scholarly journals Be a part of it: promoting WOM, eWOM, and content creation through customer identification

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Romero ◽  
Daniel Ruiz-Equihua
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Least Squares Method ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Content Creation ◽  
Online Word Of Mouth ◽  
Community Identification ◽  
Customer Identification ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Partial Least Squares Method ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Customer identification leads to behaviors that are beneficial for firms. This paper aims to analyze the effect of firm identification and community identification on content creation, which indirectly may affect offline word of mouth and online word of mouth. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes a research model that is tested using data from 491 users of online travel agencies. To do so, partial least squares method is used. Findings The results show a positive relationship between firm identification and community identification. Moreover, both variables exert a positive effect on content creation. Furthermore, content creation positively influences offline and online word of mouth. This influence is moderated by self-enhancement in the case of online word of mouth. Practical implications Firm managers must enhance customer identification, as it can turn in behaviors that are beneficial for the company. Moreover, firms that own online communities must apply segmentation strategies based on identification and self-enhancement to encourage positive behaviors from customers. Originality/value This research tests the relationship between firm identification and community identification. Additionally, this study jointly analyzes the impact of these variables on several beneficial behaviors.

The impact of corruption on the export intensity of SMEs in Tunisia: moderating effects of political instability and regulatory obstacles

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moujib Bahri ◽  
Ouafa Sakka ◽  
Rahim Kallal
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Least Squares Method ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Joint Effect ◽  
Export Intensity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
World Bank Enterprise Survey ◽  
Partial Least Squares Method ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the moderating effect of political instability and regulatory obstacles on the relationship between corruption and export intensity in the context of Tunisian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach This study uses data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES). The sample consists of 537 Tunisian SMEs. The partial least squares method was used to analyse the data. Findings The direct effect of corruption on export intensity was found to be non-significant. It was significantly negative when corruption was combined with regulatory obstacles, whereas it was positive when corruption coexisted with political instability. Additional analyses revealed that results were sensitive to firm size (small versus medium) and sector of activity (service versus manufacturing). Research limitations/implications This paper has some limitations related to the use of secondary data. Enhanced variable measurements and more detailed data collection are recommended for future studies. Practical implications This paper is useful to researchers and policymakers who are interested in understanding the effects of a poor institutional environment on SME exports in developing countries. Originality/value This paper considers the impact of corruption on the export intensity of SMEs in the presence of political instability and regulatory obstacles in Tunisia. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the joint effect of these institutional variables on the exports of firms has not been examined in previous research.

The impact of asymmetry on performance in different collaboration and integration environments in supply chain management

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Michalski ◽  
Jose-Luis Montes-Botella ◽  
Ram Narasimhan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Least Squares Method ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Partial Least Squares Method ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to examine the non-linear aspects of the relationship between asymmetry and performance in supply chains (SCs), under varying intensities of collaboration and integration. Design/methodology/approach The paper offers a useful new approach to designing strategic elements of supply chain management (SCM) relationships. Using the partial least squares method, an empirical study of 66 companies in Spain has been conducted to clarify contemporary relationships, suggest new directions and ultimately contribute toward developing SCM theory. Findings The influences of asymmetry on performance in varying collaboration and integration contexts are shown to be unstable and have non-linear paths. It is inappropriate for all firms to collaborate or integrate continually, even for a prescribed period. Furthermore, due to asymmetry, SCM processes are more complex. Research limitations/implications The results’ validity may be limited to contexts specific to Spanish SCs. It would be valuable to investigate the impact of asymmetry on firms’ performance and relationships in other markets. Practical implications Collaborations and integration between partners in a SC might change the role of asymmetry from restraining to improving performance. The best way to improve performance in asymmetric relationships is to collaborate. Certain dimensions of integration and full integration are not necessarily required to improve firms’ performance under asymmetry conditions. Originality/value The study adds a new viewpoint on SCM by suggesting that not all collaboration and integration developments lead directly to improved performance.

What does it say and who said it? The contingent effects of online word of mouth in China

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 474-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biao Luo ◽  
Zheyu Zhang ◽  
Yong Liu ◽  
Weihe Gao
Keyword(s):  
Information Exchange ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Firm Strategy ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Chinese Consumers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Word Of Mouth ◽  
Initial Attitude ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers respond to online word of mouth (WOM) with different valence (i.e. what does it say) and from different sources (i.e. who said it) in an important emerging economy, China. Design/methodology/approach Theory with experiments. Findings The authors find that Chinese consumers seek confirmatory information and pay greater attention to WOM that agrees with their initial attitude. Consumers with a high (vs low) need for cognition are more likely to rate WOM from far (vs closer) social distance as more impactful on themselves. For public-consumption products, the consumers are influenced more by “who said it” (source) than by “what does it say” (valence). The reverse holds for private consumption. Research limitations/implications The paper could be extended to other online behaviors. It can also be extended to empirical testing using market data. Practical implications Since Chinese consumers tend to focus on online information that is consistent with their initial attitude, it can be more difficult for either the seller or third-party website to utilize online WOM as a persuasive tool in China than in other countries. Firms may also customize their online strategies based on product category. For products that are consumed in private, WOM content is more important than source. If the firm wants to facilitate consumer interaction and influence, greater attention should be paid to make the content easy to access and utilize. Social implications Due to the explosive growth of e-Commerce in China, many global and Chinese firms rushed to set up online communities to facilitate information exchange among consumers. Our findings indicate that the impact of these communities may have been overvalued. Chinese consumers are influenced by online information, but if the majority of the online messages are from anonymous strangers, consumers tend to discount their credibility. Originality/value Our study represents an earlier effort to predict, and test, how online WOM can be associated with the specific cultural and market environments. It provides direct implications for both consumer behavior and firm strategy.

An empirical study on the impact of online word-of-mouth sources on retail sales

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Hong ◽  
Di Xu ◽  
Dapeng Xu ◽  
G. Alan Wang ◽  
Weiguo Fan
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Purchase Decisions ◽  
Retail Sales ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Purchase ◽  
Online Word Of Mouth ◽  
Product Sales ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to analyze the impact of the source of online word-of-mouth (WOM) on retail sales. Specifically, the authors focus on the relative impact of external and internal WOMs on book sales. Design/methodology/approach An empirical analysis is conducted with a panel data of sales and WOM for 87 books from Dangdang and Douban over a 14-day period based on two generalized least square regression models. Findings Results suggest that both internal WOM and external WOM have significant impact on product sales, and the impact of external WOM is relatively more significant. Social implications WOM, especially the external WOM, plays an important role in consumers’ online purchase decisions. Originality/value This study is helpful for retailers to better understand the factors influencing the sales and thereby forecast the future sales more precisely. Besides, the research conclusion could also enlighten related decision makers to constantly improve technical platforms.

The impacts of competence-based marketing capabilities: relative attention, relationship learning and collaboration development

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 896-910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng-Hsu Liu ◽  
Lu-Jui Chen
Keyword(s):  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Least Squares Method ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Marketing Capabilities ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning And Collaboration ◽  
Partial Least Squares Method ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Original equipment manufacturing (OEM) suppliers must identify and communicate competences to ensure that they are successfully translated into competitive advantages. This study aims to explore the competence-based marketing capabilities of suppliers based on competence-based marketing view. It integrates resource-based theory and resource dependence theory to conduct a detailed evaluation of the impact of competence-based marketing capabilities on collaboration development, which is classified as either exploitative or explorative collaboration between buyers and suppliers. Design/methodology/approach The partial least squares method was used to analyse and find direct support for the authors’ hypotheses based on cross-sectional data from a sample of 116 Taiwanese OEM suppliers. Findings The results find no support as recent arguments that the marketing of competence would directly affect collaborative relationships in a buyer–supplier relationship. The two mediating roles of relative attention from buyers and relationship learning with buyers were confirmed. The empirical findings indicated that relative attention from buyers partially mediates the relationship between competence-based marketing capabilities and exploitative collaboration development, while relationship learning completely mediates the relationship between competence-based marketing capabilities and two-pronged collaboration development. Originality/value This study provides a thorough examination of competence-based marketing capabilities, which have attracted substantial attention from business scholars but empirical research investigating and discussing how suppliers develop new collaborations with buyers is lacking.

The interactive impact of online word-of-mouth and review helpfulness on box office revenue

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 849-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangjae Lee ◽  
Joon Yeon Choeh
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Box Office ◽  
Online Word Of Mouth ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
Online User Reviews ◽  
Review Helpfulness ◽  
Product Sales ◽  
The Impact

Purpose While a number of studies examined the eWOM (online word-of-mouth) factors affecting box office, the studies on the impact of review helpfulness on box office are lacking. The purpose of this paper is to fill the void in previous studies and further extend prior work regarding eWOM and box office. In order to explain the interaction effect of helpfulness with other variables on product sales, this study posits that review characteristics such as number of reviews, review rating, review length interact with review helpfulness to have an influence on box office. Further, as the studies that have examined whether eWOM factors are significant in box office performances for the international markets other than US are lacking, this study is targeting Korean markets to validate the effect of eWOM on box office. Design/methodology/approach This study used publicly available data from www.naver.com to build a sample of online review data concerning box office. The final sample of the study included 2090 movies. Findings The results indicated that in cases when the review is helpful, the number of reviews and review length are more greatly influencing box office. Review rating, review extremity, and helpfulness for reviewer are important determinants for review helpfulness. Practical implications Managers can concentrate on the review rating and review extremity of online customer reviews in the design of online sites for movies. The design of user review systems can follow the direction that promotes more helpfulness for online user reviews based on an enhanced understanding of what drives helpfulness voting. Originality/value Given that previous studies on the effect of review helpfulness on box office are lacking, it contributes to eWOM literature by investigating the impact of review helpfulness on box office revenue.

Impact of word-of-mouth, job attributes and relationship strength on employer attractiveness

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 721-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faiz Ahamad
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Differential Impact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Job Attributes ◽  
Relationship Strength ◽  
Job Information ◽  
Employer Attractiveness ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Job information through word-of-mouth (WOM) has a crucial impact on employer attractiveness. The phenomenal rise of social media offers alternate WOM platforms for sharing job information, which is quite different from traditional face-to-face WOM. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differential impact of traditional word-of-mouth (t-WOM) and social media word-of-mouth (s-WOM) on employer attractiveness along with the difference in the job attributes and relationship strength with the information source. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 × 2 experiment was conducted to examine the impact of information source (t-WOM and s-WOM), job attributes (tangible and intangible) and relationship strength (strong and weak), on employer attractiveness. Source expertise and source trust were treated as the control variable. Findings The result shows the differential impact of t-WOM and s-WOM on employer attractiveness. Moreover, t-WOM from strong relation source found to have a high impact on employer attractiveness than s-WOM. No significant difference due to job attributes was found. Research limitations/implications Use of only positive WOM and not the negative one, student as the subjects, etc. Practical implications The present study suggests using t-WOM and s-WOM to attract talented job seekers. Originality/value This is the first study to analyze the differential impact of t-WOM and s-WOM on employer attractiveness.

Evolution of top management’s understanding of product quality in Eastern Europe since the end of communism

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-100
Author(s):  
Svetoslav Georgiev ◽  
Emil Georgiev
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Product Quality ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution of top management’s understanding of product quality in Bulgaria since the end of communism. The study examines three specific areas: top management’s understanding of the term “quality”; top management’s understanding of the relationship between quality and business performance; and top management’s understanding of the impact of job position on quality. Design/methodology/approach The paper relies on a quantitative research approach by using data from a survey of 186 companies in Bulgaria. Findings The paper suggests that senior managers in Bulgaria continue to base their understanding of “quality” on a single approach (*a characteristic of the communist era), with the product-based and the user-based approaches currently being the two most common ones. At the same time, surprisingly enough, this study claims that senior management in Bulgaria is currently well aware of the importance of quality as a dimension of firm’s competitiveness, and is also highly conscious of its roles’ impact on product quality. Research limitations/implications The results of this study are exclusively based on the case of Bulgaria and must be treated with caution in the case of other former communist states from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. Practical implications This paper has relevance for both managers and companies doing business in Eastern Europe. Originality/value This is the first paper to provide detailed analysis of the evolution of the understanding of “product quality” in CEE since the end of communism. Moreover, this paper applies, for the first time, Garvin’s five approaches to defining quality within a practical context.

Should I suggest this YouTube clip? The impact of UGC source credibility on eWOM and purchase intention

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mazzini Muda ◽  
Muhammad Iskandar Hamzah
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Structural Equation Modeling ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Source Credibility ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

PurposeIn spite of the increasing organic and interactive marketing activities over social media, a general understanding of the source credibility of voluntary user-generated content (UGC) is still limited. In line with the social identity theory, this paper examines the effects of consumers' perceived source credibility of UGC in YouTube videos on their attitudes and behavioral intentions. Additionally, source homophily theory is included to predict the antecedent of source credibility.Design/methodology/approachThree hundred and seventy two Generation Y respondents were interviewed using snowball sampling. Data were analyzed with component-based structural equation modeling technique of partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsFindings confirmed that perceived source credibility indirectly affects purchase intention (PI) and electronic word-of-mouth via attitude toward UGC. Besides, perceived source credibility mediates the effect of perceived source homophily on attitude toward UGC.Practical implicationsSince today's consumers have begun to trust and rely more on UGC than company-generated content on social media when making purchase decisions, companies may reconsider democratizing certain aspects of their branding strategies. Firms may fine-tune their marketing communication budgets – not only just by sponsoring public figures and celebrities but also by nurturing coproductive engagements with independent content creators who are ordinary consumers. Endowed with their imposing credibility, these micro-influencers and prosumers have high potentials to be uplifted to brand ambassadors.Originality/valueWhile consumers' purchase outcome can be measured easily using metrics and analytics, the roles of source homophily in stages leading up to the purchase is still elusive. Drawing on the rich theoretical basis of source homophily may help researchers to understand not only how credibility and attitude are related to PI but also how this nexus generates positive word of mouth among UGC followers within the social media circles.

Does corporate social responsibility affect dividend policy? Empirical evidence in the French context

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olfa Ben Salah ◽  
Anis Ben Amar
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Least Squares Method ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Alternative Measure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on dividend policy in the French context. In addition, the authors seek to determine if the individual components of CSR influence dividend policy. Design/methodology/approach This study uses panel data methodology for a sample of French non-financial firms between 2008 and 2018. Generalized least squares method is used to estimate the models. Findings Using panel data methodology for a sample of 825 observations for the period 2008–2018, this study finds a positive impact of CSR practices on dividend policy. The authors also find that individual components of CSR positively influence dividend policy. To check the robustness of the results, this study further runs a sensitivity tests, including an alternative measure of dividend policy, all of which confirm the findings. Practical implications This study has examined the impact of CSR on dividend policy in France and may have implications for regulatory, investors, analysts and academics. First, the involvement in CSR best practices encourages companies to pay more dividends to investors. Therefore, investors are more motivated to invest in socially responsible firms than socially irresponsible firms. Second, given the association of CSR with the quality of accounting information and financial markets, regulators should step up recommendations relating to the different societal dimensions of CSR. Originality/value While little previous work has focused on the causal link between CSR and dividend policy, this research is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to have looked at the impact of CSR on dividend policy in France.

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