Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is a prevalent consumer practice that has undeniable effects on the company bottom line, yet it remains an over-labeled and under-theorized concept. Thus, marketers ...could benefit from a practical, science-based roadmap to maximize its business value. Building on the consumer motivation–opportunity–ability framework, this study conceptualizes three distinct stages in the eWOM process: eWOM creation, eWOM exposure, and eWOM evaluation. For each stage, we adopt a dual lens—from the perspective of the consumer (who sends and receives eWOM) and that of the marketer (who amplifies and manages eWOM for business results)—to synthesize key research insights and propose a research agenda based on a multi-disciplinary systematic review of 1050 academic publications on eWOM published between 1996 and 2019. We conclude with a discussion of the future of eWOM research and practice.
Consumer Timework Robinson, Thomas Derek; Veresiu, Ela; Babić Rosario, Ana
The Journal of consumer research,
05/2022, Letnik:
49, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Abstract
This article unpacks time as a cultural consumption resource and introduces the concept of consumer timework. Consumer timework refers to marketplace stakeholders’ negotiation of competing ...interpretations of how the past and the future relate using a wide range of consumption objects and activities. Building on the theory of temporalization, we argue that social tensions, conflicts, and breaks drive the past and the future apart in multiple incompatible ways that individuals and societies must contend. We theorize four fundamental dynamics of consumer timework in which market stakeholders engage: integrative, disintegrative, subjugatory, and emancipatory. Integrative and disintegrative consumer timework respectively harmonize and rupture the multiple temporal orientations (past, present, and future) to create shared communities or counter-communities of time through consumption. Subjugatory and emancipatory consumer timework respectively enforce and disrupt temporal hierarchies of power through consumption. We delineate these temporal dynamics using examples from extant consumer research. We conclude by establishing a future research agenda on consumer timework.
The increasing amount of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has significantly affected the way consumers make purchase decisions. Empirical studies have established an effect of eWOM on sales but ...disagree on which online platforms, products, and eWOM metrics moderate this effect. The authors conduct a meta-analysis of 1,532 effect sizes across 96 studies covering 40 platforms and 26 product categories. On average, eWOM is positively correlated with sales (.091), but its effectiveness differs across platform, product, and metric factors. For example, the effectiveness of eWOM on social media platforms is stronger when eWOM receivers can assess their own similarity to eWOM senders, whereas these homophily details do not influence the effectiveness of eWOM for e-commerce platforms. In addition, whereas eWOM has a stronger effect on sales for tangible goods new to the market, the product life cycle does not moderate the eWOM effectiveness for services. With respect to the eWOM metrics, eWOM volume has a stronger impact on sales than eWOM valence. In addition, negative eWOM does not always jeopardize sales, but high variability does.
From parenting to health and wellness, the number of virtual support communities (VSCs) keeps growing. The interactive marketing discipline has primarily documented the positive social dynamics of ...VSCs: communities provide informational and socio-emotional support that helps members achieve their goals. Yet evidence is mounting that VSCs also exhibit judgment and pressure that ultimately hurt community relationships and engagement. We adopted a mixed-methods approach: a qualitative phase, comprised of netnography and interviews, to explore members’ experiences of a VSC and its complex social dynamics, followed by a quantitative phase to test the emerging model with cross-sectional survey data collected from members of a large number of health- and wellness-related VSCs. The two studies provide empirical evidence of many paradoxical social dynamics of VSCs and their relational and engagement consequences. We find that positive group perceptions can generate the social empathy that ensures the group's informational value is helpful to members’ goals; however, we also find that negative group perceptions create social pressure that can be helpful to relational and engagement outcomes if it increases social empathy but can also be detrimental if it turns into angst. Our findings contribute to research on VSCs, inform interactive marketing practices, and suggest further research opportunities on the social dynamics of VSCs.
Marketers are adopting increasingly sophisticated ways to engage with customers throughout their journeys. We extend prior perspectives on the customer journey by introducing the role of digital ...signals that consumers emit throughout their activities. We argue that the ability to detect and act on consumer digital signals is a source of competitive advantage for firms. Technology enables firms to collect, interpret, and act on these signals to better manage the customer journey. While some consumers’ desire for privacy can restrict the opportunities technology provides marketers, other consumers’ desire for personalization can encourage the use of technology to inform marketing efforts. We posit that this difference in consumers’ willingness to emit observable signals may hinge on the strength of their relationship with the firm. We next discuss factors that may shift consumer preferences and consequently affect the technology-enabled opportunities available to firms. We conclude with a research agenda that focuses on consumers, firms, and regulators.
Cancer Antigen 125 (CA125) is currently the best available ovarian cancer screening biomarker. However, CA125 has been limited by low sensitivity and specificity in part due to normal variation ...between individuals. Personal characteristics that influence CA125 could be used to improve its performance as screening biomarker.
We developed and validated linear and dichotomous (≥35 U/mL) circulating CA125 prediction models in postmenopausal women without ovarian cancer who participated in one of five large population-based studies: Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO, n = 26,981), European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC, n = 861), the Nurses' Health Studies (NHS/NHSII, n = 81), and the New England Case Control Study (NEC, n = 923). The prediction models were developed using stepwise regression in PLCO and validated in EPIC, NHS/NHSII and NEC.
The linear CA125 prediction model, which included age, race, body mass index (BMI), smoking status and duration, parity, hysterectomy, age at menopause, and duration of hormone therapy (HT), explained 5% of the total variance of CA125. The correlation between measured and predicted CA125 was comparable in PLCO testing dataset (r = 0.18) and external validation datasets (r = 0.14). The dichotomous CA125 prediction model included age, race, BMI, smoking status and duration, hysterectomy, time since menopause, and duration of HT with AUC of 0.64 in PLCO and 0.80 in validation dataset.
The linear prediction model explained a small portion of the total variability of CA125, suggesting the need to identify novel predictors of CA125. The dichotomous prediction model showed moderate discriminatory performance which validated well in independent dataset. Our dichotomous model could be valuable in identifying healthy women who may have elevated CA125 levels, which may contribute to reducing false positive tests using CA125 as screening biomarker.
Nostalgia--commonly conceptualized as a longing for the past--plays an important role in shaping contemporary consumer behavior and market offerings. However, purely retrospective nostalgia is ...difficult to frame in relation to marketing as a discipline, which is overall future-oriented by focusing on "unrealized potentialities" among consumers and ways to translate them into "personal needs and desires" through branding, advertising, and other marketing mechanisms. Here, Rosario et al's conceptual paper aims to establish a performative theory of nostalgic consumption, which they term nostalgiacising. They define nostalgiacizing as reflective (future-oriented) consumer nostalgia that is not innate or an emotion, but rather performatively enacted through five specific dimensions. Extant marketing and consumer research typically theorize that nostalgic consumption and consumers' memory work, while occurring in the present, are retrospective in nature, and therefore inherently about the past.
The COVID-19 crisis has forced consumers worldwide to stay at home and avoid social contact, either following nationally imposed lockdowns or because of self-imposed restrictions due to own health ...concerns. Physical distancing restrictions differ between periods, countries and regions, but the overall disruption of social life has been tremendous. In a research, Rosario et al focus on the consequences on consumers who cannot engage in the rituals surrounding childbirth, entering adulthood, weddings, and funerals. These events represent rites of passage that have important identity and relational value. They explore how consumers deal with the disruption of these collective rituals and how they utilize technology to reinvent ritual elements. They find that consumers extend and reduce rituals to mitigate the negative effects of physical distancing measures on consumer well-being.
The increasing amount of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has significantly affected the way consumers make purchase decisions. Empirical studies have established an effect of eWOM on sales but ...disagree on which online platforms, products, and eWOM metrics moderate this effect. The authors conduct a meta-analysis of 1,532 effect sizes across 96 studies covering 40 platforms and 26 product categories. On average, eWOM is positively correlated with sales (.091), but its effectiveness differs across platform, product, and metric factors. For example, the effectiveness of eWOM on social media platforms is stronger when eWOM receivers can assess their own similarity to eWOM senders, whereas these homophily details do not influence the effectiveness of eWOM for e-commerce platforms. In addition, whereas eWOM has a stronger effect on sales for tangible goods new to the market, the product life cycle does not moderate the eWOM effectiveness for services. With respect to the eWOM metrics, eWOM volume has a stronger impact on sales than eWOM valence. In addition, negative eWOM does not always jeopardize sales, but high variability does.
Cette thèse explore le concept, l’état de la littérature, et les implications commerciales de la bouche-a-oreille électronique (eWOM). Elle est basée sur un article conceptuel et deux articles ...empiriques. Dans le premier essai, j’apporte une clarification conceptuelle en mettant en évidence la multidimensionnalité du concept qui comporte cinq aspects (qui, quoi, où, quand et comment). Dans le second essai, le modèle résultant du premier essai est suivi d'une analyse historique des dimensions, terminologies équivalentes, théories et méthodes utilisées dans la recherche existante pour étudier l’eWOM.Utilisant l'analyse de réseau de citations, j’identifie des lacunes dans la littérature scientifique afin de faciliter la construction progressive de connaissances dans ce domaine. Enfin, dans le troisième essai, j'utilise une méta-analyse pour tester empiriquement les effets modérateurs de quatre des cinq dimensions de l’eWOM sur l'efficacité des ventes. J’observe que l’eWOM est corrélé positivement avec les ventes (.091), mais que son efficacité diffère grandement en fonction de la plateforme, du produit considéré et des mesures utilisées. Les implications théoriques et managériales, ainsi que des pistes de futures recherches, sont discutées.
This dissertation explores the construct, prior scientific inquiry, and market implications of electronic word of mouth (eWOM), and it is based upon one conceptual and two empirical papers. In the first essay, I provide conceptual clarity by dimensionalizing the construct according to five aspects (the Who, What, Where, When, and How of eWOM). In the second essay, the resulting organizing framework is followed up with a historical analysis of eWOM dimensions, aliases, theories, and methodologies used in prior research.Additionally, I employ citation network analysis in order to identify gaps in scholarly communication and facilitate progressive knowledge building in this area. Finally, in the third essay, I use meta-analysis to empirically test the moderating impact of four of the five eWOM dimensions on sales effectiveness. I find that eWOM is positively correlated with sales (.091), but its effectiveness differs across platform, product, and metric factors. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as avenues for further research are discussed.
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