Lotte M. Willemsen

‘Highly recommended!’ The content characteristics and perceived usefulness of online consumer reviews

The aim of the present study was to gain a better understanding of the content characteristics that make online consumer reviews a useful source of consumer information. To this end, we content analyzed reviews of experience and search products posted on Amazon.com (N = 400). The insights derived from this content analysis were linked with the proportion of ‘useful’ votes that reviews received from fellow consumers. The results show that content characteristics are paramount to understanding the perceived usefulness of reviews. Specifically, argumentation (density and diversity) served as a significant predictor of perceived usefulness, as did review valence although this latter effect was contingent on the type of product (search or experience) being evaluated in reviews. The presence of expertise claims appeared to be weakly related to the perceived usefulness of reviews. The broader theoretical, methodological and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Program-Involvement Effects on commercial Attention and Recall of Successive and Embedded Advertising

Research on context effects has demonstrated a link between program-induced involvement and recall of commercials broadcast in breaks. However, the effect of program-induced involvement on recall of advertising embedded in the program itself has been understudied. In addition, little consideration has been given to the antecedents of program involvement. The present study aims to address these gaps. Results from a naturalistic field study show an attention spill-over effect on both embedded and successive advertising. The results further demonstrate that program involvement is a function of various personal factors, related to enduring topic involvement and social viewing environment.

Webcare as Customer Relationship and Reputation Management? Motives for Negative Electronic Word of Mouth and Their Effect on Webcare Receptiveness

Social media enable consumers to easily share satisfying or unsatisfying consumption experiences with a multitude of other consumers. The result is a wealth of electronic word of mouth (eWOM), varying in tone from very positive to very negative. For companies, the circulation of negative eWOM is a source of great concern. Unsatisfactory consumption experiences, which were previously communicated as complaints only to a company representative or a few peers, are now publicly available through negative eWOM, which can seriously damage a company’s reputation and sales (e.g., Van Laer and De Ruyter, 2010).

Perceived expertise vs. perceived trustworthiness: the suppressed effect of source type on review attitude

Mediated communication is moving away from the traditional concept of oneway mass communication in which a centrally located sender addresses a mass audience. In today’s interactive media landscape, people formerly known as ‘the audience’ (Rosen, 2006, June 27) are increasingly dictating the creation and dissemination of information. The opportunity for people to actively engage in the public-information process provides consumers with a rich and varied set of consumer opinions, often posted in the form of online product reviews. Online product reviews are seen as a persuasive source of information in the consumerdecision making process, shaping not only consumers’ attitudes but also their purchase behaviors (Bickart and Schindler, 2001; Chevelier and Mayzlin, 2006; Park and Kim, 2008; Senecal and Nantel, 2004).

Webcare as an integrative tool for customer care, reputation management, and online marketing: a literature review

When consumers are dissatisfied with a consumption experience, they usually respond in one of the following ways (Hirschman, 1970): (1) stop using an organization’s products/services and take their business to a competitor, (2) file a complaint with the organization that is responsible for the dissatisfying consumption experience, or (3) talk about their dissatisfying consumption experience with fellow consumers (negative word of mouth). Janelle McCoy, a former loyal customer of Chevrolet, decided to combine all responses with the help of social media. In a series of comments on Facebook and Twitter, in which Chevrolet was either tagged or addressed (@chevrolet), Janelle shared her dissatisfaction with one of Chevrolet’s car dealers. In doing so, she not only engaged in negative word of mouth (NWOM) but also complaint behaviour. As can be seen from the excerpt of the Twitter dialogue depicted by Figure 4.1, Janelle’s comments addressed a double audience consisting of not only other consumers but also the organization responsible for the dissatisfying consumption experience. Consumers such as Janelle increasingly voice their complaints as electronic NWOM, with the aim to draw the attention of organizations and, as such, enforce service excellence. Thus, after receiving no satisfactory response from Chevrolet, Janelle decided to take her business to a competitor and to share this decision with other consumers on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Are Spectacles the Female Equivalent of Beards for Men? How Wearing Spectacles in a LinkedIn Profile Picture Influences Impressions of Perceived Credibility and Job Interview Likelihood

This study builds on our previous work on beardedness [1] and explores whether wearing spectacles in a LinkedIn profile picture affects a female candidate’s prospects of being invited for a job interview and whether this is contingent on the type of job vacancy. Results of a 2 (spectacle use: spectacles versus no spectacles) × 3 (job type: expertise, trustworthiness, attractiveness) experiment conducted among 139 participants show that bespectacled candidates are perceived as having more expertise and –to our surprise- also being more attractive than candidates not wearing spectacles. Moreover, a candidate’s perceived credibility is a significant predictor of the intention to invite the candidate for a job interview. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Professional Personal Branding

This study builds on previous work on personal branding [1, 2] and is one of the first to qualitatively explore how and why actual recruiters make certain decisions in selecting a candidate on LinkedIN. In this study, recruiters reviewed seven different Linkedin pictures of a job candidate applying for a ficticious entry-level Marketing Consultant Job, while using a think-aloud method. Each picture displayed the candidate in a different way, making certain cues more salient (e.g. smiling, casual holiday shot, avoiding eye gaze). The results of this study indicated that especially the cues of smiling and eye-contact (looking in the camera) appear to have a positive influence on the perception of perceived credibility. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.