Making word-of-mouth impactful: why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases

Wilson Bastos; Sarah G. Moore

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.022

Making word-of-mouth impactful: why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases

Wilson Bastos^*
, Sarah G. Moore^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

54 Citations (Scopus)

118 Downloads

Abstract

This paper documents evidence from five studies showing that WOM about experiential versus material purchases is superior in evoking reactions from WOM receivers that are valuable for firms (e.g., purchase intention). We find that this difference emerges from receivers’ perception that WOM about an experience (vs. material object) is more substantive (i.e., involving, meaningful). Further, we test two potential antecedents of substantive WOM: receivers’ and senders’ identification with the purchase. Mediation- and moderation-based evidence indicates that receiver-, but not sender-, identification drives substantiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	110-123
Number of pages	14
Journal	Journal of Business Research
Volume	130
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.022
Publication status	Published - Jun 2021

Keywords

Consumer reaction
Experiential purchase
Material purchase
Substantiveness
Word-of-mouth

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10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.022

28937847Accepted author manuscript, 1.54 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/33441Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

@article{e70589bf90744226a6005c6553420abc,

title = "Making word-of-mouth impactful: why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases",

abstract = "This paper documents evidence from five studies showing that WOM about experiential versus material purchases is superior in evoking reactions from WOM receivers that are valuable for firms (e.g., purchase intention). We find that this difference emerges from receivers{\textquoteright} perception that WOM about an experience (vs. material object) is more substantive (i.e., involving, meaningful). Further, we test two potential antecedents of substantive WOM: receivers{\textquoteright} and senders{\textquoteright} identification with the purchase. Mediation- and moderation-based evidence indicates that receiver-, but not sender-, identification drives substantiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.",

keywords = "Consumer reaction, Experiential purchase, Material purchase, Substantiveness, Word-of-mouth",

author = "Wilson Bastos and Moore, \{Sarah G.\}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by a grant to the first author from the FCT–Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology and by an Insight Development Grant to the second author from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Conflicts of interest: none. We gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of the following individuals on prior versions of this manuscript: Ana Bianchi de Aguiar, Jonah Berger, Sidney Levy, and Matthias Mehl. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier Inc.",

year = "2021",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.022",

language = "English",

volume = "130",

pages = "110--123",

journal = "Journal of Business Research",

issn = "0148-2963",

publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Making word-of-mouth impactful

T2 - why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases

AU - Bastos, Wilson

AU - Moore, Sarah G.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by a grant to the first author from the FCT–Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology and by an Insight Development Grant to the second author from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Conflicts of interest: none. We gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of the following individuals on prior versions of this manuscript: Ana Bianchi de Aguiar, Jonah Berger, Sidney Levy, and Matthias Mehl. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Inc.

PY - 2021/6

Y1 - 2021/6

N2 - This paper documents evidence from five studies showing that WOM about experiential versus material purchases is superior in evoking reactions from WOM receivers that are valuable for firms (e.g., purchase intention). We find that this difference emerges from receivers’ perception that WOM about an experience (vs. material object) is more substantive (i.e., involving, meaningful). Further, we test two potential antecedents of substantive WOM: receivers’ and senders’ identification with the purchase. Mediation- and moderation-based evidence indicates that receiver-, but not sender-, identification drives substantiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

AB - This paper documents evidence from five studies showing that WOM about experiential versus material purchases is superior in evoking reactions from WOM receivers that are valuable for firms (e.g., purchase intention). We find that this difference emerges from receivers’ perception that WOM about an experience (vs. material object) is more substantive (i.e., involving, meaningful). Further, we test two potential antecedents of substantive WOM: receivers’ and senders’ identification with the purchase. Mediation- and moderation-based evidence indicates that receiver-, but not sender-, identification drives substantiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

KW - Consumer reaction

KW - Experiential purchase

KW - Material purchase

KW - Substantiveness

KW - Word-of-mouth

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85103267130

U2 - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.022

DO - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.022

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85103267130

SN - 0148-2963

VL - 130

SP - 110

EP - 123

JO - Journal of Business Research

JF - Journal of Business Research

ER -

Making word-of-mouth impactful: why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases

Abstract

Keywords

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CUBE: Católica Lisbon Research Unit in Business and Economics

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Making word-of-mouth impactful: why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases

Abstract

Keywords

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CUBE: Católica Lisbon Research Unit in Business and Economics

Cite this