Maybe i just got (un)lucky: One-on-one conversations and the malleability of post-consumption product and service evaluations

Daniel C. Brannon, Adriana Samper

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

This research focuses on the persuasive impact of a common yet understudied form of word of mouth (WOM): one-on-one conversations in which consumers share and compare past experiences with a product or service. In contrast to prior work on WOM influence, we discover a "positivity effect" in these conversations, such that consumers who share a negative experience form more favorable overall judgments after speaking with someone who had a positive experience, but consumers who share a positive experience are unaffected by learning about another's negative experience. This effect is mediated by consumers' dismissal of their own negative experience as a temporary or one-offevent in light of the other person's contrasting positive experience, and is facilitated by positive consumer expectations of product and service performance. We also identify a key boundary condition whereby the positivity effect of one-on-one conversations is moderated by whether consumers have positive or negative expectations of product or service performance. When expectations are negative, the positivity effect is dampened and a negativity effect emerges.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)810-832
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Consumer Research
Volume45
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2018

Keywords

  • Attribution
  • Consumer expectations
  • Experience sharing
  • Positivity effect
  • Word of mouth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Business and International Management
  • Anthropology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Marketing

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