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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of consumer psychology 2015-01, Vol.25 (1), p.120-128
Main Authors: Eisingerich, Andreas B., Chun, HaeEun Helen, Liu, Yeyi, Jia, He (Michael), Bell, Simon J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Research Report
Self-enhancement need
Social media
Social risk
Word-of-mouth
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1057-7408
1532-7663
DOI:10.1016/j.jcps.2014.05.004