Investigating the Relation between Factors Effecting Viral Marketing and Consumers’ Buying Intention

Bharti Motwani, Sharda Haryani

Abstract


Purpose: The purpose of the study is to first identify the factors related to viral marketing and then explore consumer buying intention to this relatively new marketing strategy.

Design / Methodology / Approach: The study was done on primary data collected through self structured questionnaire based on five point Likert Scale. Non probability judgmental sampling was used. Seven factors were identified using exploratory factor analysis. Using structural equation modeling through smart PLS software, effect of these seven factors was studied on buying intention of consumer.

Findings: Our study shows that Immense Efficacy, Irrepressible and Professed Security factors are not associated with the buying intention of consumer due to viral marketing while Supportive Access, Consumer Dependency, Escalating Brand and Message Clarity are main factors associated with buying intention of consumer due to viral marketing.

Originality / Value: Advancements in communication technology have given rise to the evolution of a new electronic form of word-of-mouth i.e. viral marketing communication. Internet has extraordinarily changed the marketing gimmick and viral marketing is a very effective tool available to the marketers today.  It is helping organizations to grow their business by adopting strategies to reach out to their customers. This research paper is our original research and respondents were belonging to India and US only. However, it will be interesting to examine these factors in a different cultural context.  Marketers should utilize these results in marketing to support a measurable business goal.

 

Keywords: Consumer behavior, e-mail marketing, Internet marketing, Viral marketing.

 

 

[PT]

Título: "Investigando a relação entre fatores que afetam o marketing viral e a intenção de compra dos consumidores"

Resumo

Objetivos: O objetivo do estudo é identificar primeiro os fatores relacionados ao marketing viral e, em seguida, explorar a intenção de compra do consumidor nessa estratégia de marketing relativamente nova.

Desenho/metodologia/abordagem: O estudo foi realizado com dados primários coletados por meio de questionário auto-estruturado, com base na escala Likert de cinco pontos. Amostragem julgada não probabilística foi utilizada. Sete fatores foram identificados através da análise fatorial exploratória. Utilizando a modelagem de equações estruturais através do software PLS inteligente, o efeito desses sete fatores foi estudado na intenção de compra do consumidor.

Resultados: Nosso estudo mostra que fatores de imensa eficácia, irreprimíveis e de segurança não estão associados à intenção de compra do consumidor devido ao marketing viral, enquanto acesso de suporte, dependência do consumidor, marca crescente e clareza da mensagem são os principais fatores associados à intenção de compra do consumidor devido a marketing viral.

Originalidade/valor: os avanços na tecnologia da comunicação deram origem à evolução de uma nova forma eletrônica de propaganda boca a boca, ou seja, comunicação de marketing viral. A Internet mudou extraordinariamente o artifício de marketing e o marketing viral é uma ferramenta muito eficaz disponível hoje para os profissionais de marketing. Está ajudando as organizações a expandir seus negócios adotando estratégias para alcançar seus clientes. Este trabalho de pesquisa é nossa pesquisa original e os entrevistados pertenciam apenas à Índia e aos EUA. No entanto, será interessante examinar esses fatores em um contexto cultural diferente. Os profissionais de marketing devem utilizar esses resultados no marketing para apoiar uma meta de negócios mensurável.

 

Palavras-chave: comportamento do consumidor, marketing por e-mail, marketing na Internet, marketing viral.


 


Full Text:

PDF

References


Bayus, B.L. (1985). Word-of-mouth: the Indirect Effects of Marketing Efforts, Journal of Advertising Research, 25, 31-39.

Bauer, H.H., Reichardt, T., Barnes, S.J. and Neumann, M.M. (2005), “Driving Consumer Acceptance of Mobile Marketing: A Theoretical Framework and Empirical Study”, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp.181-192

Bernardo A. Huberman ,Jure Leskovec and Lada A. Adamic (2006). The Dynamics of Viral Marketing. In ACM Conference on Electronic Commerce, 228–237.

Blattberg, R.C. and Deighton, J. (1991). Interactive Marketing: Exploiting the Age of Addressability, Sloan Management Review, 33 (1), 5-14.

Bruyn, A. D., and Lilien, G. L. (2008). A Multi-stage Model of Word-of-Mouth Influence through Viral Marketing. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 25, 151–163.

Carl, W.J. (2008). The Role of Disclosure in Organized Word-of-Mouth Marketing Programs, Journal of Marketing Communications, 14 (3), 225-241.

Chu, S.C., and Kamal, S. (2008), “The Effect of Perceived Blogger Credibility and Argument Quality on Message Elaboration and Brand Attitudes: An Exploratory Study”, Journal of Interactive Advertising, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 26-37.

Cruz, D. and Fill, C. (2008). Evaluating Viral Marketing: Isolating the Key Criteria, Market Intelligence and Planning, 26 (7), 743-758.

De Bruyn, A. and Lilien, G.L. (2004). A Multi-stage Model of Word-of-Mouth through Electronic Referrals, eBusiness Research Centre Working Paper, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA.

Derbaix, Christian and Joelle Vanhamme (2003). Inducing Word-of-Mouth by Eliciting Surprise –Pilot Investigation, Journal of Economic Psychology, 24, 99–116.

Dobele, (2007). Why pass on Viral Messages? Because they Connect Emotionally, Business Horizons, 50 (4), 291-304.

Ferguson, R. (2008), “Word of Mouth and Viral Marketing: Taking the Temperature of the Hottest Trends in Marketing”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 179-182

Frost, D. (2007). Viral Campaign Spreading [online], SFGate, Available from: , [Accessed on: 24/02/08].

Goldenburg, J., Libai, B. and Muller, E. (2001). Talk the Network: a Complex Systems look at the Underlying Process of Word-of-Mouth, Marketing Letters, 12 (3), 211-223.

Haghirian, P., Madlberger, M. and Tanuskova, A. (2005), “Increasing Advertising Value of Mobile Marketing- An Empirical Study of Antecedents”, in: Proceedings of 38th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Big Island, HI, USA, January 3-6, 2005

Helm, S. (2000). Viral Marketing – Establishing Customer Relationship by, Word-of-Mouse, Electronic Markets, 10 (3), 158-161.

Jurvetson, Steve, and Tim Draper (1997). Viral Marketing Found at http://www.dfj.com/files/viralmarketing.html.

Kaikati, A.M. and Kaikati, J.G. (2004). Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously, California Management Review, 46 (4), 6-22.

Kelly, L., Kerr, G. and Drennan, J. (2010), “Avoidance of Advertising in Social Networking Sites: The Teenage Perspective”, Journal of Interactive Advertising, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 16-27

Knight, C.M. (1999). Viral Marketing – Defy Traditional Methods for Hyper Growth, Broadwatch Magazine, 13 (11), 50-53.

Kozinets, Robert V., Kristine de Valck, Andrea C.Wojnicki and Sarah J. S.Wilner (2010). Networked Narratives: Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities, Journal of Marketing, 74 71–89.

Muzaffar, F. and Kamran, S. (2011), “SMS Advertising: Youth Attitude towards Perceived Informativeness, Irritation and Credibility”, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 230-245

Palka, W., Pousttchi, K. and Wiedemann, D.G. (2009), “Mobile Word-of-Mouth – A Grounded theory of Mobile Viral Marketing”, Journal of Information Technology, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 172-185

Reyck, B.D. and Degraeve, Z. (2003), “Broadcast Scheduling for Mobile Advertising”, Operations Research, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 509-517

Ridings, C. M., Gefe D., and Arinze, B. (2002). Some Antecedents and Effects of Trust in Virtual Communities. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 11 (3-4), 271-295.

Saadeghvaziri, F. and Hosseini, H.K. (2011), “Mobile Advertising: An Investigation of Factors Creating Positive Attitude in Iranian Customers”, African Journal of Business Management, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 394-404

Spero, I. and Stone, M. (2004). Agents of Change: How Young Consumers are Changing the World of Marketing, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 7, 153-159. Source: Emerald [online].

Steyer, Alexandre, Renaud Garcia-Bardidia and Pascale Quester (2007). Modélisation de la Structure Sociale des Groupes de Discussion sur Internet: Implications pour le Contrôle du Marketing Viral, Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 22 (3) 29-44.

Thomas, G.M. (2004). Building the Buzz in the Hive Mind, Journal of Consumer Behavior, 4 (1), 64-72.

Tsang, M.M., Ho, S.C. and Liang, T.P. (2004), “Consumer Attitudes toward Mobile Advertising: An Empirical Study”, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 65-78

Tuten, Tracy L. (2008). Advertising 2.0: Social Media Marketing in A Web 2.0 World, Praeger, Westport Connecticut.




Copyright (c)

 

European Journal of Applied Business and Management

ISSN: 2183-5594

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58869/EJABM

Indexing:

EBSCO | CROSSREF | GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LATINDEX | DRJI | ICI JOURNALS MASTER | REDIB | MIAR