The Importance of Positive Word-of-Mouth (PWOM) in Leisure Services Consumption by Third Age Consumers.
| Autor | Fontenla, Juan Carlos Eiras |
1 Introduction
The current level of population aging is unprecedented in the history of mankind (United Nations, [UN], 2015). Specifically in Brazil, the population is aging twice as fast as the world average (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica [IBGE], 2016). Factors such as social isolation and the possibility of cognitive decline lead these elderly consumers to adopt conservative purchase behaviors (East, Uncles, & Lomax, 2014; Lambert-Pandraud, & Laurent, 2010).
For all consumers, a pre-purchase evaluation is usually necessary due to the perceived risks in consumption situations. However, services are often indivisible and, therefore, prior testing is not possible. Intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability, and indivisibility of services lead to high perceptions of risk (Murray, 1991). Hence, word-of-mouth (WOM) is more important in a service context, since it helps to reduce the risk associated with such situations (Ennew, Banerjee, & Li, 2000; File, Cermak, & Prince, 1994; East, Uncles, Romaniuk, & Riley, 2015). As pointed out by Woodside and Delozier (1976), WOM represents a risk-reducing tool during the purchase evaluation process.
Prior studies on WOM have indicated it as a relevant social phenomenon used to minimize risks associated with consumption (Roselius, 1971; Settle & Alreck, 1989; Wangenheim & Bayo'n, 2004; Woodside & Delozier, 1976). It contributes to both emotional and rational purchasing (Allsop, Bassett, & Hoskins, 2007; Herr, Kardes, & Kim, 1991; Kisielius & Sternthal, 1986; Soderlund & Rosengren, 2007; Sundaram, Kaushik, & Webster, 1998), it influences perceptions of service quality (Allsop et al., 2007; Liljander & Strandvik, 1994; Mazzarol, Sweeney, & Soutar, 2007; Tax, Chandrashekaran, & Christiansen 1993), and it reduces risks associated with the purchase of a service (Ennew et al., 2000; File et al., 1994; Murray, 1991).
The majority of WOM studies explore the interpersonal communication structure from the sender's point of view. In the present study, the focus is on the WOM receiver. As pointed out by Martin (2017) and Martin and Lueg (2013), recent research is placing particular emphasis on the receiver's decision making. These studies focusing on the receivers might elucidate how WOM influences them and present propositions for tailoring accurate marketing strategies based around WOM.
The amount of recommendations received by men and women falls substantially after the age of 65. This shortfall in recommendations may be part of the explanation for the conservative decision making by this age group (East et al., 2014). Additionally, personal interaction motivations are relevant in their consumption decisions. This public tends to seek activities that allow for greater coexistence with friends, learning, and self-realization. As a consequence, the third age group mostly consumes services related to leisure, including, for instance, classes (e.g., gym, dance), travel (e.g., agencies, cruises), accommodation (e.g., hotels, resorts), food and drink (e.g., restaurants, bars), music (e.g., shows, concerts), the movie theater, the theater, and others (Hung & Crompton, 2006; Myers & Lumbers, 2008).
Despite the other terms found in the literature, such as "older," "senior," and "elderly," this study uses the "third age" label and it focuses on young seniors (Bacha, Strehlau, & Perez, 2006). For Bacha et al. (2006), due to the third age segment covering a broad age range of approximately 30 years, it is usual to distinguish between two groups: the younger group and the older group. Moschis (1996) argues that chronological definitions need to be put in an appropriate perspective. For instance, scholars or companies focused on nursing homes should concentrate on the upper age group. In the case of companies or studies targeting leisure services, these should focus on a lower age group of elderly people (Moschis, 1996).
Concerning the prior literature focused on the effects of WOM on the third age population, a number of contributions have been made by several scholars (Hung & Crompton, 2006; Myers & Lumbers, 2008; East et al., 2014). Nevertheless, studies focused on the effect of positive WOM (PWOM) on service purchasing from the perspective of young seniors were not identified in the literature reviewed. In this sense, this paper contributes to the current literature on PWOM by investigating third age consumer behavior related to service purchases.
Although the potential of WOM as a form of promotion is generally accepted (Arndt, 1967; Buttle, 1998; Dye, 2000), it is important to understand that PWOM is not enough to be an effective source of communication. The receiver also needs to react positively to the recommendation. The factors that improve a consumer's chances of acting on PWOM and that change the receiver's perceptions and behaviors in relation to a particular organization still remain less understood (Sweeney, Soutar, & Mazzarol, 2008). Since WOM is known to convey the idea of enjoyable new experiences when positive and disagreeable ones when negative, WOM receivers can be affected emotionally and rationally (Anderson, 1998).
This study aimed to identify why PWOM is important in leisure services consumption by third age consumers. The secondary objectives of the research are as follows:
** to investigate the contributions, sensations, and feelings that are generated by PWOM regarding possible risks associated with service purchases, perceptions of service quality, and the decision-making process;
** to explore how PWOM might mitigate third age conservative purchase behavior, such as choice repetition, purchase postponement, and change-over aversion.
Using a qualitative and exploratory approach, this study investigated PWOM receivers in Brazil aged between 60 and 70 years old, regarding their leisure consumption, for example of classes (e.g., gym, dance), travel (e.g., agencies, cruises), accommodation (e.g., hotels, resorts), food and drink (e.g., restaurants, bars), music (e.g., shows, concerts), the movie theater, the theater, and others. Both in-depth interviews and audio diaries were applied to collect the data. The NVIVO software (version 12.4.0) was used for the data interpretation through coding and grouping.
This manuscript is divided into 5 sections, including this introduction, followed by a literature review, the methodological approach, the findings and discussion, and the conclusion.
2 Literature Review
2.1 Word-of-mouth
WOM is defined as an informal conversation among particular parties on the appraisal of goods and services (Anderson, 1998) and has an interactive and swift nature (East, Hammond, & Lomax, 2008). It is also seen as a highly credible source of information, since the sender is generally independent of the organization providing the service and does not receive direct benefits in defending it (Silverman, 2011). Another relevant point to consider in relation to WOM is its greater influence in a service consumption context, since services are intangible, difficult to evaluate before purchasing, not covered by guarantees, and non-standardized. Thus, services involve higher-risk choices than products (Murray, 1991). Therefore, WOM has greater relevance in services consumption, as it minimizes this risk situation (Ennew et al., 2000; File et al., 1994).
It is widely accepted by researchers and managers that WOM can generate benefits for organizations. It is usually recognized that the receiver considers WOM to be especially relevant and it is subject to less resistance than marketer-produced communications (Allsop, Basset, & Hoskins, 2007; Soderlund & Rosengren, 2007; Sweeney, Soutar, & Mazzarol, 2014; Wien & Olsen, 2014). Thus, many organizations have reduced spending on traditional advertising and reviewed WOM as an alternative marketing communication tool (Sweeney et al., 2008).
The dissemination of WOM has been designated by marketing researchers as being a contagious process, by which receivers capture others' feelings by means of social interaction (Berger, 2014). WOM receivers process the sender's features and the quality of the message content. "These components have been shown to individually impact both attitude and WOM acceptance (Mahapatra & Mishra, 2017). From this perspective, the content of the message is critical, given its potential in making the communication more persuasive.
Figure 1 presents the main components and aspects of WOM.
WOM can be a result of a range of antecedents, as shown by East et al. (2015). These authors confirmed that a substantial part of WOM related to services is based mainly on dis/satisfaction, meaning that PWOM follows satisfaction with a service and negative WOM (NWOM) is generated by dissatisfaction with a service.
Although earlier studies claim that NWOM would have a greater impact on the receiver (Arndt, 1967), recent research suggests that PWOM has more influence than NWOM on purchase intention. A negative message is less useful than a positive one for many consumer choices (East, Uncles, Romaniuk, & Lomax, 2016). According to Sweeney et al. (2014), PWOM is more effective overall, is less dependent on situational or conditional factors, and has a greater influence on people's willingness to use a service than NWOM. Even though the valence is crucial, recommendations can be improved by means of the depth, intensity, and liveliness of a message (Mazzarol et al., 2007).
In the emotional field, there is the suggestion that vivid, interesting, provocative, or attention-grabbing information is more accessible in the memory because it weighs heavily on cognitive analysis and has a greater impact on judgments (Herr et al., 1991; Kisielius & Sternthal, 1986; Mazzarol et al., 2007). This is consistent with the recognition that emotions play an important role in the transmission and reception ofWOM (East et al., 2008; Soderlund & Rosengren, 2007).
On the other hand, WOM also has a rational...
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