In marketing literature, the consumer engagement concept has gained the significant attention of researchers. Based on the stimuli-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, current research proposed to analyze the association between consumers' perception of characteristics of firm-generated content (FGC) on Instagram and positive electronic word of mouth by consumers through affective consumer engagement. The quantitative research technique was employed to evaluate the hypotheses and theoretical framework, and an online survey was developed for this research. The backdrop for this study is Pakistan’s restaurant Instagram accounts due to the importance of engagement in the food sector. To test the hypotheses, SPSS software is used. From the analysis and results generated from different tools, it is found that Customer engagement is significantly affected by perceived enjoyment which they get from original Instagram post of the brands they follow. Additionally, it is found that if a firm or brand puts in effort in enhancing their content catering to better perceived enjoyment and perceived originality for improving customers’ engagement, then they are more likely to improve the WOM numbers which can bring in more followers and evidently more business.

The use of e-mail communication between consumers has been growing and companies are seeking to increase their understanding of this type of private communication medium between consumers. The privacy and cost-effectiveness characteristics of e-mail make it an important communication medium for consumers. Consumers use e-mail to exchange a variety of information including electronic word of mouth (eWOM) about products, services and organisations. The travel industry, the context of this study, is increasingly being delivered online. Understanding what influences consumers and how consumers evaluate eWOM will increase the travel industry’s knowledge about its consumer base. This study aims to contribute to existing knowledge on the impact of eWOM on consumer purchase intention. Its focus is on an interpersonal context where eWOM is sent from the source to the receiver in an e-mail about holiday destination. The study, which was undertaken from a positivist perspective, used qualitative and quantitative research techniques to better understand the influence of eWOM on purchase intention. The literature on word of mouth (WOM) and eWOM was initially examined to identify the major factors that have an influence on the receiver of eWOM. Consistent with previous studies, both perceived expertise and similarity were identified as source characteristics that have an influence on the receiver’s purchase intention. The literature also indicated that trustworthiness belief would have a key effect on the influence of eWOM on the attitude of the receiver. Consequently, this study examined each trustworthiness dimension – ability, benevolence, and integrity – with respect to its role in the influence of eWOM on purchase intention. The literature review also revealed that certain receiver characteristics were important in the process of influence, especially consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. The relationships between the variables identified were further developed into the research model, which has its roots in the theory of reasoned-action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) and the dual process theory of influence (Deutsch and Gerard, 1955). Methodologically, a scenario-building approach to developing authentic e-mail was used. The qualitative data gathered from eight focus group discussions were analysed using “framework analysis” (Ritchie and Spencer, 1994) to develop eight scenarios. This was then used to manipulate the moderating variables in the scenario. Three manipulations, each with two levels, were included: eWOM direction “positive and negative”; source characteristic of “expert/non-expert”; and source characteristic of “similar/non-similar”. These scenarios formed part of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of University of Bradford students. The final number of usable questionnaires was 477. Structural equation modelling was used to determine the validity of the conceptual model and test the hypotheses. In particular, multiple group analysis was used to assess both the measurement and structural models, and to identify the impact of the eWOM direction. The theoretical model that describes the relationships between the exogenous variables (source’s and receiver’s characteristics) and the endogenous variables (trustworthiness dimensions, interpersonal influence and purchase intention) was accepted. The research findings provided empirical evidence on the difference in the impact of positive and negative eWOM on purchase intention. The source’s and receiver’s characteristics and related trustworthiness beliefs, (i.e. ability, benevolence, and integrity) are influenced by the direction of eWOM. The findings show that positive and negative eWOM differ with respect to how they impact on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. For instance, consumers have more belief in the credibility of a source who provides negative eWOM. However, the overall influence of the source’s characteristics tends to be stronger with positive than with negative eWOM. The findings of this study provide insights for both academics and practitioners to understand the potential of eWOM. This might be tailored to help develop more private relationships with customers through e-mail marketing strategies that incorporate eWOM. Negative eWOM is more credible but less directly useful to marketers. Nevertheless, it is important for marketers to realise the significance of managing dissatisfaction and to harness the power of negative eWOM. Similarly, positive eWOM is effective especially when the source is both expert and similar. This might be translated into online marketing campaigns that use consumer-to-consumer discussions in addition to viral marketing. Future research might test the model in different contexts, (e.g. financial services), to provide a more comprehensive picture of the influence of eWOM on purchase intention.

Sociala mediemiljön är ständigt i förändring och det lanseras kontinuerligt nya plattformar som användare etablerar sig på. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur företag använder nya sociala medieplattformar som marknadskommunikationskanaler, samt om företagens tidigare erfarenheter inom sociala mediemarknadsföring underlättar utformningen av marknadsföringsstrategier på nya plattformar. Två frågeställningar formulerades där den första frågeställningen berör hur företag använder nya sociala medieplattformar i jämförelse med äldre plattformar. Den andra frågeställningen berör hur tidigare erfarenheter av sociala medieplattformar spelar roll när företag etablerar sig på nya plattformar.  Studiens teoretiska ramverk tog avstamp i teorier om marknadsföring i sociala medier, visuell kommunikation, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) samt social customer relationship management (SCRM). Empiriskt material har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visar att plattformar används i olika syften och att företagen därför har skilda marknadsföringsstrategier för dem. Tidigare erfarenheter underlättar utformningen av marknadsföringsstrategier på nya plattformar till viss del eftersom det ofta innebär att företagen redan har ett sociala medieteam, resurserna som krävs och kunskapen kring hur sociala medier fungerar i stort.

People's engagements in social communities online have over recent years proven to be of great importance on others' opinions when purchasing products. Word-of-Mouth (WOM) has been around since ancient times and is a concept about consumers communicating with each other about their experience about services and products. Over the last decades research on Word-of-Mouth has increased when it was discovered how it has the power to influence consumers' purchase behaviours. The modern era of the introduction of the internet gave Word-of-Mouth a new concept called Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) that has given people the opportunity to share their negative and positive experiences online with others by leaving reviews. These reviews can be read by customers with access to the internet and could change their purchase intentions and therefore affect the company's sales and reputation. It has given the companies the opportunity to read about customers reviews and the chance to respond to the reviews by leaving comments online. This gave this study the opportunity to research if companies in Luleå are responding to negative reviews. As well, if the customers believe that their purchase intention is being affected by other users' reviews, and if the customers believe the companies can change the outcome of a review by responding to them.  In this study, quantitative research was used to collect data through surveys in Facebook groups with questions limited to Luleå. The questions were divided into three sections: Reading reviews, Responding to reviews, and Purchase intention. The study found that there was a relationship between the variables reading reviews, responding to reviews, and purchase intention. Previous literature has meant that people write more negative reviews when they have the ability to complain and write reviews through the Internet. However, for this study in Luleå, it was shown that this is not the case. It was found that few of the respondents gave negative reviews about the businesses in Luleå and that the businesses in Luleå did not respond to them. It was also found that respondents read reviews before buying, which affected their intention to buy, with negative reviews being more important than positive ones. People in Luleå consider negative reviews trustworthy and believe that businesses can change the outcome of negative reviews by responding to them. Therefore, it is of interest for local businesses in Luleå to review and respond to negative online reviews as they will impact their business.

Background: The great majority of travellers read online reviews before selecting a hotel. Showcasing how big of a role online customer reviews (OCR) play in the consumer decision-making process. Apart from potential financial gains, reviews also help to indicate the areas that performed excellently and those that still need to be improved. However, only a part of hotel visitors actually leave an online review after a hotel stay indicating that there is still room for increasing the amount of OCR left to boost hotel performance and drive sales.   Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore how hotel managers work with OCR and provide recommendations on how they can incorporate it into their business successfully. Method: This study follows a qualitative research approach by conducting semi-structured interviews with five hotel managers and a CEO from a ratings and review agency.  Conclusion: The study found that although all hotels use OCR to some extent, chain hotels often apply more advanced strategies. This study identified several strategies that could be adopted to increase the amount of online reviews. For instance, by developing omnichannel to make the customer experience seamless, offer them easy feedback tools, and the possibility to give short reviews. This is in addition to offering the option for guests to choose if they want to share longer and deeper feedback afterwards. Also, it is important to research when it is most convenient for hotel guests to leave a review. This would be either straight after the hotel stay or a few days later. Overall, it is important to develop good customer relationship management to improve customer satisfaction, but at the same time have a well-developed service failure system in case something negative is indicated in the review.

根據美國National Endowment for Financial Education 2010年的調查，過去一年內80%的受訪者從事過衝動購買，可以認為衝動購買的發生十分普遍。衝動購買行為在過去數年已經受到多方領域的探討與研究，產出了豐富且重要的研究成果；隨著網際網路的出現，許多學者開始注意到網路對於線上或離線衝動購買的影響，但網路口碑對於衝動購買行為的影響尚有許多探討之空間，因此本研究的目的為探討網路口碑的資訊從眾對於消費者衝動購買之影響，以及商品需要和購買制約因素構成的干擾效果。本研究透過網路問卷進行研究資料的蒐集，調查對象為過去半年內曾經閱讀過某一商品網路口碑的網路使用者，共得有效樣本528份。研究結論為： 1. 消費者的網路口碑資訊從眾程度對於其閱讀商品網路口碑之後所產生的商品慾望具有正向影響，當網路口碑資訊從眾程度越高時，消費者閱讀口碑後的商品慾望程度也越高。此外，消費者受口碑影響後所產生的商品需要認知並不會干擾資訊從眾程度對於商品慾望的影響。 2. 消費者對於商品的慾望越高、衝動購買的意圖也越高。衝動購買意圖越高時，消費者衝動購買行為從事衝動購買的可能性也越高，並且只要稍加提高消費者的衝動購買意圖，衝動購買的可能性將大幅上升。 3. 衝動購買制約因素對於消費者的衝動購買意圖發展為衝動購買存在阻止效果，當消費者感受到制約因素時，衝動購買的發生可能性將降低。而主要會阻止消費者衝動購買的因素為「可運用購買預算的限制」。 本研究能提供給學術界與實務界進行衝動購買的研究參考與購物網站經營管理的規劃運用。

Detta arbete inspirerades av att ha observerat reklamkampanjer som fått väldigt stor spridning till följd av att de uppmärksammats pga. att konsumenter har ogillat eller gillat budskapet i kampanjen vilket gett upphov till diskussioner muntligen eller online. Denna undersökning syftar till att undersöka hur faktorer som kön och ålder kan påverka konsumenters intryck av kontroversiell reklam och hur kontroversiell reklam kan påverka konsumenternas attityd till varumärken som använt sig av kontroversiell reklam. Studien undersöker även sannolikheten att konsumenter sprider positiv eller negativ word of mouth/elektronisk word of mouth om ett varumärke som använt sig av kontroversiell reklam.   Undersökningen genomfördes med en enkät med standardiserade svar där den insamlade datan sedan analyserades med Chi2 test, bivariat korrelationsanalys samt multipel regressionsanalys. I undersökningen kunde respondenterna ta ställning till fem positiva och fem negativa adjektiv, kopplade till en reklambild. Analysen indikerade att kvinnor var både mer negativa och mindre positiva till kontroversiell reklam, åtminstone för de utföranden som testades i studien, därtill visade studien att äldre var mindre positiva till kontroversiell reklam. Slutligen indikerade studien att konsumenters attityd till ett varumärke påverkas i enlighet med dess intryck av reklamen, dvs. att om dess intryck var negativt kommer de sprida ett negativt omdöme. Detta samband gällde även för word of mouth. / This study was inspired from observing ads that stirredup controversy and thereby got a lot of attention from consumers.The purpose of this study was to investigate how factors like gender and age may affectconsumers impression of controversial advertisements, but also to investigate how controversial advertisements may affect consumers attitudes towards brands that have used advertisements that were deemed as controversial. Lastly,the study investigates the probability that consumers will spread word of mouth/electronicword of mouth about the brands. The study was conducted through a survey with standardized answers and the data was analyzed with a Chi2 test, bivariate correlation analysis,and multiple regression analysis. The analysis indicated that women were more negative and less positive towards controversial advertisement than men were, atleastwithin the categories that were tested in the study. Furthermore, the study indicated that consumers attitudes towards a brand will be affected in the same way as the consumers impression of the controversial ad. Finally, results indicated that the probability for WOM is also affected in the same way as the consumers impression of the controversial advertisement.

Le bouche à oreille électronique s’est fortement développé ces dernières années surtout avec la multiplication de plateformes en ligne comme les réseaux sociaux. Traitant du cas des caractéristiques des messages en ligne (la force et de l’argumentaire des messages), ce travail nous a permis dans une première étape exploratoire de se familiariser avec le langage des internautes pour créer nos propres scénarios, de connaitre les principales interrogations des internautes concernant la crédibilité, la confiance et l’utilité de ces messages. Cette recherche et la revue de la littérature nous ont ainsi aidé à proposer un modèle conceptuel pivotant autour des caractéristiques des messages de bouche-à-oreille en ligne et leurs influences sur le comportement du consommateur.Une deuxième étape confirmatoire nous a permis de tester et de valider le modèle proposé etde vérifier ou d’infirmer certaines des hypothèses supposées. Les résultats statistiques montrent que les types des messages influencent la crédibilité perçue, l’intention d’achat et de recommandation. Les variables modératrices liées aux caractéristiques du récepteur des messages modèrent ces relations. Des variables médiatrices (i.e. la confiance perçue et l’utilité perçue des messages) sont considérées comme fondamentales pour l’évaluation des messages de bouche à oreille électronique. / The electronic word of mouth has grown considerably the last years especially with the proliferation of online platforms like social networks. Treating the specific case of the characteristics of online messages (the valence strength and arguments), this work has helped us in a first exploratory step to learn the language of the Internet to create our own scenarios, to know the main questions of users about the credibility and the trust and usefulness of these messages. This research and literature review have enabled us to propose a conceptual model to pivot about the characteristics of word-of-mouth messages online and influences on consumer behavior. Through a confirmatory analysis we tested and validated the proposed model and accepted and rejected some of our supposed hypothesis. The statistical output had shown that the types of messages influence the perceived credibility, purchase intent and recommendation. Moderator variables related to the characteristics of the message receiver moderate these relationships. Mediating variables (ie perceived trust and perceived usefulness of messages) are considered fundamental for the evaluation of electronic word of mouth messages.

Background: Customers’ easy access to information and communications technology has increased the pressure for firms to deliver good experiences within tourism. This is due to that customers can now easily compare tourism services between different firms online. The quality of experiences is affected by good service delivery that can be improved by several actors within a service ecosystem. Furthermore, service delivery leads to value co-creation between all the actors that are involved. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how firms can create good experiences via service ecosystems and how they can co-create value with local service providers. Methodology: The study follows a qualitative research approach. Findings are based on an embedded case study consisting of interviews, observation participation and information from secondary sources such as official documents and documents from the case firm. Findings: Travel firm scan create good experiences by having an organisational culture and structure that increases commitment within the organization and service ecosystem. This can be achieved by aligning organisational goals with the goals of the actors within the service ecosystem. Furthermore, experiences can be improved by technology since it allows for smoother communication within the ecosystem. Good experiences can lead to brand value, which can result in positive electronic word of mouth and more customers. More customers increase economic value within the service ecosystem, which can increase the standard of living for local service providers. In addition, service ecosystems can yield intangible value from social and environmental aspects.

近年台灣行銷市場中，網路口碑之於消費者的重要性不言而喻，其應用成為行銷顯學之一。不過觀察目前網路口碑相關研究，多數仍聚焦在傳播者評論口碑對象（產品、服務、品牌等）的傳播過程、網路口碑影響消費者購買意圖或品牌忠誠的程度，或是正負面口碑差異等面向，較少從口碑傳播者、產品及接收者本身屬性（類型、來源國等）一致的角度，探討是否會影響說服效果，而「性別」正是一項鮮少被觸及的重要屬性。事實上，性別一致產生的效果，在早期的廣告行銷研究中，即不斷被證實存在，能有效帶來消費者態度行為的正向影響（Caballero & Solomon, 1984）。然而網路作為傳播媒介的研究中卻缺乏相關的討論，因此能否複製「性別具有一致性時，就會具有正相關效果」的結論猶未可知。 　　而「性別一致性效果」產生的機制亦分屬「一致性效果」、「自我一致性」的兩種不同心理狀態類別，本研究除了歸納原先定義不清的一致性效果涵義，更希望進一步探討何種機制對於消費者的影響較為重要。另一方面，「一致」情況亦存在「主觀」感知與「客觀」存在的差異，亦有區分之必要性。同時，亦不可忽略口碑中推薦產品本身具備的屬性特質，可能是會導致消費者在意性別線索的關鍵，在相關理論基礎下，推論消費者會依賴推薦者的形象來協助判斷（Zeithaml, 1988）。換句話說，欲瞭解產品屬性，也就是體驗性/搜尋性的產品將直接導致消費者對於性別一致的感知產生不同的交互作用，進而影響到整體口碑說服效果。 　　故本研究計有三個主要的操弄變項，分別是傳播者性別（男/女）、產品性別（男/女）與產品屬性（搜尋屬性/體驗屬性），在研究設計上乃是採用2 × 2 × 2的三因子實驗設計（factorial experiment design），應變項則為受試者的口碑訊息診斷性、產品態度及購買意圖。 　　研究結果發現，客觀性別一致並不會影響消費者口碑說服效果，而不同產品屬性的交互作用下，客觀性別一致的重要性會在消費者選購體驗性產品時浮現，進一步正向影響消費者對於產品的態度，而且在性別一致性的兩種機制中，「自我一致性」（如傳播者/代言人與自身一致、產品與自身一致）比起「一致性效果」（外界的傳播者/產品一致）的機制，更能顯著影響消費者的商品態度。不過，一旦消費者主觀感知到性別一致的情形存在，無論是何種機制、何種產品屬性，皆能有效影響消費者的口碑說服效果。 　　上述的研究結果可以提供給未來欲透過口碑工具，邀請特定口碑寫手或消費者於試用產品後討論引起注意的廠商，在策略擬定之參考。建議行銷人員規劃行銷手法時多考慮「性別一致」引發之影響，讓消費者提升對於產品的態度與行為。