The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the message structure of an online word-of-mouth referral influences the booking intentions of lodging consumers. The objectives were (1) determine what elements of the message structure of an online word-of-mouth referral influenced the booking intention of lodging consumers and (2) determine whether message structure moderated the relationships between beliefs, attitudes, norms, and booking intentions of online lodging consumers. A Web-based survey instrument was administered to 158 undergraduate students from eight different hospitality management course sections. Each course section was exposed to one of eight conditions. To address the first objective of the study, two separate two-way ANOVA procedures were employed to determine the main and interaction effects of type of claim (positive versus negative) and type of conclusion (implicit versus explicit) within one-sided messages and type of claim (positive claim first versus negative claim first) and type of conclusion (implicit versus explicit) within two-sided messages, the third element of the message structure examined was type of conclusion (explicit vs. implicit).To address the second objective, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine whether message structure moderated the relationships between beliefs, attitudes, norms, and booking intentions of online lodging consumers The findings from the ANOVA indicated there was a significant main effect for positive one-sided messages. Respondents that received only positive online word-of-mouth messages had significantly higher booking intention scores (M = 3.84, SD = 1.57) than respondents that received only negative online word-of-mouth messages (M = 2.63, SD = 1.61; F (1, 75) = 10.67, p = .002). There was no significant interaction for type of claim and type of conclusion within the one-sided condition, F (1, 75) = 0.66, p = .419.The findings from SEM analysis indicate sidedness would moderate the relationship between beliefs, attitudes, norms, and booking intentions of online lodging consumers. Specifically, the relationship between behavioral beliefs and normative beliefs was stronger in the sample of respondents exposed to the one-sided message (β = .52, p = .002) than in the sample of respondents exposed to the two-sided message (β = .31, p = .011). This study suggests that lodging companies could benefit from a human-centered approach to understanding online word-of-mouth message structure and thereby consumer information behavior.

Because of the popularity of the internet, consumers make purchase decision based on online word-of-mouth recommendation. However, this is risky. Many consumer find that what they buy is not quite the same as the online word-of-mouth recommends. Consumers may therefore generate Cognitive dissonance. Despite the bad experience, Internet users still make purchase decision based on word-of-mouth recommendation afterward. This study investigates the relationships among cognitive dissonance of online word-of-mouth users, the risk relieve strategies, and trust. The results find that consumers with inertia prefer store image as risk relieve strategy the most, consumers with over-confidence prefer shopping the most. It is found that inertia and over-confidence positively affect trust. This research contributes to theory by applying the theory of cognitive dissonance in the finance management field to consumer online word-of-mouth behavior and by designing the questionnaire, this paper also provides empirical evidence to support the validity and credibility of the construct items. It makes acaedemic contribution by examining effects of cognitive dissonance on risk strategy and trust.

Marknadsföring idag ser inte ut som den har gjort tidigare, digitaliseringen har medfört en stor förändring och många nya möjligheter för företag och privatpersoner att marknadsföra sig. Word-of-mouth har gått från att vara mellan två eller flera personer i en konversation där exempelvis en produkt eller tjänst diskuterats. Detta har också förändrats och flera olika typer av online word-of-mouth (eWOM) har tillkommit, denna studie kommer behandla två typer av eWOM som finns, mer exakt influencers och recensioner online. Undersökningen kommer gå in på det förtroende som konsumenter har för just influencers och recensioner online och även undersöka om detta förändras om konsumenten står inför ett hög- eller lågengagemangsköp. Forskningsfrågor ställs även för att få reda på vilka faktorer som spelar in för att förtroendet för influencers och recensioner skall påverkas och om förtroendet förändras om konsumenten ställs inför ett köp av en produkt istället för en tjänst. Undersökningen sker genom en kvalitativ metod där intervjuer hålls med sex respondenter och frågor anknutna till syftet och forskningsfrågorna ställs till dem. Resultatet från dessa intervjuer visar att förtroendet för influencers inte är lika starkt som det förtroende konsumenterna har för recensioner online, däremot förklarar respondenterna att det finns faktorer som kan både öka och minska förtroendet både för recensioner och influencers. Det kan exempelvis vara så att en influencer mer många följare kan kännas mer trovärdig och att en okänd hemsida med recensioner kan tappa trovärdighet. Respondenterna har varit överens om att influencers fungerar bättre som inspiration till produkter och tjänster, däremot är det recensioner som får dem att ta beslutet när det gäller ett köp. / Marketing today doesn’t look like it has done before, the digitization has resulted in a big change and lots of new opportunities for companies and individuals to advertise. Word-of-mouth has changed from something being said about a product or service in a conversation between two or more people to also be available online. There are a lot of different types of online word-of-mouth (eWOM), and we’re going to target influencers and online reviews. The study will look into the trust for influencers and online reviews perceived by the consumers and also examine how or if the amount of trust will alter depending on if the consumer approaches a high- or low involvement purchase. The study will be of a qualitative method where interviews will be held with six respondents. The questions will be cohere to the purpose of the study and the research questions. The result from this study shows that the consumer trust for influencers isn’t as significant as the trust for online reviews, despite that several of the consumers points out that there is factors that can change the amount of trust for both influencers and online reviews. For example an influencer with a lot of followers can appear to be more trustworthy than one with less, and a not that well known website with online reviews can appear less trustworthy. The respondents have agreed that influencers work better as inspiration for products and services, although they all thought that reviews are the deciding factor to making a purchase.

Along with increasing users and contents, the Internet has gradually become the main channel for customers to acquire information of products and services. Yet the development of the Internet has brought about information overload problems. When facing oversized information, consumers tend to solicit for others¡¦ help. Under such circumstance, reviewing systems and forums on the Internet are flourishing. With the popularization of Internet technologies, these Internet customer review systems have gradually become critical necessary information when consumers are making purchase decisions. This research took two experiments as the methodology used in examining the relation between Internet customer reviews and customers, tourism was selected as the condition of experiment. The first experiment discussed about general Internet customer reviews, including the dispersion of reviews, reviewing scores, number of reviewers and so on and examined the relation between different levels and customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. The second experiment examined the relation between personal risk attitude, perceived risk and customers¡¦ level of trust and willingness of purchase. Outcomes indicate that: 1.The lower dispersion of reviews, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 2.The higher review scores, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 3.The more reviewers, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 4.Dispersion of reviews, review scores and number of reviewers possess reciprocation relations with customers¡¦ trust in the reviews, and the level of influence is score > dispersion > number of reviewers. 5.Personal risk attitude and perceived risk play roles in explaining consumers¡¦ trust in reviews and willingness of purchase.

Social commerce is a growing field due to the popularity of social media. Research on social commerce stresses the benefits of utilizing social media or Web 2.0 technologies for business because user contribution, participation and collaboration, which are characteristics of Web 2.0, fuel business vitalization. Nevertheless, there is a lack of academic research on social commerce, and in what little research there is, the coverage is circumscribed. One of the challenges is conceptualization of social commerce due to various definitions made from researchers’ different perspectives and different positions on social commerce. This also led to the limitation of scope of research. In addition, there is still a need for identifying technological features and business goals for social commerce. Therefore, this research primarily encompasses establishing the concept of social commerce and identifying its implementation methods. To amount to those two primary goals, the research objectives are to understand the factors that affect social commerce implementation; to identify and investigate applicable Web 2.0 technologies that enable social commerce activities; and to investigate the business goals that can be achieved by social commerce implementation. Ultimately, the research aims to address methods of implementation. Consequently, the achievement of this research is that first, the concept of social commerce has been established by refining several definitions from the literature. Second, social commerce activities and business goals were identified and categorized based on the marketing funnel concept and the new customer life cycle model. Third, applicable Web 2.0 technologies were identified from the literature and other functionalities were also seized from real cases. Finally, the concept of social commerce has been demonstrated by implementing selected various commerce applications

Social commerce is a growing field due to the popularity of social media. Research on social commerce stresses the benefits of utilizing social media or Web 2.0 technologies for business because user contribution, participation and collaboration, which are characteristics of Web 2.0, fuel business vitalization. Nevertheless, there is a lack of academic research on social commerce, and in what little research there is, the coverage is circumscribed. One of the challenges is conceptualization of social commerce due to various definitions made from researchers’ different perspectives and different positions on social commerce. This also led to the limitation of scope of research. In addition, there is still a need for identifying technological features and business goals for social commerce. Therefore, this research primarily encompasses establishing the concept of social commerce and identifying its implementation methods. To amount to those two primary goals, the research objectives are to understand the factors that affect social commerce implementation; to identify and investigate applicable Web 2.0 technologies that enable social commerce activities; and to investigate the business goals that can be achieved by social commerce implementation. Ultimately, the research aims to address methods of implementation. Consequently, the achievement of this research is that first, the concept of social commerce has been established by refining several definitions from the literature. Second, social commerce activities and business goals were identified and categorized based on the marketing funnel concept and the new customer life cycle model. Third, applicable Web 2.0 technologies were identified from the literature and other functionalities were also seized from real cases. Finally, the concept of social commerce has been demonstrated by implementing selected various commerce applications

Numerical information is ubiquitous in modern life. The prevalence of numerical information in the marketplace necessitates understanding how consumers handle and interpret that information, for both theoretical and practical reasons. Past research has largely focused on consumers’ encoding of numbers, calculative limitations, and usage of heuristics. This dissertation will contribute to this burgeoning literature in several ways. First, I identify a general tendency in how consumers calculate ratios based on an intuitive model of division. Specifically, consumers tend to divide larger numbers by smaller numbers. The intuitive model of division has marketing implications for both consumers’ evaluations of quantity offers and sensitivities to promotions. Next, I examine how consumers draw inferences from distributional information. In contrast to the assumption that consumers utilize means to assess central tendency, I demonstrate that consumers use the modal response to judge what is typical, with implications for consumers’ inferences about product ratings and other social distributions. / PHD

台灣有很多的新創公司，產業結構以中小企業為主， 2013年台灣中小企業佔全體企業的97.64%；不可否認的是中小企業是台灣經濟的中流砥柱，也是幫助就業與平均分配所得的要角。然而，有超過三成的新設企業在五年以內結束營業，而經濟部2013年所出版的全球創業觀察台灣年報中的調查表示，新設企業在資金周轉不靈或是資源缺乏的情況下，將難以持續營運企業。 當人們再購買產品或是服務之前，多半傾向會去詢問親友或是熟人的意見，有93%的消費者會上網搜尋口碑意見，且有近53%的消費者會上網評論、分享他們的經驗，而當對於商品或服務滿意時，評論的意願會增加。國內外對於口碑效應的研究不在少數，但研究本身多集中在口碑效應的行程以及消費者行為，較少從企業的觀點出發研究口碑管理，如果能夠深入研究口碑管理的操作細節並能夠為新創事業所運用的話，將能夠大大提升資源效率與公司的存活率。 本研究欲探討的問題有三，1. 新創事業在達到穩定期之前如何促進口碑傳播？再者，促進口碑傳播的行為與其成長階段的關係為何？2. 新創事業在達到穩定期之前如何監視口碑？再者，監視口碑的行為與其成長階段的關係為何？3. 新創事業在達到穩定期之前如何回應口碑？再者，回應口碑的行為與其成長階段的關係為何？ 透過深入訪談新創事業-木酢家，並配合相關次級資料的蒐集與整理，本研究獲得以下結論1.新創事業會透過接觸虛擬和實體世界中不同的人際網絡促進口碑傳播。2. 新創事業口碑監視的重點在於，更詳細的了解消費者行為，以及顧客真正想要的產品。3. 口碑回應是對消費者傳達理念的途徑，新創事業再塑造形象時會納入策略的一部分。 / There are many start-up companies in Taiwan, and therefore made the industrial structure full of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In the year of 2013, SMEs account for 97.64% of all the enterprises,and are the mainstay of the employment market andthe economy system in Taiwan. However, the data shows that over 30% of SMEs end up in 5 years, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) from the Ministry of Economic Affairs said that the lack of money and resources are the biggest challenge of running a start-up company. When making the decision of buying products and services, people incline to ask for the opinions from friends or acquaintances. The data shows that 93% of the respondents search word-of-mouth informations on the internet, and 53% of them shared their experiences. The more satisfaction they perceived, the more likely they would share the experience. There were abundance of researches in the past studying word-of-mouth, much of them gave discussions on word-of-mouth effects and consumer behaviors, while only a few studying about word-of-mouth management from the enterprise view of point. Despite the power that word-of-mouth contains, if it can be apply by some of the SMEs, it might enhance the efficiency of utilizing resources. This thesis is going to study three questions: 1. How does a start-up company foster word-of-mouth before the company comes to a stabilizing phase? Moreover, what is the relationship between the word-of-mouth foster activity and the growing phases? 2. How does a start-up company monitor word-of-mouth before the company comes to a stabilizing phase? Moreover, what is the relationship between the word-of-mouth monitor activity and the growing phases? 3. How does a start-up company responds to word-of-mouth before the company comes to a stabilizing phase? Moreover, what is the relationship between the word-of-mouth responding activity and the growing phases? The research findings are describe as following:1. A Start-up company foster word-of-mouth by attaching different virtual and physical social networks. 2. The word-of-mouth monitor activity of a start-up company focuses on the comprehension of consumer behaviors and the consumer needs. 3. The word-of-mouth responding activity is a way to convey the belief of the company, it would be a part of the strategy when a start-up company is shaping its image.

Online reviews provided from consumers who had previous experiences have become major information resource for consumers and marketers. The blogs then becomes the Web-based consumer opinion platform; the Internet enables consumers to share their experience with other consumers as the online word-of-mouth (WOM) communication. Online reviews on traveling and food tasting and by consumers who previously experienced have become a major information source for consumers and marketers regarding to the tourist spots and restaurants. The study extends previous existing research on the effects of WOM and consumer decision making by conducting the in-depth interview with bloggers and an online survey on blog viewing and information searching behaviors. With the development of Web 2.0, word-of-mouth marketing is able to influence the consumers interactively. The user-generated contents created spread among the consumers soon and marketers become able to access millions of potential consumers over the world by understanding the new ways of communication. Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing is the most honest form of marketing because consumers are sharing their own opinions, independent of messaging and manipulation (Throne, 2008). In the study, the researcher will discuss how the blog readers rely on the source of word-of-mouth conversations and the further suggestions on consumer behaviors and marketing insights, analyzed from the perspectives of user satisfaction, information credibility and consumer loyalty. Keywords: blog marketing, consumer decision making, online word-of-mouth (WOM).

This paper explores how influencers can be categorised using a self-administered questionnaire. In doing so, the study can contribute to an understanding of the phenomenon that is more extensive than what previous research has attributed. The focus of this paper is on how influencers can be better understood for the benefit of public relations (PR), marketing, and communication. The purpose of this project is to investigate whether the term influencers (short for social media influencers) are defined by scholars in a similar fashion to how the study sample categorises influencers. Thus, the research question of the study is to examine if the study sample finds the term influencer applicable to the five suggested categories that are stated in the survey. The results from this study show that scholars commonly confine the phenomenon of influencers to bloggers, vloggers, and instagrammers. However, the results from the survey indicate that the study sample has a broader perception of the phenomenon. According to the participants, all suggested categories are fitting the term influencer, namely: blogger/vlogger/instagrammer, celebrity, athlete, entrepreneur, politician. Although the latter, politician, is deemed the least fitting category. Thus, the findings in the study show that there is a discrepancy between the public perception of how to define influencers and previous research in the field. This implicates that public relation practitioners need to rethink how they perceive and apply influencer marketing. Using influencers for marketing purposes requires organisations to execute a thorough selection process to ensure a suitable partnership.