Antecedents of e-loyalty and electronic word-of-mouth

O objetivo principal da dissertação foi o de examinar a relação entre lealdade (e-loyalty) e o boca-a-boca (eWOM) no contexto do varejo eletrônico. Como objetivo secundário, foi feito uma verificação da significância das variáveis preditoras de e-loyalty. Essa pesquisa foi focada em um tipo de produto/serviço: compra de livros através da internet. Duzentos e quarenta e dois questionários online foram respondidos por um público representativo da geração Y (millennials), e rresidentes em diferentes localidades no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos. A análise de dados foi efetuada pela aplicação do método PLS-SEM sobre um modelo de pesquisa cuidadosamente formulado com base em resultados empíricos prévios. Enquanto que a relação entre e-loyalty e eWOM foi classificada como fraca, um ambiente de boca-a-boca online de alta qualidade representou uma variável preditora significativa para o sentimento de e-loyalty. Todas as variáveis preditoras foram classificadas como significativas nesse estudo, sendo que comprometimento tem o efeito mais forte sobre a variável e-loyalty.

"Virtual word of mouth":a case for the adaptation of existing word of mouth theory to virtual community environments

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Simulating customer experience and word-of-mouth in retail: a case study

Agents offer a new and exciting way of understanding the world of work. In this paper we describe the development of agent-based simulation models, designed to help to understand the relationship between people management practices and retail performance. We report on the current development of our simulation models which includes new features concerning the evolution of customers over time. To test the features we have conducted a series of experiments dealing with customer pool sizes, standard and noise reduction modes, and the spread of customers’ word of mouth. To validate and evaluate our model, we introduce new performance measure specific to retail operations. We show that by varying different parameters in our model we can simulate a range of customer experiences leading to significant differences in performance measures. Ultimately, we are interested in better understanding the impact of changes in staff behavior due to changes in store management practices. Our multi-disciplinary research team draws upon expertise from work psychologists and computer scientists. Despite the fact we are working within a relatively novel and complex domain, it is clear that intelligent agents offer potential for fostering sustainable organizational capabilities in the future.

La influencia del word of mouth electrónico sobre las ventas de un refresco

La comunicación boca-oreja/boca-boca o Word of Mouth, término adquirido del idioma anglosajón, es considerada una de las formas de comunicación con mayor influencia en el comportamiento de compra de los consumidores, jugando un importante rol en la modificación de las actitudes y patrones de consumo (Brown & Reingen, 1987). En la actualidad, los avances en la tecnología de la comunicación, han permitido que la información compartida entre consumidores supere las barreras geográficas propagándose de forma inmediata. Internet ofrece numerosas plataformas y puntos de reunión donde los consumidores pueden compartir sus visiones, preferencias o experiencia con los productos (Trusov, Bucklin, & Pauwels, 2009) El WOM que se genera en las redes sociales en Internet (eWOM) puede ser observado, medido y analizado. Debido a que estas conversaciones que se dan en plataformas de opinión quedan semi permanentemente archivadas, las marcas pueden explotar la información, extrayendo conocimiento acerca del consumidor que pueda facilitar la gestión de sus estrategias de marketing (Kozinets, Valck, Wojnicki, & Wilner, 2010). Esto ofrece grandes oportunidades para la investigación de la comunicación y el marketing permitiendo medir la repercusión de la comunicación interpersonal en el negocio de las compañías. La investigación que se plantea en esta Tesis Doctoral pretende conocer y analizar el fenómeno del WOM como factor influenciador en el comportamiento de compra de los consumidores. El objetivo principal es entender el comportamiento del WOM electrónico como variable influyente en las ventas de un producto y cuantificar su eficacia. Es decir, identificar en qué medida la información acerca de un producto compartida por los usuarios en entornos online, puede tener un efecto significativo en su resultado de ventas...

Conceptualising word-of-mouth: In an era of social media.

Word-of-mouth is a marketing tool in which the consumer has the power to influence others brand choice. This research examined what is word-of-mouth in a social media context, specifically Facebook, allowing the marketer to understand how and what consumers talk about in order to engage them in conversations about their brand and product choice.

Frequent (flier) frustration and the dark side of word‐of‐web: exploring online dysfunctional behavior in online feedback forums

Purpose Following the perspective of frustration theory customer frustration incidents lead to frustration behavior such as protest (negative word‐of‐mouth). On the internet customers can express their emotions verbally and non‐verbally in numerous web‐based review platforms. The purpose of this study is to investigate online dysfunctional customer behavior, in particular negative “word‐of‐web” (WOW) in online feedback forums, among customers who participate in frequent‐flier programs in the airline industry. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a variation of the critical incident technique (CIT) referred to as the critical internet feedback technique (CIFT). Qualitative data of customer reviews of 13 different frequent‐flier programs posted on the internet were collected and analyzed with regard to frustration incidents, verbal and non‐verbal emotional effects and types of dysfunctional word‐of‐web customer behavior. The sample includes 141 negative customer reviews based on non‐recommendations and low program ratings. Findings Problems with loyalty programs evoke negative emotions that are expressed in a spectrum of verbal and non‐verbal negative electronic word‐of‐mouth. Online dysfunctional behavior can vary widely from low ratings and non‐recommendations to voicing switching intentions to even stronger forms such as manipulation of others and revenge intentions. Research limitations/implications Results have to be viewed carefully due to methodological challenges with regard to the measurement of emotions, in particular the accuracy of self‐report techniques and the quality of online data. Generalization of the results is limited because the study utilizes data from only one industry. Further research is needed with regard to the exact differentiation of frustration from related constructs. In addition, large‐scale quantitative studies are necessary to specify and test the relationships between frustration incidents and subsequent dysfunctional customer behavior expressed in negative word‐of‐web. Practical implications The study yields important implications for the monitoring of the perceived quality of loyalty programs. Management can obtain valuable information about program‐related and/or relationship‐related frustration incidents that lead to online dysfunctional customer behavior. A proactive response strategy should be developed to deal with severe cases, such as sabotage plans. Originality/value This study contributes to knowledge regarding the limited research of online dysfunctional customer behavior as well as frustration incidents of loyalty programs. Also, the article presents a theoretical “customer frustration‐defection” framework that describes different levels of online dysfunctional behavior in relation to the level of frustration sensation that customers have experienced. The framework extends the existing perspective of the “customer satisfaction‐loyalty” framework developed by Heskett et al.

Student satisfaction : impact of age and gender on satisfaction among international postgraduate students from Asia

Customer satisfaction is a core-marketing concept. It is considered as a major outcome of marketing activity and serves to link processes, culminating in purchase and consumption with post-purchase phenomena such as attitudinal change, customer retention, repeat purchase, brand loyalty, positive word-of-mouth communication. Student satisfaction is a strategic factor in developing a competitive advantage in the highly attractive and globally competitive international education market. Market forecasts indicate a seven-fold increase in the number of students seeking higher education overseas by 2025 and given the competitiveness of the industry, universities will need to focus on variables influencing student satisfaction in order to address areas where improvements in service quality are required.

A sample of 371 postgraduate students from China, India, Indonesia and Thailand, is investigated. The study highlights the development of a scale to measure international postgraduate student satisfaction. The scale demonstrates the importance of four predominant factors influencing university choices - Education Resources; Communication and Guidance; Customer Value and Study Outcomes; and Image, Prestige and Recognition. Using logistic regression and chi square testing, this paper investigates the impact of age and gender on satisfaction among international postgraduate students from four Asian countries studying in universities in Victoria, Australia, on theses factors. The results indicate that age has a positive relationship with satisfaction among postgraduate students while the influence of gender has no effect on influencing satisfaction among postgraduate students from Asia.

Conceptualizing and measuring brand relationship quality

Many consumer markets are now characterized by a high degree of market saturation and an increasing level of competition, in particular from retailer brands. Furthermore, consumers face an ever increasing level of product variety. For instance, about 30,000 new products in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market have been launched in Germany in a single year representing about 600 products per week. The increasing number of consumer brands thus has led to a form of “brand inflation” in FMCG markets. In addition, the role of consumers in the marketplace has changed as well. Consumers are more price sensitive, they have higher expectations with regard to product quality and customer service, and they rely rather on word-of-mouth communication than on traditional advertising. In addition, it appears that consumers have become more critical with regard to the perception of brands. High levels of price competition have led to a decreasing level of brand awareness and increased switching intentions of brands. As a consequence, the role of customer loyalty has become an increasingly important topic for businesses in consumer markets.

Fatores motivacionais da comunicação boca-a-boca eletrônica positiva entre consumidores no Facebook

O estudo objetivou investigar as motivações do comportamento de comunicação boca a boca positiva sobre produtos e marcas no site de redes sociais Facebook. Para tanto, foram desenvolvidas hipóteses de pesquisa e um modelo teórico para se entender as motivações da comunicação boca a boca positiva neste contexto. Para testar a validade do modelo proposto, um estudo de campo foi conduzido com 468 usuários do Facebook no Brasil. Os dados foram analisados por meio de modelagem de equações estruturais. Os resultados sugerem como motivos a preocupação com outros consumidores e o desejo de interação social, seguidos dos desejos de extravasar emoções positivas e de ajudar a empresa. O teste empírico deu suporte ao papel moderador da força dos laços sociais na relação entre preocupação com outros consumidores e o boca a boca positivo. Ao analisar variações no comportamento de boca a boca positivo em função do perfil demográfico, o estudo sugere que as mulheres são mais engajadas do que os homens e que publicam e compartilham, em média, uma maior variedade de categorias de produtos e marcas. Entretanto, a pesquisa sugere uma associação significativa entre a categoria de produto divulgada e sexo do consumidor. Desta forma, apesar das mulheres divulgarem, em média, uma maior variedade de produtos, os resultados sugerem que homens são mais engajados em algumas categorias específicas, como por exemplo, esporte, carros e motos. Com base nos resultados, são discutidas implicações teóricas e práticas, bem como sugestões para pesquisas futuras.

Developing within-company information and communication technologies (ICT) innovation diffusion networks : a study of three Australian major contractors

The innovation diffusion and knowledge management literature strongly supports the importance of communities of practice (COP) for enabling knowledge about how to use and adopt innovation initiatives. One of the most powerful tools for innovation diffusion is word-of-mouth wisdom from committed individuals who mentor and support each other. Close proximity for face-to-face interaction is highly effective, however, many organisations are geographically dispersed with projects being virtual linked sub-organisations using ICT to communicate. ICT has also introduced a useful facilitating technology for developing knowledge networks. This paper presents findings from a research program concentrating on ICT innovation diffusion in the Australian construction industry. One way in which ICT diffusion is taking place was found to be through within-company communities of practice. We undertook in-depth unstructured interviews with three of the major 10 to 15 contractors in Australia to discuss their ICT diffusion strategies. We discovered that in all three cases,within company networked communities of practice was a central strategy. Further, effective diffusion of ICT groupware tools can be critical in developing COP where they are geographically dispersed.

Exploring the integration of social media within integrated marketing communication frameworks: perspectives of services marketers

Purpose – At present no frameworks exist for services marketers to incorporate social media (SM) within marketing communications planning. The majority of integrated marketing communications (IMC) frameworks were developed prior to the development of the widespread use of digital and SM for information seeking, sales and service. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this issue for services marketers specifically as they differ from FMCG, industrial and durable marketers in terms of marketing messages, branding, media and channels. Furthermore, as they are less reliant on outsourced sale channels they have more potential than other industries to integrate social and digital media to build awareness, brands and sales.

Design/methodology/approach – Depth interviews were conducted with eight senior services marketing executives to identify the impact of SM on marketing communications planning, implementation and measurement.

Findings – The findings revealed that the unique characteristics of SM (such as interactivity and individualisation, integration of communication and distribution channels, immediacy and information collection) impact traditional marketing communications frameworks. These impacts manifested in 12 modifications specific to services and SM to traditional generic IMC frameworks encompassed by the themes of reach, service channel, word-of-mouth advocacy, consumer generated messages, listening and behavioural measurement.

Practical implications – The rapidly evolving nature of SM means senior services marketers need to educate organisational stakeholders regarding implementation issues, which may be a barrier to effective integration of SM within marketing communications.

Originality/value – With digital marketing communications budgets reaching 30 per cent within some organisations, it is timely to put forward a marketing communication decision-making framework that first incorporates SM and second is suitable for services marketers.

The impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and trust

A growing reliance on the Internet as an information source when making choices about tourism products raises the need for more research into electronic word of mouth. Within a hotel context, this study explores the role of four key factors that influence perceptions of trust and consumer choice. An experimental design is used to investigate four independent variables: the target of the review (core or interpersonal); overall valence of a set of reviews (positive or negative); framing of reviews (what comes first: negative or positive information); and whether or not a consumer generated numerical rating is provided together with the written text. Consumers seem to be more influenced by early negative information, especially when the overall set of reviews is negative. However, positively framed information together with numerical rating details increases both booking intentions and consumer trust. The results suggest that consumers tend to rely on easy-to-process information, when evaluating a hotel based upon reviews. Higher levels of trust are also evident when a positively framed set of reviews focused on interpersonal service.

An investigation of problem-solving support and relaxation motivations on e-WOM

As a consequence of greater computer-mediated consumer-to-consumer communication within the firm's marketing communications, there has been a growing need to understand these digital interactions more explicitly. That is, we still know little about the exact extrinsic and intrinsic motivations that drive electronic word-of-mouth. The purpose of the paper is to better understand why members within community-based websites develop a need to exchange and/or develop a social bond within the community. Questionnaire data were gathered from 147 members of an online beauty forum in Australia. The findings highlight that those members seeking problem-solving support in combination with elements of relaxation will be more inclined to exchange with other community members and develop a social bond within that community. Marketing managers can capitalise these findings by strengthening problem-solving support systems and creating environments where community members can also relax and unwind to increase the exchange between members and also increase the social bonds within the community.