Wednesday, July 8, 2015 | 11:00am–12:30pm | Room 335, HSBC Business School Building

Abstract

With the ongoing development of the Internet and Internet-related technologies, online consumer-to-consumer (C-to-C) word-of-mouth (WOM) communications have become increasingly widespread and substantial (Berger 2014; King, Racherla, and Bush 2014). The power of online WOM in influencing consumers’ attitudes and purchase decisions is also very significant. As such, it is imperative for companies to fully understand the mechanisms of an individual’s online WOM transmission so that they can effectively influence online C-to-C communications.
 
This study employs focus group and in-depth interview as research methodologies. Drawing upon findings of the qualitative studies, previous WOM research, theory of emotion as homeostasis, and happiness literature, we develop a comprehensive, general model of online WOM transmission at the individual level. The model specifies an emotion or an amalgamation of two or more emotions and motivational motives including reciprocity, sense of belonging, self-enhancement, altruism and economic rewards as the antecedents of an individual’s online WOM transmission, emotional homeostasis as the outcome of emotion-driven online WOM transmission, happiness as the outcome of motivation-driven online WOM transmission, and self-presentational concerns, recipient’s ability and transmission costs as the moderators between the antecedents and online WOM transmission. Additionally, disconfirmation is proposed as the antecedent of emotion. The model explains various online WOM transmissions including social-media WOM transmission. It is also applicable to traditional offline WOM transmission. The parsimonious model (James, Mulaik, and Brett 1982; Runkel and McGrath 1972) with a manageable number of factors shall provide a solid foundation for the empirical study of an individual’s WOM transmission.