Seeking Word of Mouth: An Empirical Investigation of Consumer Motivations

Abstract

The underlying purchase motives behind any purchase decision have always attracted the attention of researchers in the field of consumer psychology. The effect of word-of-mouth on consumers' purchase decision is one such area of interest which has remained under scruitinity of researchers for long. However, with significant changes in the socio-economic and sociocultural environment of Indian markets it has become imperative to look into the is issue of word-of-mouth's effect on decision making afresh. The present study attempted to do the same and yielded significant results. It was found that qualities and benefits of word of-mouth are very much similar across various demographic groups with some differences in preferences.