{"title":"Too much of a good thing? High volumes of positive WOM can undermine adopters of new technology products","authors":"David L. Alexander, Sarah G. Moore","doi":"10.1007/s11002-024-09734-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>We explore how first-time adopters of complex new technology products are influenced by the volume of positive WOM that they receive prior to adoption. Such positive WOM can flow through to alter adopter’s goals during initial product use, with consequences for their usage experiences and strategies. Two longitudinal surveys and an experiment reveal a potential downside of positive WOM. Specifically, receiving a greater volume of positive WOM about a new technology product can establish normative standards for adopter’s performance during product use. This leads adopters to feel pressure to meet those standards, prompting avoidance-oriented performance goals for initial use of their new product. Together, these processes undermine adopter’s experiences with their new product, as well as their strategies for using it. Our findings offer insights for marketers and researchers by identifying and explaining an ironic post-adoption effect of PWOM.</p><p>Too much of a good thing? High volumes of positive WOM can undermine adopters of new technology products.</p>","PeriodicalId":48068,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Marketing Letters","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-024-09734-6","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We explore how first-time adopters of complex new technology products are influenced by the volume of positive WOM that they receive prior to adoption. Such positive WOM can flow through to alter adopter’s goals during initial product use, with consequences for their usage experiences and strategies. Two longitudinal surveys and an experiment reveal a potential downside of positive WOM. Specifically, receiving a greater volume of positive WOM about a new technology product can establish normative standards for adopter’s performance during product use. This leads adopters to feel pressure to meet those standards, prompting avoidance-oriented performance goals for initial use of their new product. Together, these processes undermine adopter’s experiences with their new product, as well as their strategies for using it. Our findings offer insights for marketers and researchers by identifying and explaining an ironic post-adoption effect of PWOM.
Too much of a good thing? High volumes of positive WOM can undermine adopters of new technology products.
期刊介绍:
Marketing Letters: A Journal of Research in Marketing publishes high-quality, shorter paper (under 5,000 words including abstract, main text and references, which is equivalent to 20 total pages, double-spaced with 12 point Times New Roman font) on marketing, the emphasis being on immediacy and current interest. The journal offers a medium for the truly rapid publication of research results.
The focus of Marketing Letters is on empirical findings, methodological papers, and theoretical and conceptual insights across areas of research in marketing.
Marketing Letters is required reading for anyone working in marketing science, consumer research, methodology, and marketing strategy and management.
The key subject areas and topics covered in Marketing Letters are: choice models, consumer behavior, consumer research, management science, market research, sales and advertising, marketing management, marketing research, marketing science, psychology, and statistics.
Officially cited as: Mark Lett