Kristine De Valck

The Effect of Electronic Word of Mouth on Sales: A Meta-Analytic Review of Platform, Product, and Metric Factors

The increasing amount of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has significantly affected the way consumers make purchase decisions. Empirical studies have established an effect of eWOM on sales but disagree on which online platforms, products, and eWOM metrics moderate this effect. The authors conduct a meta-analysis of 1,532 effect sizes across 96 studies covering 40 platforms and 26 product categories. On average, eWOM is positively correlated with sales (.091), but its effectiveness differs across platform, product, and metric factors. For example, the effectiveness of eWOM on social media platforms is stronger when eWOM receivers can assess their own similarity to eWOM senders, whereas these homophily details do not influence the effectiveness of eWOM for e-commerce platforms. In addition, whereas eWOM has a stronger effect on sales for tangible goods new to the market, the product life cycle does not moderate the eWOM effectiveness for services. With respect to the eWOM metrics, eWOM volume has a stronger impact on sales than eWOM valence. In addition, negative eWOM does not always jeopardize sales, but high variability does.

Marketing as a Means to Transformative Social Conflict Resolution: Lessons from Transitioning War Economies and the Colombian Coffee Marketing System

Social conflicts are ubiquitous to the human condition and occur throughout markets, marketing processes, and marketing systems. When unchecked or unmitigated, social conflict can have devastating consequences for consumers, marketers, and societies, especially when conflict escalates to war. In this article, the authors offer a systemic analysis of the Colombian war economy, with its conflicted shadow and coping markets, to show how a growing network of fair-trade coffee actors has played a key role in transitioning the countrys war economy into a peace economy. They particularly draw attention to the sources of conflict in this market and highlight four transition mechanisms—empowerment, communication, community building, and regulation—through which marketers can contribute to peacemaking and thus produce mutually beneficial outcomes for consumers and society. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for marketing theory, practice, and public policy.

Lost in Translation: The Social Shaping of Marketing Messaging

Abstract Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) does not travel as unidirectionally and straight as previously assumed. Rather, consumers are active co-producers of value and translate and transform marketing meanings. Word of mouth resulting from marketing communications can be anything from euphoric to resistant, and the discourse evolving around a product seeding has a strong impact on how this product is perceived. As messages become translated into meaningful, communally shared material, particular cultural restraints cause possibilities open up, rules to become less constraining, and the principles and guidelines for successful social branding engagement to become much more about human relationships than one-way communication. Social brand engagement is a genuine, natural interconnection between brand mentions and consumer-to-consumer social experiences. Therefore, simply observing the reach and valence of product mentions is too short sighted. To effectively attain social brand engagement, promotions need to seem authentic and congruent with people, media, other content and the offline or online context. A deep analysis of what is going on in the prospective environment of a message to be seeded is a precondition for the optimal design of a WOMM campaign and the accurate interpretation of its success.

Detecting Conflict on Social Media: An Extended Abstract

The majority of companies have now adopted social media. The initial euphoria framing social media as a golden opportunity to build harmonious communities of consumers has faded. Marketers now take a more balanced view, giving attention to disharmonious interactions between consumers on social media. Specifically, social media conflict attracts increasing interest from academics and practitioners because of its disruptive nature and potential destructiveness. It has a strong influence on value formation, whether by creating or destroying value. However, existing monitoring tools fail to adequately detect social media conflict, leaving marketers unable to manage conflict effectively. This research develops an instrument to automatically detect social media conflict. In this paper, social media conflict is first conceptualized before presenting the methodology and findings and discussing implications.