With the growing power of peer-to-peer product conversations on the Internet, marketers have tried to manage consumer product conversations by rewarding consumers for initiating and/or spreading conversations about their products. This specific marketing tactic is referred to as WOM (word-of-mouth) marketing and recently has increased substantially. Despite that increase and interest in WOM marketing, little is known about how various WOM marketing tactics work. Thus, drawing on the attribution theory perspective, this research examined whether different types of product information sources (celebrities, web celebrities - i.e., persons famous primarily for creating or appearing in Internet-based content, and highly recognizable to a web-based audience, or close friends of participants) interact with information sponsorship (organic or sponsored) to influence consumer causal attributions and information effectiveness in the context of social media. Further, this dissertation investigated the mediating roles of causal attributions between the interaction effect of source types and information sponsorship and information effectiveness. Toward that end, in the Twitter context, two experiments were conducted with adult Twitter users. Study 1 was conducted with experience-based product information and Study 2 with promotional product information. Study 1 results revealed significant interaction effects of source types and information sponsorship on causal attributions and information effectiveness. Specifically, when information was organic, product information posted by a close friend generated more information sharing attributions (i.e., motives for sharing good product information) and greater information effectiveness, measured by brand attitude and compliance intention (i.e., intention to click the link), than did information by a celebrity or web celebrity. However, there was no difference between information posted by the celebrity and by the web celebrity in information sharing attributions and information effectiveness. On the other hand, when information was sponsored, product information posted by a web celebrity produced more information sharing attributions and greater information effectiveness than did information by a celebrity or by a close friend. No significant differences were found between information posted by the celebrity and by the close friend in other-centered attribution. With regard to information effectiveness, there were no differences among three sources when information was sponsored. Further, this study found information sharing attributions mediated the relationship between the two-way interaction effect and information effectiveness. Study 2 further investigated whether the findings of Study 1 were replicated in the context of promotional (versus experienced-based) product information. Unlike the findings of Study 1, however, in Study 2 no interaction effect of source types and information sponsorship on consumer causal attributions and information effectiveness emerged. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings of this dissertation were discussed also.
Read
