Word-of-Mouth: Influences on the Choice of Recommendation Sources

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 1998 in the subject Business economics - Operations Research, grade: 1.3, University of Nottingham, language: English, abstract: The idea of understanding consumer behaviour as a sequential decision-making process is one that is common in marketing (Engel et al., 1993; Wilkie, 1994; Solomon, 1993; Assael, 1992; Loudon and Della Bitta, 1993; Kotler, 1997). The decision-making process itself is presented as a logical flow of activities, working from problem recognition to purchase to post-purchase evaluation. This decision-making process is affected by a number of other more complex influences. Some of these influences relate to the wider environment in which the decision is being made while others relate to the individual who makes the decision. The main part of this paper is divided into two chapters. Chapter 2, that follows an introduction to the work, is a theoretical one. It is a review of the literature on consumer decision-making and the individual and environmental influences on it. Emphasis is being placed on WOM communication and its role in understanding consumer behaviour. Chapter 3 focuses on the choice of WOM recommendation sources. Empirical research is presented which explores the influences on the choice over WOM recommendation sources. Finally, concluding remarks and recommendations for further research can be found in chapter 4.