IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/mktlet/v17y2006i4p269-279.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The consumer as advocate: Self-relevance, culture, and word-of-mouth

Author

Listed:
  • Cindy Chung
  • Peter Darke

Abstract

This research examined the relation between self-relevance and word-of-mouth (WOM). The results of two studies suggest consumers are more likely to provide WOM for products that are relevant to self-concept than for more utilitarian products. There was also some indication that WOM was biased, in the sense that consumers exaggerated the benefits of self-relevant products compared to utilitarian products. Finally, self-relevance had a greater impact on WOM in individualist cultures than collectivist cultures, consistent with differences in the way self-concept is typically construed by these groups. Implications for marketing strategies concerning WOM are discussed. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006

Suggested Citation

  • Cindy Chung & Peter Darke, 2006. "The consumer as advocate: Self-relevance, culture, and word-of-mouth," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 269-279, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:17:y:2006:i:4:p:269-279
    DOI: 10.1007/s11002-006-8426-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11002-006-8426-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11002-006-8426-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Belk, Russell W, 1988. "Possessions and the Extended Self," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 139-168, September.
    2. Mizerski, Richard W, 1982. "An Attribution Explanation of the Disproportionate Influence of Unfavorable Information," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 9(3), pages 301-310, December.
    3. Richins, Marsha L, 1994. "Special Possessions and the Expression of Material Values," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(3), pages 522-533, December.
    4. Holbrook, Morris B & Hirschman, Elizabeth C, 1982. "The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings, and Fun," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 9(2), pages 132-140, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bartschat, Maria & Cziehso, Gerrit & Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten, 2022. "Searching for word of mouth in the digital age: Determinants of consumers’ uses of face-to-face information, internet opinion sites, and social media," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 393-409.
    2. Konuk, Faruk Anıl & Otterbring, Tobias, 2024. "The dark side of going green: Dark triad traits predict organic consumption through virtue signaling, status signaling, and praise from others," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Zhu, Jiang & Jiang, Lan & Dou, Wenyu & Liang, Liang, 2019. "Post, Eat, Change: The Effects of Posting Food Photos on Consumers' Dining Experiences and Brand Evaluation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 101-112.
    4. Martin Mende & Scott Thompson & Christian Coenen, 2015. "It’s all relative: how customer-perceived competitive advantage influences referral intentions," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 661-678, December.
    5. Casaló, Luis V. & Flavián, Carlos & Guinalíu, Miguel, 2010. "Determinants of the intention to participate in firm-hosted online travel communities and effects on consumer behavioral intentions," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 898-911.
    6. Ho, Jason Y.C. & Dempsey, Melanie, 2010. "Viral marketing: Motivations to forward online content," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 1000-1006, September.
    7. Ayalla Ruvio & Richard P. Bagozzi & G. Tomas M. Hult & Richard Spreng, 2020. "Consumer arrogance and word-of-mouth," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1116-1137, November.
    8. Frooghi; R.; Afshan; S.; Waseem; S. N.;, 2016. "The Integration of Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Relationship Commitment Models to Predict Customer Retention in Pakistani Telecom sector," South Asian Journal of Management Sciences (SAJMS), Iqra University, Iqra University, vol. 10(2), pages 56-79, Fall.
    9. Kapoor, Payal S. & M S, Balaji & Maity, Moutusy & Jain, Nikunj Kumar, 2021. "Why consumers exaggerate in online reviews? Moral disengagement and dark personality traits," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Hemant C. Sashittal & Avan R. Jassawalla & Ruchika Sachdeva, 2023. "The influence of COVID-19 pandemic on consumer–brand relationships: evidence of brand evangelism behaviors," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 30(3), pages 245-260, May.
    11. Kaushik Mukerjee, 2018. "The impact of brand experience, service quality and perceived value on word of mouth of retail bank customers: investigating the mediating effect of loyalty," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(1), pages 12-24, March.
    12. Chen, Qimei & He, Yi & Hu, Miao & Li, Daoji, 2023. "(Em)powering the underdog: How power states enhance referral intention-behavior consistency for underdog entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    13. Cristobal Rodolfo Guerra-Tamez & María-Laura Franco-García, 2022. "Influence of Flow Experience, Perceived Value and CSR in Craft Beer Consumer Loyalty: A Comparison between Mexico and The Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, July.
    14. Jake An & Diem Khac Xuan Do & Liem Viet Ngo & Tran Ha Minh Quan, 2019. "Turning brand credibility into positive word-of-mouth: integrating the signaling and social identity perspectives," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(2), pages 157-175, March.
    15. Bastos, Wilson & Moore, Sarah G., 2021. "Making word-of-mouth impactful: Why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 110-123.
    16. Islam, Towhidul & Meade, Nigel, 2015. "Firm level innovation diffusion of 3G mobile connections in international context," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 1138-1152.
    17. He, Yi & You, Ya & Chen, Qimei, 2020. "Our conditional love for the underdog: The effect of brand positioning and the lay theory of achievement on WOM," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 210-222.
    18. Matthew Philp & Martin A. Pyle & Laurence Ashworth, 2018. "Risking the self: the impact of self-esteem on negative word-of-mouth behavior," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 101-113, March.
    19. Sung Youl Jun & Tae Wook Ju & Hye Kyung Park & Jacob C. Lee & Tae Min Kim, 2023. "Information distortion in word-of-mouth retransmission: the effects of retransmitter intention and source expertise," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(5), pages 1848-1876, November.
    20. Lee, Seonjeong Ally & Oh, Haemoon, 2017. "Sharing travel stories and behavioral outcomes: A case of travel," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 147-158.
    21. Gallo, Iñigo & Townsend, Claudia & Alegre, Inés, 2019. "Experiential product framing and its influence on the creation of consumer reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 177-190.
    22. Zoë Godfrey & Daniel Korschun, 2024. "Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Identity-based consumer responses to music in marketing contexts," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 14(1), pages 37-52, June.
    23. Flavián, Carlos & Gurrea, Raquel & Orús, Carlos, 2020. "Combining channels to make smart purchases: The role of webrooming and showrooming," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gurzki, Hannes & Woisetschläger, David M., 2017. "Mapping the luxury research landscape: A bibliometric citation analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 147-166.
    2. Millan, Elena & Reynolds, Jonathan, 2014. "Self-construals, symbolic and hedonic preferences, and actual purchase behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 550-560.
    3. Adèle Martin-Gruen & Denis Darpy, 2015. "The Role of Design in the Appropriation of Shared Objects: Autolib in Paris," Post-Print hal-01226746, HAL.
    4. Gong Sun & Wangshuai Wang & Zhiming Cheng & Jie Li & Junhua Chen, 2017. "The Intermediate Linkage Between Materialism and Luxury Consumption: Evidence from the Emerging Market of China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 475-487, May.
    5. Artemisia Apostolopoulou & Dimitra Papadimitriou, 2018. "Examining the meanings and consumption of sport licensed products through team identification," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(6), pages 536-548, November.
    6. Bäckström, Kristina, 2011. "“Shopping as leisure: An exploration of manifoldness and dynamics in consumers shopping experiencesâ€," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 200-209.
    7. Joy, Annamma & Wang, Jeff Jianfeng & Chan, Tsang-Sing & Sherry, John F. & Cui, Geng, 2014. "M(Art)Worlds: Consumer Perceptions of How Luxury Brand Stores Become Art Institutions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 347-364.
    8. Ostovan, Nima & Khalili Nasr, Arash, 2022. "The manifestation of luxury value dimensions in brand engagement in self-concept," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    9. Liselot Hudders & Mario Pandelaere, 2012. "The Silver Lining of Materialism: The Impact of Luxury Consumption on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 411-437, June.
    10. Jerónimo, Rita & Ramos, Tânia & Ferreira, Mário B., 2018. "Trait transference from brands to individuals: The impact of brand-behavior congruency," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 54-65.
    11. Jie Lou & Nianlong Han & Dong Wang & Xi Pei, 2022. "Effects of Mobile Identity on Smartphone Symbolic Use: An Attachment Theory Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-20, October.
    12. M. Joseph Sirgy & Eda Gurel-Atay & Dave Webb & Muris Cicic & Melika Husic-Mehmedovic & Ahmet Ekici & Andreas Herrmann & Ibrahim Hegazy & Dong-Jin Lee & J. Johar, 2013. "Is Materialism All That Bad? Effects on Satisfaction with Material Life, Life Satisfaction, and Economic Motivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 349-366, January.
    13. Roggeveen, Anne L. & Grewal, Dhruv & Karsberg, John & Noble, Stephanie M. & Nordfält, Jens & Patrick, Vanessa M. & Schweiger, Elisa & Soysal, Gonca & Dillard, Annemarie & Cooper, Nora & Olson, Richard, 2021. "Forging meaningful consumer-brand relationships through creative merchandise offerings and innovative merchandising strategies," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 81-98.
    14. Flouri, Eirini, 2000. "An integrated model of consumer materialism: Can economic socialization and maternal values predict materialistic attitudes in adolescents?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 707-724, June.
    15. Nguyen, July & Ferraro, Carla & Sands, Sean, 2020. "Similarity over difference: How congruency in customer characteristics drives service experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 592-603.
    16. Gwarlann de Kerviler & Carlos Rodriguez, 2019. "Luxury brand experiences and relationship quality for Millennials: The role of self-expansion," Post-Print hal-02114441, HAL.
    17. Sierra, Jeremy J. & Hyman, Michael R., 2011. "Outlet mall shoppers' intentions to purchase apparel: A dual-process perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 341-347.
    18. Elliot, Esi A., 2016. "Craft consumption and consumer transformation in a transmodern era," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 18-24.
    19. Barton, Belinda & Zlatevska, Natalina & Oppewal, Harmen, 2022. "Scarcity tactics in marketing: A meta-analysis of product scarcity effects on consumer purchase intentions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 741-758.
    20. Lee, Shinhyoung & Park, Kiwan, 2022. "How looking forward over the short period to-go affects consumer enjoyment: Role of temporal scarcity in access-based services," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:17:y:2006:i:4:p:269-279. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.