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 language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 810-832 |
Number of pages | 23 |
Journal | Journal of Consumer Research |
Volume | 45 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 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