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