Understanding the Relationship between Individualism and Word of Mouth: A Self‐Enhancement Explanation

ABSTRACT This study examines factors moderating the relationship between individualism and word-of-mouth(WOM) transmission. The conceptual model is based on the premise that high-individualismconsumers are highly driven by the self-enhancement motive when they transmit WOM and that theychange their willingness to provide WOM based on the perceived opportunity for self-enhancement.The results reveal that high-individualism consumers are more willing than low-individualismconsumers to transmit WOM in relation to satisfactory consumption experiences (vs. unsatisfactory),when WOM is unsolicited (vs. solicited), and when the context involves high perceived social risk (vs.low perceived social risk). Thus, the ﬁndings indicate that self-enhancement may indeed be theunderlying mechanism in the relationship between individualism and WOM transmission. © 2014Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Word of mouth (WOM) has interested researcherswithinthemarketingﬁeldformorethan50years. Earlyresearch indicates that WOM can play a powerful rolein inﬂuencing consumer decisions (Whyte, 1954), espe-ciallyinrelationtotheadoptionofnewproducts(Arndt,1967; Brooks, 1957; Engel, Kegerreis, & Blackwell,1969). WOM is considered more credible than infor-mation from commercial sources (Murray, 1991) and iseffective for reducing consumers’ perceived risks asso-ciated with purchases of products and services (Arndt,1967). As a consequence, marketers have sought waysof utilizing the power of WOM for decades (Dichter,1966), often with the goal of activating a particular in-ﬂuential group of WOM transmitters known as opin-ion leaders (Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955; Mancuso, 1969;Summers, 1970). In recent years, interest in WOM as a market-ing phenomenon has further increased as opportuni-ties represented by WOM through the Internet arebecoming evident for businesses (Barnes & Pressey,2012). Particularly, the social media platforms onwhich consumers interact with each other and gener-ate WOM content are capturing the attention of busi-nesses (Kozinets, de Valck, Wojnicki, & Wilner, 2010). These platforms are contributing to unveiling the mys-tery of WOM, which has gone from being elusive andephemeral (Stern, 1994) to becoming something busi-nessescantrackandmeasure(Godes&Mayzlin,2004). Social media has also made WOM more rapid, perva-sive, and, consequently, more powerful (Yeh & Choi,2011). However, marketers who strive to capitalize onthepowerofWOMshouldbeawarethatastrategythatis centered on the use of social media tactics alone maybe limiting, as most WOM still occurs in face-to-face in-teraction(Keller&Fay,2012). Rather,marketersmustadopt a holistic perspective of how they can inﬂuenceWOM conversations among consumers. Subsequently,it is crucial to gain an understanding of the underlyingmechanisms of the WOM phenomenon, especially thedrivers of its dissemination (Godes et al., 2005). A large amount of research proposes that attitudi-nalfactorssuchasproduct/servicequality,satisfaction,and loyalty are the main drivers of WOM (De Matos &Rossi, 2008). However, a study by Mazzarol, Sweeney,and Soutar (2007) suggests that satisfaction or loyaltyalone might not provide sufﬁcient motivation for anindividual to transmit WOM. Godes et al. (2005) pro-pose that the motivation to transmit WOM might be afunction of individual differences. Recent research con-ﬁrms this, showing that WOM activity may depend, forexample, on consumer needs for uniqueness (Cheema& Kaikati, 2010), expertise (Wojnicki & Godes, 2008),orself-conﬁdence(Chelminski&Coulter,2007). Hence,investigatingwhatcharacterizesconsumerswithanin-creasedlikelihoodoftransmittingWOMisimportanttoenhance the knowledge of the antecedents of WOM.In this study, the authors focus on how individual-ism contributes to explaining the occurrence of WOM