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Merely asking the customer to recommend has an impact on word-of-mouth activity

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  • Söderlund, Magnus
  • Mattsson, Jan

Abstract

This paper examines if a mere request to a customer – within the frame of a service encounter – to engage in word-of-mouth (WOM) would have an impact on the customer's subsequent WOM activity. Although previous studies have not examined this issue, theoretical arguments do exist. And they point in different directions; some suggest a positive impact, while others suggest a negative impact. To explore the issue empirically, we carried out two studies (one survey-based study and one experiment). Both generated the same result: they indicate that merely asking customers to engage in WOM has a positive impact on customers' WOM activity. In addition, we found that receiving the request was not negatively associated with the customers' overall evaluations, such as customer satisfaction, which indicates that the potential for negative consequences of making the request seems to be low.

Suggested Citation

  • Söderlund, Magnus & Mattsson, Jan, 2015. "Merely asking the customer to recommend has an impact on word-of-mouth activity," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 80-89.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:27:y:2015:i:c:p:80-89
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2015.07.009
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ifie, Kemefasu & Simintiras, Antonis C. & Dwivedi, Yogesh & Mavridou, Vasileia, 2018. "How service quality and outcome confidence drive pre-outcome word-of-mouth," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 214-221.
    3. Shaikh, Aijaz A. & Karjaluoto, Heikki & Häkkinen, Juho, 2018. "Understanding moderating effects in increasing share-of-wallet and word-of-mouth: A case study of Lidl grocery retailer," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 45-53.
    4. Fernandes, Teresa & Pinto, Teresa, 2019. "Relationship quality determinants and outcomes in retail banking services: The role of customer experience," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 30-41.
    5. Kristensson, Per & Wästlund, Erik & Söderlund, Magnus, 2017. "Influencing consumers to choose environment friendly offerings: Evidence from field experiments," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 89-97.

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