Word-Of-Mouth and Word-Of-Web: Talking About Products, Talking About Me

Word-of-Mouth and Word-of-Web: Talking About Products, Talking About Me

Discussion Leader: Robert V. Kozinets, York University

Word-of-Mouth: An Opportunity for Satisfied Experts to Self-Enhance

Andrea C. Wojnicki, University of Toronto

Based on limited but consistent evidence, researchers have generally assumed that consumer experts generate the majority of word-of-mouth (WOM) in the marketplace. Recently, the impact of these credible consumer experts has intensified due to issues with traditional media, coupled with technological advances including the Internet. But what motivates experts to talk? And do they generate more WOM regarding their satisfying or dissatisfying experiences? It is predicted and demonstrated here that based on self-enhancement motivations, satisfied experts generate more WOM than dissatisfied experts. Importantly, this result persists only when the outcome of the consumption experience is attributable to the consumer’s expertise.

Word-of-Mouth in Virtual Communities: A Netnographic Analysis

Kristine de Valck, HEC School of Management - Paris

Virtual consumption communities provide consumers worldwide with the ability to share their knowledge, experiences and opinions. Marketers are challenged to cater to this development of increasing consumer interaction, which generates substantial WOM. This study examines online forum discussions by means of a netnographic analysis. The main goal is to analyze how the discussants communicate with and influence each other. The second goal is to gain insight in their discourse with respect to the community’s focal consumption activity. The overall objective is to present an illustration of discussion practices and WOM processes within virtual communities of consumption.

Viral Marketing Mavericks: Capturing Word-of-Web

Judith Lynne Zaichkowsky, Simon Fraser University

Janghyuk Lee, Korean Advanced Institute of Science & Technology

Citation:

Session Chair: and Discussion Leader: Robert Kozinets (2006) ,"Word-Of-Mouth and Word-Of-Web: Talking About Products, Talking About Me", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 33, eds. Connie Pechmann and Linda Price, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 573-575.