The Impact of Feedback on Word of Mouth

• Author / Creator

  Weber, Virginia L.

• This research focuses on how consumers are impacted by receiving feedback on word of mouth recommendations. In particular, I examine what occurs when a consumer recommends an experience to another person, and this other person has the experience and returns to say that they did or did not like it. I find that the valence of this feedback impacts subsequent word of mouth, and that impact in turn depends on whether the recommender is self-focused or other-focused when making their recommendation. When recommenders make other-focused recommendations, negative (versus positive) feedback acts as a threat that causes them to dissociate from the experience, decreasing their subsequent recommendation intentions. However, when recommenders make self-focused recommendations, this buffers them against the threat, and so they do not decrease their subsequent recommendation intentions after negative feedback.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • consumer behaviour
  • word of mouth
  • social feedback
  • self threat
  • marketing

• Graduation date

  Fall 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3RR1Q34M

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.