Work

Why recommend a brand face‐to‐face but not on Facebook? How word‐of‐mouth on online social sites differs from traditional word‐of‐mouth

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: We examine the conceptual difference between consumer electronic word‐of‐mouth on online social sites (sWOM) such as Facebook and traditional face‐to‐face word‐of‐mouth (WOM). We find that consumers are less willing to engage in sWOM than WOM. Such a difference in willingness to offer word‐of‐mouth can be explained by social risk associated with different communication modes. We show that the difference between people's desire to engage in sWOM and WOM is mediated by perceived social risk and amplified when social risk is made salient. Furthermore, we show that consumers' need to self‐enhance mitigates the difference in willingness to offer sWOM versus WOM.

Source: Journal of Consumer Psychology

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcps.2014.05.004

Authors: Andreas B. Eisingerich, HaeEun Helen Chun, Yeyi Liu, He (Michael) Jia, Simon J. Bell

Institutions: Imperial College London, Cornell University, University of Leeds, University of Southern California, The University of Melbourne

Language: English

Topic: Digital Marketing and Social Media

Subfield: Marketing

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Award: Consumer Data Research Support Service (CDRSS)