Marketing in entrepreneurial contexts, such as small business, relies heavily on word of mouth (WOM) recommendations for customer acquisition. However we know little about how WOM processes work for small firms, or how owner-managers can influence them. This case study of an entrepreneurial owner of an independent hotel is used to illustrate problems associated with WOM, and potential strategie...

We investigate how consumer word of mouth (WOM) develops over time and in turn influences new product adoption. We develop a dynamic aggregate-level model of WOM development and new product diffusion that explicitly captures consumers’ learning of product quality from both marketing communications and WOM. It allows us to measure how effectively firms’ marketing efforts generate WOM (buzz) and ...

Organisations are continually seeking new ways to achieve competitive advantage and wordof-mouth (WOM) represents such an opportunity. However, little research has addressed differences in the content and style of positive and negative WOM. This study explores this issue through a series of six focus groups and 103 critical incidents surveys with 54 respondents. Results indicated that, when com...

Brands and word-of-mouth are cornerstones of marketing. Yet, their relationship has received relatively little attention. This study aims to enhance our understanding of brand characteristics as antecedents of WOM by executing a comprehensive empirical analysis. For this purpose, we constructed a unique data set on online and offline WOM and characteristics for over 600 of the most talked-about...

Consumers consistently resort to online Word-of-Mouth (WOM) in online shopping, thanks to the reach of the Internet and various web tools. Nevertheless, they are confronting relatively different levels of search costs for WOM information available on the Internet, depending on the distribution of WOM across websites. This study investigates the sales impacts of dispersion of WOM volume and vari...

Online word-of-mouth (WOM) has been recognized as an important information source in influencing consumer purchase decisions in literature. WOM can influence product sales through both awareness effect and persuasive effect. The explosive growth of social media which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content (including WOM) is changing the way consumers search for information a...

Word of mouth (WOM) is an important component of a complex and dynamic marketplace environment, and as such, WOM research is best undertaken as part of a holistic research program. Five principles describing the operation of WOM are discussed, supported by data, and examples drawn from recent research studies. Complexity science modeling is introduced as an effective method for simulating the r...

This paper investigates the design and application of write-once memory (WOM) codes for flash memory storage. Using ideas from Merkx [1], we present a construction of WOM codes based on finite Euclidean geometries over F2. This construction yields WOM codes with new parameters and provides insight into the criterion that incidence structures should satisfy to give rise to good codes. We also an...

Companies are encouraging and incentivizing contributors of online word-of-mouth (WOM) through gamification elements such as badges, mayorships, points, and such. We study how gamification elements, which capture and signal contributors’ accumulated expertise, affect consumers’ perception of contributors’ knowledge, and therefore the perceived effectiveness of their contributed WOM. We focus on...

Purpose: This paper reports on research on the antecedents of Word of Mouth (WOM) behavior among Iranian women in the context of grocery shopping. Design/methodology/approach: Using a survey instrument, we empirically test the conceptual model of De Matos and Rossi (2008). Findings: We find support for the model and find satisfaction, commitment, loyalty, trust, perceived value and quality to b...