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We'll Be Honest, This Won't Be the Best Article You'll Ever Read: The Use of Dispreferred Markers in Word-of-Mouth Communication

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  • Ryan Hamilton
  • Kathleen D. Vohs
  • Ann L. McGill

Abstract

Consumers value word-of-mouth communications in large part because customer reviews are more likely to include negative information about a product or service than are communications originating from the marketer. Despite the fact that negative information is frequently valued by those receiving it, baldly declaring negative information may come with social costs to both communicator and receiver. For this reason, communicators sometimes soften pronouncements of bad news by couching them in dispreferred markers, including phrases such as, "I'll be honest," "God bless it," or "I don't want to be mean, but ..." The present work identified and tested in five experiments a phenomenon termed the dispreferred marker effect, in which consumers evaluate communicators who use dispreferred markers as more credible and likable than communicators who assert the same information without dispreferred markers. We further found that the dispreferred marker effect can spill over to evaluations of the product being reviewed, increasing willingness to pay and influencing evaluations of the credibility and likability of the evaluated product's personality.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryan Hamilton & Kathleen D. Vohs & Ann L. McGill, 2014. "We'll Be Honest, This Won't Be the Best Article You'll Ever Read: The Use of Dispreferred Markers in Word-of-Mouth Communication," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(1), pages 197-212.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:doi:10.1086/675926
    DOI: 10.1086/675926
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    Cited by:

    1. Ifie, Kemefasu, 2020. "Excellent Product … But Too Early to Say: Consumer Reactions to Tentative Product Reviews," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 35-51.
    2. Aparna Sundar & Edita S. Cao, 2020. "Punishing Politeness: The Role of Language in Promoting Brand Trust," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 39-60, June.
    3. Stevens, Jennifer L. & Spaid, Brian I. & Breazeale, Michael & Esmark Jones, Carol L., 2018. "Timeliness, transparency, and trust: A framework for managing online customer complaints," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 375-384.
    4. Plotkina, Daria & Munzel, Andreas, 2016. "Delight the experts, but never dissatisfy your customers! A multi-category study on the effects of online review source on intention to buy a new product," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-11.
    5. Cui, Geng & Chung, Yuho & Peng, Ling & Zheng, Wanyi, 2022. "The importance of being earnest: Mandatory vs. voluntary disclosure of incentives for online product reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 633-645.
    6. Ravula, Prashanth & Jha, Subhash & Biswas, Abhijit, 2022. "Relative persuasiveness of repurchase intentions versus recommendations in online reviews," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 724-740.
    7. Gottschalk, Sabrina A. & Mafael, Alexander, 2017. "Cutting Through the Online Review Jungle — Investigating Selective eWOM Processing," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 89-104.
    8. 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.
    9. Quamina, La Toya & Xue, Melanie Tao & Chawdhary, Rahul, 2023. "‘Co-branding as a masstige strategy for luxury brands: Desirable or not?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    10. Sofie Bitter & Sonja Grabner-Kräuter, 2016. "Consequences of customer engagement behavior: when negative Facebook posts have positive effects," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 26(3), pages 219-231, August.
    11. Uparna, Jayaram & Bingham, Chris, 2022. "Breaking “Bad”: Negativity’s benefit for entrepreneurial funding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1353-1365.

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