysts. Researchers, managers, and analysts can incorporate investors’ intrinsic factors in traditional economic models to better predict investors’ economic behavior. Financial advisors need to understand self-motives and social-motives that change clients’ risk attitude and frame investment advice to achieve particular clients’ self-motives and social-motives.

Impact of price and regional factors on the word-of-mouth in the food delivery sector

ABSTRACT This paper investigates price and regional effects on the word-of-mouth (WOM) valence and sales in the food delivery sector. Using 56,939 food delivery merchants’ data from a food delivery giant in China, our results show that the impact of price on WOM valence is significantly positive, while the regional effect is negative. And the price effect varies according to consumers’ preferences. Price threshold is determined as 53 Yuan and 100 Yuan to examine the impact on valence and sales, respectively. This suggests that in the food delivery sector, price and regional factors have different effects on merchants’ WOM valence and sales.

The interplay of word-of-mouth and customer value on B2B sales performance in a digital platform: an expectancy value theory perspective

PurposeBuilding on the expectancy value theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of word-of-mouth (WOM) and customer value (i.e. functional value and ease-of-doing-business value) on B2B business performance in the B2B sales process.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop a framework to understand how B2B WOM and customer value influence supplier sales performance. This model was tested using structural equation modeling with a sample of 220 suppliers on Alibaba.com.FindingsThe empirical findings demonstrate that B2B WOM valence and volume have positive influences on the number of quotations and the number of transactions, respectively. Additionally, B2B WOM volume mediates the relationship between operational performance and the number of transactions. Response rate mediates the relationships between response time and both the number of quotations and the number of transactions, respectively.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the industrial marketing of B2B sales on the digital platform by investigating two influencers on sales performance: WOM and customer value.

Positive and negative word of mouth (WOM) are not necessarily opposites: A reappraisal using the dual factor theory

Prior research has not systematically investigated the enablers and inhibitors in conjunction to measure consumer behavior toward mobile wallets (m-wallets), focusing either on the adoption or the resistance perspective only. Similarly, antecedents and consequences of the dichotomous nature of word of mouth for m-wallets have also remained obscure so far. The present research proposes to address this void in the accumulated learnings by examining both enablers and inhibitors of mobile wallets (m-wallets) as antecedents of valence of word of mouth (positive and negative; PWOM and NWOM, respectively). Grounded in Dual Factor Theory, this study aims to explore consumers’ continued use intentions resulting from the WOM valence. The findings reveal that enablers (perceived information quality, perceived ability, and perceived benefit) drive PWOM, while the inhibitors (perceived cost, perceived risk, and perceived uncertainty) spur NWOM. Furthermore, the results show that only PWOM drives the continuance intentions of m-wallet users. Therefore, the study proves that the antecedents of PWOM are different from those of NWOM.

Word-of-mouth, servicescapes and the impact on brand effects

This paper empirically tests a framework integrating servicescape satisfaction, word-of-mouth (WOM), brand image, brand love, engagement, and consumer loyalty intentions. Survey data within a noncommercial context were electronically collected from three large universities in the United States. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The findings reveal that positive WOM valence enhances servicescape satisfaction and WOM credibility positively moderates this relationship. Servicescape satisfaction directly affects brand image and brand love, as well as indirectly through the mediating mechanism of servicescape engagement. Brand image was also found to directly affect brand love. In turn, brand image and brand love yield a greater likelihood of consumer loyalty intentions including recommendation and monetary donations. Managers on a quest to achieve brand love need to place an increased focus on managing servicescape experiences. Managers must not become complacent when customer have been retained over the years. They must still monitor and respond to WOM communications and continue to find new ways to engage customers to enhance brand image and brand love. Finally, managers must recognize that servicescapes are the “packaging” that prepares consumers for the level of quality and value of the service.

The 4th V? The effect of word of mouth volatility on product performance

• WOM volatility may directly affect product performance, but the direction is an empirical question. • WOM volatility interacts with all three main characteristics of WOM: volume, valence, and variance. • Under volatile WOM volume, the positive WOM effects due to volume and valence and the negative WOM effects due to variance will be attenuated. This study investigates how word-of-mouth (WOM) volatility, a new WOM variable that measures the fluctuation over time in the WOM volume, affects product performance. Two conflicting forces of WOM volatility (i.e., positive effects on awareness and negative effects on preference and credibility) leave as an empirical question. We also investigate the moderating effects of WOM volatility on the relationship between existing WOM variables (i.e., volume, valence, and variance) and product performance. Cross-sectional regression analysis was conducted, using online WOM data in Korea movie industry. The results show that WOM volatility negatively affects the product performance only when consumers rely more on WOM information. Highly volatile WOMs weaken the positive effects of WOM volume and valence and the negative effects of WOM variance. This study suggested WOM volatility as a new characteristic of WOM. This study examined WOM volatility interacts with existing WOM variables. Managerial and academic implications are discussed.

The impact of place-of-origin on price premium for agricultural products: empirical evidence from Taobao.com

The impact of place-of-origin on price premium for agricultural products in the online marketplace has received limited attention in the existing literature. This study draws from the elaboration likelihood model and investigates whether place-of-origin affects price premium. Moreover, this study explores how other cues [seller’s reputation, positive word-of-mouth (WOM) volume, and WOM valence] moderate the relationship between place-of-origin and price premium for agricultural products in the online marketplace. The result of the empirical study reveals that place-of-origin indeed has a significant and positive impact on price premium. Furthermore, the study finds a negative interactive effect between place-of-origin and other cues (seller’s reputation, positive WOM volume, and WOM valence) on the price premium for agricultural products in an e-commerce setting. The results highlight the importance of place-of-origin in the competitive online market and have implications both for academic research and for online retailing practice.

The “Buzz” Behind the Buzz Matters: Energetic and Tense Arousal as Separate Motivations for Word of Mouth

This research provides a novel theoretical framework to explain the missing mechanism behind one of the strongest predictors for engaging in word of mouth (WOM): the consumer's psychological arousal (i.e., greater arousal leads to greater WOM; e.g., Berger, 2011). Across six studies (N = 1,309), we provide evidence for a motivational theory of the arousal–WOM relationship, highlighting the importance of the WOM's valence (positive vs. negative) as well as the consumer's salient type of arousal (energetic vs. tense; Thayer, 1989). In doing so, we demonstrate that consumers use WOM as an arousal management strategy: They are motivated to engage in positive WOM to maintain or increase their energetic arousal and to engage in negative WOM to reduce or eliminate their tense arousal. These findings also demonstrate the importance of the WOM recipient's response for the WOM source to achieve his/her desired arousal state. Thus, this work both expands our understanding of the arousal–WOM relationship and provides a framework for interpreting past work and conducting future investigations into when and how consumers will engage in WOM.

Word-of-Mouth System Implementation and Customer Conversion: A Randomized Field Experiment

Online retailers often face the decision on whether they should implement a word-of-mouth (WOM) system on their websites. Some retailers opt not to have an in-site WOM system (e.g., Tiffany.com and Tjmaxx.com ), whereas others implement and manage an internal WOM system (e.g., Amazon.com and Macys.com ). According to a new study in Information Systems Research, authors Ni Huang (Arizona State University), Tianshu Sun (University of Southern California), Peiyu Chen (Arizona State University), and Joseph M. Golden ( Collage.com ) conducted a randomized field experiment to examine how implementing an in-site WOM system from ground zero influences customer conversion in an online retailing website. Their results demonstrate that implementing an in-site WOM system can be a double-edged sword to the online retailing website. Specifically, the impact of a WOM system implementation on customer conversion is moderated by WOM volume, such that its effect is positive above a threshold of volume and negative below the threshold. Additionally, the researchers find that WOM valence reinforces the impact of a WOM system on customer conversion. These results offer important implications for the hundreds-of-billion-dollar online retailing industry on the implementation and management of online WOM systems.

Marketing communication in the digital age: online ads, online WOM and mobile game adoptions

PurposeThis study aims to explore the interdependent impacts of online word-of-mouth (WOM) and online ads on digital product adoptions, as well as their dynamic changes throughout the product life cycle.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted an empirical approach by using a unique data set of five mobile games launched between 2012 and 2014 provided by Renren Games Ltd. in China.FindingsThe results indicated that advertising generally has a positive impact on WOM. During the product life cycle, the influence on volume and variance gradually decreases, whereas the impact on valence increases over time. WOM (including WOM volume and WOM valence) and advertising both have positive impacts on game adoptions. They complement each other to shape adoptions throughout the product life cycle: advertising is more effective in encouraging adoptions in the early and later stages of the demand evolution process, whereas WOM has a greater impact on adoptions in the mid-stage.Practical implicationsThis study provided detailed managerial recommendations on how to effectively integrate different types of marketing communication and optimize the investment strategy of online ads and online WOM in different stages of the product life cycle.Originality/valueFirst, the study enriched the theory of digital marketing communication by studying the relationship between mass media (online ads), interpersonal media (online WOM) and product adoptions in the network context. Second, it provided an empirical basis for the inference of the dynamic development of media effect in the new product diffusion theory. Third, the results will be helpful to end the debate in current theoretical literature on whether there is a complementary or alternative relationship between the two effects. Last but not least, it enriched research on the antecedents and dynamic effects of online WOM.

Influence of WOM and content type on online engagement in consumption communities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of word-of-mouth (WOM) types, WOM valence, content types and discussion topics of user posts on online engagement in two channels of a consumption community. The posts are composed by users on the discussion forum and shared to the Facebook channel of the consumption community by the administrators.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were obtained from a popular car consumption community in Vietnam. A total of 505 user posts on the discussion forum were manually coded and assigned to WOM types, valence and content characteristics. The online engagement metrics were measured by the number of views and replies on the discussion forum, and the number of likes, comments and shares on Facebook.FindingsThe results indicate that the WOM types and valence have a significant impact on online engagement and the popularity of posts on Facebook is associated with the number of views on a discussion forum. The content type and discussion topic partially influence some factors of the online engagement metrics.Practical implicationsThe findings are helpful for consumption community administrators to understand and manage their users’ engagement. Moreover, it indirectly supports brands and companies, since the consumption communities also include sub-communities of particular brands and marketers cooperate with consumption communities for their social media marketing strategies.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the literature of online engagement in two aspects. First, this study examines the impact of WOM types and valence. Second, this is the first study investigating the effects of posts by users within an information flow from a discussion forum to Facebook.

The impact of regulatory focus and word of mouth valence on search and experience attribute evaluation

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the direct and interactive effects of regulatory focus (promotion versus prevention), attribute type (search versus experience) and word of mouth valence (positive versus negative) on consumption decision for a service and a product.Design/methodology/approachThree empirical studies (two laboratories and a field experiment) using “university” and “mobile phone” as the research setting were used to test the key hypotheses.FindingsPromotion (prevention)-focused subjects preferred experience (search) attributes over their counterparts while making consumption decision. This preference was further reinforced for both promotion and prevention-focused people under positive word of mouth. Under negative word of mouth, in comparison to their counterparts, promotion-focused people still retained their preference for experience attributes, whereas prevention-focused subjects reversed their preference and maintained status quo.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research may validate and extend authors’ findings by looking into the underlying process or studying additional word of mouth variables that may moderate the current findings.Practical implicationsThe findings will help managers devise a range of marketing strategies in the areas of advertising and product positioning, especially for products/services that are showcased in terms of experience and search attributes.Originality/valueThe current research is novel as no prior research has proposed and tested the two-way interaction between regulatory focus and search/experience attributes, or its further moderation by word of mouth valence.

The Impact of Word of Mouth via Twitter On Moviegoers' Decisions and Film Revenues

<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> This study drew on the existing decision process theory to empirically examine the effect of word of mouth (WOM) generated by social media. The prospect theory was adopted to illustrate how both the volume and valence of WOM influence a person9s decision to watch a movie through the movie quality evaluation stage. Using U.S. movie industry data and online post data from Twitter, the authors found that the effect of online WOM is well explained by the prospect theory. Particularly, findings suggest that intensively advertising a movie before its release to attract moviegoers could backfire by raising the moviegoers9 expectations.

The role of entropy of review text sentiments on online WOM and movie box office sales

Examine the role of neutral review sentiments in WOM effects.By using classification of review text, we create an entropy variable of review text sentiment.Find that entropy of review text sentiment positively moderates the relationship between online WOM and product sales. Sentiments from online word-of-mouth (WOM) are often controversial, since individuals have different preferences toward the same products. Past studies have focused on online WOM effects by measuring WOM volume and valence. However, few studies have investigated how the entropy of the review text sentiment influences the relationship between online WOM and product sales. As WOM valence and volume are usually provided at an aggregated level, consumers often do not have enough information to make a decision. In this case, reading online review text has become an important process for consumers to make purchasing decisions. However, when consumers encounter too many positive review texts, they may doubt the credibility of online WOM itself. Thus, we analyzed the entropy of the review text sentiments by conducting text-mining techniques. We classified review text sentiment into positive, negative, and neutral categories and created an entropy variable. A high level of entropy in review texts indicates that sentiment from review texts are equally distributed, but not biased, towards positive or negative sentiment. We estimated our research model with the entropy variable in a panel dataset for 204 movies over a half-year period. The results suggest that the entropy level in the review texts has a positive moderating impact on the relationship between WOM (e.g., valence and volume) and movie box office sales. The findings imply that deleting negative reviews to enhance product sales may not help online retailers or related parties.

Investigating how Word-of-Mouth Conversations about Brands Influence Purchase and Retransmission Intentions

This study investigates how the valence, channel, and social tie strength of a word-of-mouth (WOM) conversation about a brand relate to the purchase intentions and WOM retransmission intentions of WOM recipients. The analysis uses a nationally representative sample of 186,775 individual conversations about 804 different brands. The authors find insights linking WOM valence, WOM channel, and social tie strength that could not be revealed if the WOM conversations were analyzed in an aggregated form. The findings contribute to research that investigates differences between offline WOM and online WOM. The authors find that the relationship of WOM valence with purchase intentions is exacerbated when the conversation occurs offline, whereas offline conversations tend to be more strongly associated with WOM retransmission intentions regardless of the conversation's valence. The results also provide insights into how interpersonal characteristics influence WOM outcomes. Specifically, the authors find that the strength of the social tie relationship tends to influence a WOM receiver's intentions to purchase a brand; however, social tie strength has a much weaker association with a consumer's WOM retransmission intentions.

The effect of the valence of word-of-mouth on consumers’ attitudes toward co-brands: The moderating roles of brand characteristics

Although Lovett et al. (2013) demonstrated that brand characteristics simulate word-of-mouth (WOM) as WOM antecedents, there has been relatively little attention to understanding a moderating role of brand characteristics between WOM and consumers’ attitudes toward brands. Understanding the role of brand characteristics in WOM is critical for marketers and marketing scholars to maximize the impact of WOM in branding activities. The current study aims to fill this gap by examining the role of brand characteristics as a moderator between the WOM valence and consumers’ attitudes toward co-brands. The results revealed that with co-brand characteristics highly related to the social and emotional drivers, the favorable effect of positive WOM on consumers’ attitudes was significantly higher than that with co-brand characteristics less related to the social and emotional drivers. On the other hand, with co-brand characteristics less related to the social and emotional drivers, the negative effect of negative WOM on consumer’s attitude was significantly higher than that with co-brand characteristics highly related to the social and emotional drivers. The results indicate that marketers should make efforts to impress consumers by developing and emphasizing new co-brand characteristics associated with the social and emotional drivers.

Using Social Media Monitoring Data to Forecast Online Word-of-Mouth Valence: A Network Autoregressive Approach

Managers increasingly use social media for marketing research, particularly to monitor what consumers think about brands. Although social media monitoring can provide rich insights into consumer attitudes, marketers typically use it in a backward-looking manner — that is, to measure past online word-of-mouth (WOM) valence (i.e., sentiment). This article proposes a novel method for using social media monitoring in a forward-looking manner to forecast brands’ future online WOM valence. The approach takes into account information on related brands based on the premise that consumers’ attitudes toward one brand are likely relative to — and therefore associated with — attitudes toward other brands. The method infers associative relations between brands from social media monitoring data by observing which brands are mentioned at the same time in the same social media sources, thus enabling construction of time-varying brand “networks” for representing interdependencies between brands. The authors test six possible methods for capturing brand interdependencies (Jaccard, Dice, anti-Dice, correlation, normalized correlation, and Euclidean distance) and examine the relative performance of each alternative method with a view to identifying the best approach.

The Paradoxes of Word of Mouth in Electronic Commerce

Challenging conventional wisdom, we unravel three paradoxes of word of mouth (WOM) in e-commerce. Specifically, the WOM valence paradox contends that higher WOM valence of a product results in a larger subsequent decrease in the WOM valence of the product, the WOM volume paradox propounds that higher WOM volume of a product results in a smaller subsequent increase in the WOM volume of the product, and the WOM spillover paradox proposes that an improvement in the WOM of a product also improves the WOM of connected products in a product network. These paradoxes caution online retailers that superior WOM may at times backfire and not boost further sales. Drawing theoretical support from expectation-confirmation theory and network theory, we collect data from China’s largest business-to-consumer platform, Tmall.com, and use linear panel data models to examine WOM evolution in a product network, controlling for relevant factors at the individual product, product network, and time unit levels. Importantly, we base our identification strategies on the use of instrumental variables and the difference-in-differences estimation approach. Numerous statistical checks confirm the robustness and consistency of our findings. We contribute to a much richer theoretical understanding of WOM, by extending the applicability of expectation-confirmation theory and network theory to novel predictions and contexts, adding a dynamic perspective, unveiling three important WOM paradoxes, and offering practical insights.

The role of social media and brand equity during a product recall crisis: A shareholder value perspective

Utilizing an event study methodology of 185 product recall announcements, this study examines to what extent social media hurts a company’s shareholder value in the event of a product recall. In addition, we explore whether a company’s brand equity and engagement in online chatter potentially mitigate the negative effects of social media surrounding the recall. We operationalize four metrics of online word-of-mouth (WOM) that may moderate negative product recall effects: volume, valence, growth rate, and breadth. The findings suggest that product recalls result in significantly negative abnormal returns for firms. Furthermore, the volume, valence and growth rate of online WOM exacerbate this negative effect of a product recall on firm value. Most importantly, we find negative effects of the volume and the valence of online WOM on firm value are lower for brands with strong brand equity. Surprisingly, we find no effect of company involvement in mitigating the potential negative effects of social media during a product recall. Our findings highlight the threats of product recalls and demonstrate that building brand equity may help protect a company in the social media environment.

The Antecedents of Online Word-Of-Mouth

The Antecedents of Online Word-Of-Mouth Jie Feng, Jing Yang Abstract This study makes use of online word of mouth (WOM) data for automobiles to examine the antecedents of online WOM, the multiple factors that either stimulate positive or create negative online WOM, the dynamic pattern of online WOM activities, and the unique, untested influence of TPO endorsements or reviews’ on both volume and valence of online WOM. The study contributes to the growing online WOM literature, automobile industry and potentially buzzes marketing management for durable goods, such as computers, digital camera or other consumer electronics. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jmm.v3n1a1