Posting strategically : the consumer as an online media planner

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Journal of Consumer Psychology

Publication Date

10-2015

Volume

25

Issue

4

First Page

609

Last Page

621

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

Word-of-mouth, Online communication, Persuasion knowledge, Social influence

Abstract

How do consumers choose to post their brand reviews online? Whereas prior research examines what people say online, we investigate where consumers post their brand-related consumption experience on an online discussion forum. Using the framework of the Persuasion Knowledge Model, we suggest that consumers act as intuitive media planners to assess the extent to which they can reach their specific goals when targeting online audiences. Specifically, we examine the effects of posters' motives, message valence, and audience similarity on posting behavior. We propose and find that persuasion-motivated consumers focus on whether the message is effective in generating interest and emotion from the audience; therefore, they are more likely to post positive messages on a brand-general forum, such as a product forum, and negative messages on a brand-specific forum. In contrast, affiliation-motivated posters primarily focus on audience similarity, preferring to post on a forum where they perceive the audience as similar to them. Three experiments show the different posting patterns under the two motives and demonstrate the mediating role of message effectiveness under a persuasion motive.

DOI

10.1016/j.jcps.2015.02.003

Print ISSN

10577408

E-ISSN

15327663

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2015 Society for Consumer Psychology

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Chen, Y.-J., & Kirmani, A. (2015). Posting strategically: The consumer as an online media planner. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(4), 609-621. doi: 10.1016/j.jcps.2015.02.003

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