Negative word of mouth is something most businesses try to avoid, It could affect the reputation and vision of a company in a consumer’s mind. The success of a company lies in the connection of a product or service with a satisfying good image that has been formed on the back of consumer’s mind. This image can be the result of a positive past experience or the good reputation a company already has. On the other hand, negative word of mouth specifically in social media has the power to destroy the reputation of a company, because of the fast and wide spreading of a crisis in no time. This research will answer the question of how is the market value of a company affected by viral negative sentiment in social media? Focusing on the case study of United Airlines crisis 2017. We show that viral negative sentiment can have a short term effect over a company’s market value, but might not affect in the long term in a counter-intuitive manner.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka sambandet mellan WOM, förväntningar, attityder, upplevd kvalitet och kundtillfredsställelse. Metod: Den befintliga teorin har analyserats för att få en översikt av den tidigare forskningen inom området. Data har samlats in genom en enkätundersökning och sedan bearbetats med hjälp av en deskriptiv analys samt en korrelationsanalys. Resultaten har därefter diskuterats och mynnat ut i studiens slutsats. Slutsats: Studien visar att den viktigaste faktorn för hur tillfredsställd kunden blir är den upplevda kvaliteten av en tjänst. Studien visar även att WOM har en stor påverkan på kundtillfredsställelsen. Vidare konstaterar studien att kundens attityd har en större inverkan än kundens förväntningar på kundtillfredsställelsen. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studiens bidrag till teorin inom företagsekonomins och marknadsföringens forskningsområde är en ökad kunskap om WOM:s påverkan på kundtillfredsställelsen inom tjänstebranschen. Vidare bidrag till ämnet är hur attityder och förväntningar påverkar kundtillfredsställelsen. Studien visar att attityder väger tyngre än förväntningar i fråga om hur tillfredsställd kunden blir. / Title: The relationship between WOM and Customer Satisfaction - expectations, attitudes and perceived quality Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between WOM, expectations, attitudes, perceived quality and customer satisfaction. Method: The existing theory has been analyzed to get an overview of previous research in this area. Data has been collected through a survey and then analyzed by using a descriptive analysis and a correlation analysis. Furthermore, the results have been discussed and concluded in the study's conclusion. Conclusion: The study shows that the most important factor for how satisfied the customer will be is the perceived quality of a service. The study also shows that WOM has a major impact on the customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the study finds that the customer's attitude has a greater impact than the customer's expectations on the customer satisfaction.

Swedish travelers’ consumption has increased in relation to better economic conditions and demographic changes. In 2017, domestic leisure travelers’ consumption increased and the reason for such a changed tourism industry which is due to a changed behavior among travelers. One major reason is that internet and social media has had a major impact on the tourism industry (TIllväxtverket, 2017). Social media has developed new marketing techniques such as Influencer Marketing (IM) and Viral Marketing. The purpose of this study is to find out how travelers are affected by IM when choosing a destination, as a basis for this research the writers created a web survey where the target group was Swedish travelers who like to travel, the survey was answered by 188 respondents. The writers used netnography to review ten influencers to build their own interpretation of the subject and the result suggests that influencers have a role as an information source (eWOM) but are not the decision-making source for travelers’ consumption.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-04-17T12:18:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Maíse Soares Pereira.pdf: 1072154 bytes, checksum: 1d57ed3cafa138c0d99a0265873c519b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-17T12:18:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maíse Soares Pereira.pdf: 1072154 bytes, checksum: 1d57ed3cafa138c0d99a0265873c519b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-16 / Nenhuma / Até algumas décadas visto como fenômeno sociológico, o boca-a-boca tem sido utilizado como tática de marketing para disseminação de informação, persuasão e conquista de novos clientes. De forma crescente, uma das estratégias que as empresas estão descobrindo para melhor aproveitá-lo se traduz na construção de programas de marketing boca-a-boca, que nada mais é do que a gestão de recomendações provocadas pela organização, via incentivo a um grupo de participantes. Essas iniciativas suscitam novas abordagens e questionamentos, considerando possíveis problemas éticos sobre a credibilidade deste tipo de recomendação, bem como trazendo o foco dos estudos sobre boca-a-boca para seu receptor, ao contrário do extenso corpo de pesquisa sobre seus antecedentes. Para tentar preencher estas lacunas de conhecimento do que faz alguém aceitar uma recomendação e qual o impacto dela fazer parte de um programa incentivado de marketing boca-a-boca é que esta tese se apresenta. Objetivando conhecer e mensurar as fontes de influência para a aceitação de uma recomendação boca-a-boca, este estudo, após revisão de pesquisas sobre o tema, propôs um modelo capaz de relacionar e mensurar o impacto de um conjunto de elementos influenciadores para a aceitação de uma recomendação, bem como o efeito específico da participação em programa incentivado de marketing boca-a-boca. Após investigação qualitativa, com 12 entrevistas em profundidade para compreensão e refinamento dos elementos, uma survey foi aplicada a 350 participantes, público em geral. O instrumento de coleta de dados aplicado continha uma abordagem retrospectiva - inquirindo sobre recomendações passadas recebidas - e uma apresentação de cenário hipotético - inquirindo sobre a participação da recomendação em programa incentivado de marketing boca-a-boca. Como resultados do modelo, destaca-se a expertise de quem recomenda, bem como a similaridade que este possui com quem recebe a recomendação, os elementos mais relacionados à mensagem recomendada e sua consequente predisposição a aceitá-la. Ainda, foi possível identificar que o incentivo não anula a predisposição de aceitação da recomendação, no entanto, provoca sua redução, sugerindo cautela em sua utilização. Outros resultados do estudo ainda foram discutidos, bem como suas implicações para a academia e comunidade empresarial. / Considered over the last decades as a sociological phenomenon, word-of-mouth (WOM) has been used as a marketing tool for information diffusion, persuasion and customer winning. One of the growing company strategies due to these activities are the word-of-mouth marketing programs, which offer a group of current customers incentives to talk positively about their products/services to others. Such initiatives raise new approaches and concerns, considering possible ethical dilemmas about WOM credibility and also changing its focus from WOM givers to those who receive it. Hence, this dissertation is presented in order to fulfill the knowledge gaps of what makes someone accept a WOM recommendation and the impact of it coming from a company organized marketing program. Aiming to identify and measure sources of influence for WOM recommendation acceptance, the present study proposes, after literature review, a relational model able to correlate and measure the impact of a group of elements on WOM acceptance willingness as well as the particular effect of it being part of a company designed marketing campaign. So as to identify new and refine theoretical elements, a qualitative inquiry of 12 in-depth interviews was held which results conveyed input to a survey applied to 350 interviewees. Data collection questionnaire presented a retrospective design – inquiring about past received recommendations – and also a hypothetical scenario presentation – implying the recommendation being part of a company designed marketing program. Main model results indicate provider’s expertise as well as its similarity with receiver most related elements to WOM message and its resultant acceptance willingness. Still, findings could show company incentive does not annul recommendation acceptance willingness, however causes its reduction, suggesting caution on its usage. More detailed findings were discussed in the study, as well as its implications to academy and business community.

I takt med den ökade betydelsen av symbolisk konsumtion har begreppet Social Media Influencers, SMI, grundats. SMI är ett samlingsbegrepp för de oberoende personer som genom sina sociala medier påverkar och inspirerar sina följare genom att vara en förebild inom mode, skönhet, livsstil, hälsa och inredning. SMI representerar dagens opinionsledare då de genom sina sociala medier sprider marknadsföring som människor uppfattar som uppriktig och genuin. Idag används SMI strategiskt av företag för att nå ut till kunder på ett individualiserat och anpassat sätt. Den här nya typen av marknadsföringsstrategi kan ses som en modern version av Word of Mouth (WOM). Marknadsföringsstrategin grundas i att informationen som kommer från en SMI ofta uppfattas mer som rekommendationer än reklam. SMI har en betydande roll på marknaden idag då det är viktigare än någonsin att visa upp vilken social grupp man tillhör. Speciellt för unga kvinnor, som finner det viktigt att passa in och följa nya trender. Instagram är utsedd till en av de mest skadliga sociala medierna för ungdomars mentala hälsa. Detta då det bidrar till en ohälsosam självbild och skapar höga krav på människors liv. Samtidigt som SMIs roll på marknaden växer, blir konsumenter allt mer reklamtrötta. Därför ifrågasätts SMI som fenomen och 329 kvinnor runt om i Sverige har besvarat en webbenkät kring sin inställning till SMI på Instagram. Det är tydligt att många kvinnor har svårt att bilda en konkret uppfattning kring sin inställning till fenomenet och många varierar sig i sina ställningstaganden. Undersökningen visar att kvinnor med högre utbildning och i äldre åldrar är kritiska till budskapen SMI sprider via Instagram, medan kvinnor med lägre utbildning och i den yngre generationen anser marknadsföringen från SMI som uppriktig och ärlig i en högre grad. Undersökningen visar också att trots att många kvinnor har en negativ inställning till SMI säger de sig ändå handla produkter som SMI rekommenderar. / In line with the increased importance of symbolic consumption the notion of Social Media Influencers, SMI, has been found. SMI is a concept used to describe independent people who both influence and inspire other people on their social media channels by being a role model in fashion, beauty, lifestyle, health and interior design. SMI represents today’s opinion leaders by using their social media channels to spread advertising and marketing to people who perceive the information as sincere and genuine. Today SMI are used in companies business strategies to reach out to customers in a individualized and faithful manner. This new kind of marketing strategy can be seen as a modern version of Word of Mouth (WOM). The purpose by using this kind of marketing is that the information that comes from an SMI are often perceived more as recommendations than advertising. SMI’s got a significant role on the market today and it’s more important than ever before to show what social group you belong to. Especially for young womens, who finds it important to fit in and follow the last trends. Instagram is one of the social media platforms which is the most detrimental for young people’s mental health. It contributes to an unhealthy self-image and creates high demands on people's life. At the same time as SMI is rapidly growing, consumers gets tired of being constantly chased by advertising. Therefore people are now questioning SMI as a phenomenon. 329 women in Sweden have participated in a web survey about their approach to SMI at Instagram. It’s shown that many women find it hard to form a concrete perception of their attitude towards the phenomenon and many women varies in their positions. The survey shows that older women and women with higher education are critical towards what SMI’s are posting on Instagram, while women with lower education and in younger generations consider SMI's marketing to be sincere and honest. The survey also shows that despite the fact that many women got a negative attitude towards SMI, they’re still keen on buying whatever that SMI recommends them to buy.

Titel: Kritik till allmän beskådan - En kvalitativ studie om service recovery på sociala medier Nivå: C-uppsats inom ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Cornelia Gustafsson och Emma Smyth Handledare: Akmal Hyder Datum: 2018 - maj Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att skapa förståelse för hur service recovery på sociala medier skiljer sig åt i jämförelse med traditionell service recovery som sker fysiskt på plats.   Metod: Studien antog en induktiv ansats och genomfördes med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Utifrån tidigare forskning genomfördes tio semistrukturerade intervjuer som spelades in och transkriberades. Materialet har bearbetats och analyserats för att kunna besvara studiens syfte.    Resultat och slutsats: Studien konstaterar att det är av yttersta vikt att företag bemöter och besvarar negativt eWOM som skrivs på deras sociala medier och att detta sker snabbt och effektivt.  Vi fann i studien att företag besvarar negativa recensioner på sociala medier med en positiv tonalitet, vilket kan handla om att visa förståelse, visa uppskattning och tacka för feedback. Studien kan även konstatera att service recovery-processen delvis har förändrats i och med utvecklingen av sociala medier och att företag numera ställs inför nya utmaningar när de ska hantera negativt eWOM   Förslag till vidare forskning: Utifrån begränsningarna i denna studie kan vidare forskning genomföras. En av begränsningarna är att studien är avgränsad till att studera enbart hotellbranschen. Detta innebär att ett alternativ till vidare forskning är att studera även andra branscher, för att ta reda på om resultatet är tillämpningsbart även då. En annan begränsning är att studien enbart studerar service recovery ur ett företagsperspektiv. En intressant aspekt hade därför varit att genomföra en studie som fokuserar på konsumenternas perspektiv.   Uppsatsen bidrag: Studien bidrar till en ökad förståelse för hur företag använder service recovery för att hantera negativt eWOM på sociala medier. Den bidrar även med en större förståelse för hur hanteringen av negativa kommentarer och recensioner ser ut i praktiken för hotellföretag. Detta kan ge nya insikter vad gäller personalbehov och strategier för att hantera de utmaningar som utvecklingen av service recovery på sociala medier medför.    Nyckelord: Sociala medier, service recovery, marknadsföring, word-of-mouth, WOM, eWOM / Title: Criticism on display - A qualitative study on service recovery on social media Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Cornelia Gustafsson & Emma Smyth Supervisor: Akmal Hyder Date: 2018 – may   Aim: This study aims to increase the understanding about the way service recovery on social media differs in comparison to traditional service recovery that occurs face-to-face.   Method: This study takes an inductive approach and it was conducted with a qualitative research design. Based on the theoretical frame of reference, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The material has been processed and analyzed to answer the purpose of the study.   Result & Conclusions: The study shows that it is extremely important that businesses respond to negative eWOM that is written on their social media, and that this response needs to happen quickly. Our research shows that businesses responds to negative eWOM with a positive approach; this can include showing understanding, appreciation and thanking the person that wrote the comment for the feedback. From this research we have come to the conclusion that the service recovery process partially has changed due to social media and that businesses today are faced with new challenges when it comes to dealing with negative eWOM.   Suggestions for future research: We suggest further research to be made in other industries as we have only focused on companies within the hotel industry. We also believe more research should be made from the customers perspective, as we have solely focused on the company perspective. Therefore, the same research could be concluded, studying service recovery on social media, but from the customer point of view taking things like customer satisfaction in to account.   Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes with an increased understanding about the way businesses use service recovery to deal with negative eWOM on social media. The study also contributes with an increased understanding about the way hotels deal with negative comments and reviews. This knowledge can lead to a better understanding about a possible change when it comes to hotel staff. The knowledge can also be beneficial when creating strategies on how to deal with the changes it brings, when service recovery takes place on social media.   Key words: Social media, service recovery, marketing, word-of-mouth, WOM, eWOM

Social media is getting more and more important for both customers and companies as the use of social media increases each year. Previous research shows that there is a positive link between the use of social media and online shopping. The purpose of this study is to explore which factors that drives the purchases of clothes online. The factors studied are the traditional factors price, quality and word-of-mouth and the digital factors electronic word-of-mouth, influencers and ads on social media. The study has been limited to the social platforms Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. In the study a quantitative method has been used and data was collected through a survey. The data material consists of responses from 145 respondents and have been statistically analysed through a bivariate and multivariate analysis in SPSS. The result shows that the factors that have an impact on the customer's online shopping behaviour are price, eWOM, influencers and ads, and that Instagram is the platform where customers are most affected. The study has contributed with an increased understanding of the factors that influence the customer's online clothing purchases, and what social media platform companies should focus their marketing to. The study has also shown that eWOM is becoming more important for customers compared to WOM, which has decreased in relevance for the customers in this context.

In this Bachelor’s essay we discuss whether eWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) is perceived as advertisement or as normal information, which is not influenced by any company, on the platform Facebook. The information which we were interested in is the one spread by normal users, and user’s perception of it. To find our results we have conducted a study in which we have used the method interview, which gives qualitative results. Our chosen selection group contains young adults with ages spreading from 19 to 24, mainly because the group with ages between 16 to 24 is the group with most users according to “Statistiska centralbyrån” (2011). Our result points towards that users perceive a dichotomy between Facebook’s advertising and information spread by other users. The factor of interest (of the users) is according to our findings important to get a potential customer interested in a product. The other factor which makes opinions more trustworthy is the relationship one has with the source of the information. The closer the friend, the more trustworthy the information is pursuant to our results. What this could mean in the future of marketing is hard to predict but our results and earlier research could point towards new marketing strategies for companies.

The goal of my master thesis is to describe the Automated Sentiment Analysis, its methods and Cross-domain problems and to test the already existing model. I have applied this model on the data from the Czech-Slovak film database website CSFD.cz, Czech e-shop MALL.cz and one of the biggest Czech websites about books Databazeknih.cz to contribute to the solution of the Cross-Domain issue by using n-grams and the analytic software RapidMiner.

Syftet med vår studie är att utifrån resemotivet image studera på vilka sätt image och dess indelningarutgör faktorer när turisterna väljer destination att besöka. Med ‘dess indelningar’ syftar vi till att undersöka kognitiv och affektiv image har en betydande roll för människor bosatta i Sverige när de väljer att semestra i landet. Vidare har vi även för avsikt att studera och besvara om det finns likheter och/eller skillnader mellan olika demografiska grupper där kön och ålder ligger i fokus.  Vi har grundat studien i fyra olika teman: Image, WOM/eWOM (Word of mouth/electronic Word of Mouth), Staycation och Resemotiv. Dessa teman är även de som utgör vår studies teoretiska ramverk. I denna studie har vi använt oss av en kvantitativ metod där vi valt att nyttja oss av en enkätstudie för att samla in data och studiens vetenskapsteoretiska förhållningssätt är socialkonstruktionism. Utifrån vårt syfte och frågeställningar har vi sedan valt att strukturera upp frågorna i enkätverktyget Survey & report och därefter har vår insamlade data analyserats med hjälp av verktyget SPSS för att nå fram till studiens resultat. Vårt resultat påvisar att image som resemotiv har en betydande roll när människor väljer semesterdestination inom Sverige. Däremot syns det att image som eget begrepp inte är välkänt bland våra respondenter när de får resonera kring sitt eget resemotiv. Vi diskuterar detta närmre i vårt analyskapitel vilket sedan övergår till att presentera våra slutsatser och förslag på framtida forskning. / The purpose of our study is to, based on the travel motive image, study in which ways image and its division constitute factors when tourists choose a destination to visit in Sweden. With ‘its division’, we aim to investigate whether cognitive and affective image has a significant role for people living in Sweden when they choose a vacation in the country. Furthermore, we also intend to study and answer whether there are similarities and/or differences between different demographic groups where gender and age are in focus. We have based the study on four different themes: Image, WOM/eWOM (Word of Mouth/electronic Word of Mouth), Staycation and Travel motives. These themes are also those that constitute the theoretical framework of our study. In this study, we have used a quantitative method in which we have chosen to use a questionnaire study to collect data and the study's scientific theoretical approach is social constructionism. Based on our purpose and questions, we have then chosen to structure the questions in the survey tool Survey & report and then our collected data has been analyzed with the help of the tool SPSS to reach the study results. Our results show that image as a travel motive plays a significant role when people choose a holiday destination within Sweden. On the other hand, it seems that image as its own concept is not so well known among our respondents when they can reason about their own travel motive. We discuss this in more detail in our analysis chapter, which then moves on to present our results and proposals for future research.