Do online gossipers promote brands?

Area of Science:

• Consumer Behavior
• Social Media Marketing
• Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM)

Background:

• Online gossip on social networking sites (SNSs) is a prevalent form of small talk.
• Its influence on consumer behavior, particularly electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), remains underexplored.
• Understanding the drivers of online gossip and its impact on information dissemination is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between online gossip propensity and perceived information, entertainment, and friendship value.
• To examine how online gossip influences willingness to spread information about high-involvement products via eWOM.
• To explore the moderating effects of social tie strength and network size on online gossip and eWOM.

Main Methods:

• An experimental survey using a scenario method was conducted with 818 general consumers.
• Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and ANOVAs were employed to analyze the data.
• The study compared the behavior of online gossipers and non-gossipers across different product involvement levels and network conditions.

Main Results:

• Propensity to gossip online positively correlates with information, entertainment, and friendship value.
• Online gossipers showed a greater willingness to engage in eWOM for high-involvement products compared to non-gossipers.
• This eWOM tendency was amplified in large networks, but this effect diminished for low-involvement products.

Conclusions:

• Online gossip significantly enhances the perceived value of SNS interactions and drives eWOM participation.
• The motivation for eWOM through online gossip is linked to seeking prestige, especially for high-involvement products.
• Network size plays a critical role in amplifying online gossip's impact on eWOM for high-involvement products.