Motivations to engage in word of mouth from non-market participants: A study using automotive business as the field of investigation

• Main Author: KWAN, Yao Han
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
• Subjects: Word of mouth; electronic word of mouth; market participants; non-market participants; Advertising and Promotion Management; Marketing; Sales and Merchandising
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/157; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1157&context=etd_coll
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Word of mouth (WOM) can have significant impacts on businesses. Positive WOM can go a long way in helping to grow a brand while negative WOM may cause considerable damages. Managers have constantly attempted to actively manage WOM but often find it difficult to control. Extensive academic research has also been conducted in this field, with a significant amount of literature built up over the last few decades. The advent of the Internet, social media and consequently electronic WOM (eWOM) further intensified practice and research interest in this area. Despite decades of research and managerial precepts about WOM, the full working dynamics may not be fully understood. One significant gap is the common but simplistic assumption that WOM comes mostly from market participants (MPs). Using eWOM in the automotive industry as our field of investigation, we found that non-market participants (NMPs) are significant contributors of eWOM as well. We adopted the Uses and Gratifications (U & G) theory and discovered that even though these NMPs do not have obvious market relations with the brands, some of the motivations that lead them to generate eWOM include the gratification of informational and aspirational needs. Our findings of NMPs as considerable contributors of eWOM and their motivations for doing so can have important managerial implications, as well as fill a gap in current WOM / eWOM literature.