Thesis defense

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Thesis defense

Laura Krijnse Locker

Thesis Defense Marketing Management Date: 27/01/2019

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Content

› Problem statement

› Theoretical background

› Conceptual model

› Methodology & Analysis

› Results

› Discussion

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Problem statement

Importance of eWOM

• Affects

product sales

and thus

market share

• Affects

customer value and loyalty

• Affects

success of new product introductions

eWOM

:

one of the most significant

developments

in contemporary consumer

behavior

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Problem statement

Lack of trustworthiness and credibility of online information

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Problem statement

eWOM credibility

Related to informational usefulness, helpfulness of the

review and information adoption

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Problem statement

Trustworthiness and credibility of online information Importance of eWOM eWOM credibility

How to improve online consumer

review credibility?

Credibility of eWOM has become a key

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Theoretical background

Tham et al., 2013; Chaiken, 1980; Cheung & Thadani, 2012; Hovland et al.,1953; Wu & Shaffer,1987; Ohanian,1990

Review credibility

• Content of the information • Channel of the information • Source of the information

Source credibility

= a message receiver’s perception of credibility of a

message source, reflecting nothing about the

message itself

Antecedents

• Trustworthiness • Expertise

Derived from source

characteristics attached to

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Theoretical background

Homophily

- Based on individual’s

characteristics

- People are more willing to accept

and trust information, when the

reviewer‘s characteristics are

similar to their own.

- When source characteristics

which imply homophily details are

provided with an OCR, eWOM’s

effectiveness is boosted

McPherson et al., 2001) Status Value McCroskey et al., 2006 Background Attitude

Current

research

Demographic Psychographic

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Methodology & Analysis

› 2x2x2 between-subjects factorial design

› Convenience sampling

› Survey 558 respondents → 282 after data cleaning

Psychographic characteristic attached to OCR

Yes No

Search Experience Search Experience Demographic

characteristic attached to OCR

Yes Condition 1 Condition 5 Condition 2 Condition 6

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Manipulation

› Demographic characteristic:

▪

Age

› Psychographic characteristic:

▪

VALS labels

› Type of product:

▪

Sport shoes/ Restaurant visit

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Methodology & Analysis

Operationalization

• Perceived homophily

• Attitude homophily

• Manipulation: Age

• Covary

• Perceived credibility of a review

• Source credibility of a review

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Methodology & Analysis

ANOVA

Hayes

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Results

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Results

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Results

H5: The positive effect of the presence of similar psychographic

characteristics on homophily is stronger than the positive effect of the presence of similar demographic characteristics.

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Results

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Results

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Results

H8: The higher the need for conformity, the higher the positive effect of perceived homophily on perceived source credibility.

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Results

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Results

Step 1: (path c)

✓

Step 2: (path a)

Step 3: (path b) Step 4: (path c’)

H2: The effect of presence of similar source characteristic attached to an online consumer review (OCR) on the level of perceived source

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Results

Step 1: (path c)

✓

Step 2: (path a)

✓

Step 3: (path b)

Step 4: (path c’)

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Results

Step 1: (path c)

✓

Step 2: (path a)

✓

Step 3: (path b)

✓

Step 4: (path c’)

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Results

Step 1: (path c)

✓

Step 2: (path a)

✓

Step 3: (path b)

✓

Step 4: (path c’)

✓

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Discussion & Conclusion

When the values of the source of the review were similar to the readers’

values, perceived source credibility is increased. This is mediated by the

fact that the reader feels a higher level of homophily to the writer.

Does not apply for similarity in age

- Demographic characteristics are very susceptible to deceit

- Manipulation of psychographic characteristic

- Scale attitude homophily

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Discussion & Conclusion

Type of product does not influence the effects of the different types of

source characteristics on the level of perceived homophily and perceived

source credibility.

Interesting finding:

theory provided strong arguments for a difference

based on purchase decision involvement and uncertainty avoidance

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Limitations & recommendations

Limitations

Generalizability of the results

Manipulation checks

Stimulus design

Choice of scale

Recommendations

Larger more heterogenous sample

Negative reviews

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Managerial implications

How to increase online consumer review credibility?

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L.M. Krijnse Locker

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L.M. Krijnse Locker

Groningen

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References

› Babic, Ana, et al. (2006) The Effect of Electronic Word of Mouth on Sales: A Meta-Analytic Review of Platform, Product, and Metric Factors. Journal of Marketing Research

› Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of personality and social psychology, 51(6), 1173

› Bei, L. T., Chen, E. Y., & Widdows, R. (2004). Consumers' online information search behavior and the phenomenon of search vs. experience products. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 25(4), 449-467.

› Brown, J., Broderick, A. J., & Lee, N. (2007). Word of mouth communication within online communities: Conceptualizing the online social network. Journal of interactive marketing, 21(3), 2-20

› Bologna, C. (2019), 24 Tweets That Show Sephora Shoppers Have Never Trusted The Site's Reviews

› Chaiken, S. (1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of personality and social psychology, 39(5), 752.

› Cheung, C. M., & Thadani, D. R. (2012). The impact of electronic word-of-mouth communication: A literature analysis and integrative model. Decision support systems, 54(1), 461-470.

› Cheung, M. Y., Luo, C., Sia, C. L., & Chen, H. (2009). Credibility of electronic word-of-mouth: Informational and normative determinants of on-line consumer recommendations. International journal of electronic commerce, 13(4), 9-38

› Clemons, E. K., Gao, G. G., & Hitt, L. M. (2006). When online reviews meet hyperdifferentiation: A study of the craft beer industry. Journal of management information systems, 23(2), 149-171

› Chevalier, J. A., & Mayzlin, D. (2006). The effect of word of mouth on sales: Online book reviews. Journal of marketing research, 43(3), 345-354

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References

› Gruen, T. W., Osmonbekov, T., & Czaplewski, A. J. (2006). eWOM: The impact of customerto-customer online know-how exchange on customer value and loyalty. Journal of Business research, 59(4), 449-456

› Hovland, C. I., Janis, I. L., & Kelley, H. H. (1953). Communication and persuasion

› Higgins, A., McIntire, M., Dance, G. J. X. (2016). Inside a fake news sausage factory: ‘This is all about income’., New York Times

› McCroskey, J. C. (2006). Reliability and validity of the generalized attitude measure and generalized belief measure. Communication Quarterly, 54(3), 265-274

› McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual review of sociology, 27(1), 415-444.

› Mitchell, A. (1981), Proximities of the VALS Types. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International

› Ohanian, R. (1990). Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorsers' perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Journal of advertising, 19(3), 39-52.

› Pihlaja, J., Saarijärvi, H., Spence, M., & Yrjölä, M. (2017). From electronic wom to social ewom: Bridging the trust deficit. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 25(4), 340-356. doi:10.1080/10696679.2017.1345593

› Smithers, R., (2019), Flood of ‘fake’ five-star reviews inundating Amazon, Which? Finds

› Tham, A., Croy, G., & Mair, J. (2013). Social media in destination choice: Distinctive electronic word-of-mouth dimensions. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1-2), 144-155

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