Factors Associated with the Production of Word of Mouth

Abstract

Factors that occur before word-of-mouth (WOM) production are examined, using an influential typology established by Mangold et al. (1999). We conduct two surveys, each covering four service categories, and measure the factors associated with both positive and negative word of mouth. We ask respondents to report on both giving and receiving word of mouth. This approach allows us to address three frequency-related concerns about WOM. The first concern is to supply an accurate survey-based count of word-of-mouth antecedents, which will assist those making marketing decisions and formulating advertising strategies. The second use of our results is to build knowledge about WOM factors in a way that assists understanding of the nature of word of mouth. We find limited variation in the frequency of WOM factors by service category. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction have equal frequency in the production of WOM about services and, more generally, the frequencies of the antecedents of positive and negative WOM on services are similar. There is also little difference between the frequencies measured for factors associated with giving WOM and those related to receiving WOM. A third concern has been the practice of deriving frequencies from qualitative reports, as was done by Mangold et al. (1999). Comparing their results with our own, we find substantial differences, which have implications for market research practice. One explanation for these differences is that retrieval bias operates more strongly in qualitative work than in surveys.