Does Online Word of Mouth Increase Demand? (And How?) Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2017.1045

References

  • Aaltonen A, Seiler S (2016) Cumulative growth in user generated content production: Evidence from Wikipedia. Management Sci. 62(7):2054–2069.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Ahn D-Y, Duan JA, Mela CF (2016) Managing user-generated content: A dynamic rational expectations equilibrium approach. Marketing Sci. 35(2):284–303.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Ameri M, Honka E, Xie Y (2016) Word-of-mouth, observational learning, and product adoption: Evidence from an anime platform. Working paper, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas.Google Scholar
  • Anderson M, Magruder J (2012) Learning from the crowd: Regression discontinuity estimates of the effects of an online review database. Econom. J. 122(563):957–989.Google Scholar
  • Aral S, Walker D (2014) Tie strength, embeddedness, and social influence: A large-scale networked experiment. Management Sci. 60(6):1352–1370.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Bagwell K (2007) The economic analysis of advertising. Armstrong M, Porter R, eds. Handbook of Industrial Organization, Vol. 3 (North-Holland, Amsterdam), 1701–1844.Google Scholar
  • Becker GS, Murphy KM (1993) A simple theory of advertising as a good or bad. Quart. J. Econom. 108(4):941–964.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bertrand M, Duflo E, Mullainathan S (2004) How much should we trust differences-in-differences estimates? Quart. J. Econom. 119(1):249–275.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Blake T, Nosko C, Tadelis S (2015) Consumer heterogeneity and paid search effectiveness: A large scale field experiment. Econometrica 83(1):155–174.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Chevalier JA, Mayzlin D (2006) The effect of word of mouth on sales: Online book reviews. J. Marketing Res. 43(3):345–354.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Chintagunta PK, Gopinath S, Venkataraman S (2010) The effects of online user reviews on movie box office performance: Accounting for sequential rollout and aggregation across local markets. Marketing Sci. 29(5):944–957.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Dhar V, Chang EA (2015) Does chatter matter? The impact of user-generated content on music sales. J. Interactive Marketing 23(4):300–307.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gilchrist DS, Sands EG (2016) Something to talk about: Social spillovers in movie consumption. J. Political Econom. 24(105):1339–1382.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Godes D, Mayzlin D (2004) Using online conversations to study word-of-mouth communication. Marketing Sci. 23(4):545–560.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Gong S, Zhang J, Zhao P, Jiang X (2017) Tweeting as a marketing tool—Field experiment in the TV industry. J. Marketing Res. Forthcoming.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gordon B, Zettelmeyer F, Bhargava N, Chapsky D (2016) A comparison of approaches to advertising measurement: Evidence from big field experiments at Facebook. Working paper, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.Google Scholar
  • Gordon BR, Hartmann WR (2013) Advertising effects in presidential elections. Marketing Sci. 32(1):19–35.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Hartmann WR, Klapper D (2017) Super Bowl ads. Marketing Sci., ePub ahead of print October 5, https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2017.1055.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Johnson I (2012) Coup rumors spur China to hem in social networking sites. New York Times (March 31). https://nyti.ms/2pTZsAz.Google Scholar
  • Lambrecht A, Tucker C, Wiertz C (2017) Should you target early trend propagators? Evidence from Twitter. Marketing Sci. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
  • Lewis RA, Rao JM (2015) The unfavorable economics of measuring the returns to advertising. Quart. J. Econom. 130(4):1941–1973.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lewis RA, Reiley DH (2014) Online ads and offline sales: Measuring the effect of retail advertising via a controlled experiment on Yahoo! Quant. Marketing Econom. 12(3):235–266.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Liu Y (2015) Word of mouth for movies: Its dynamics and impact on box office revenue. J. Marketing 70(3):74–89.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lovett MJ, Staelin R (2016) The role of paid, earned, and owned media in building entertainment brands: Reminding, informing, and enhancing enjoyment. Marketing Sci. 35(1):142–157.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Luca M (2016) Reviews, reputation, and revenue: The case of Yelp.com. Working paper, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
  • Petrova M, Sen A, Yildirim P (2016) Social media and political donations: Evidence from Twitter. Working paper, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.Google Scholar
  • PR Newswire (2013) Marketers say “word of mouth marketing” is more effective than traditional marketing; forecast big increase in social media spending. (November 19), http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/marketers-say-word-of-mouth-marketing-is-more-effective-than-traditional-marketing-forecast-big-increase-in-social-media-spending-232486271.html.Google Scholar
  • Rossi PE (2014) Invited paper—Even the rich can make themselves poor: A critical examination of IV methods in marketing applications. Marketing Sci. 33(5):655–672.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Sahni N (2015) Effect of temporal spacing between advertising exposures: Evidence from an online field experiment. Quant. Marketing Econom. 13(3):203–247.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Sethuraman R, Tellis GJ, Briesch RA (2011) How well does advertising work? Generalizations from a meta-analysis of brand advertising elasticities. J. Marketing Res. 48(3):457–471.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Shapiro BT (2016) Positive spillovers and free riding in advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals: The case of antidepressants. J. Political Econom. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
  • Shriver SK, Nair HS, Hofstetter R (2013) Social ties and user-generated content: Evidence from an online social network. Management Sci. 59(6):1425–1443.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Sinkinson M, Starc A (2015) Ask your doctor? Direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals. Working paper, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Sonnier GP, McAlister L, Rutz OJ (2011) A dynamic model of the effect of online communications on firm sales. Marketing Sci. 30(4):702–716.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Toubia O, Stephen AT (2013) Intrinsic vs. image-related utility in social media: Why do people contribute content to Twitter? Marketing Sci. 32(3):368–392.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Trusov M, Bodapati A, Bucklin RE (2010) Determining influential users in Internet social networks. J. Marketing Res. 47(4):643–658.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Trusov M, Bucklin RE, Pauwels K (2009) Effects of word-of-mouth versus traditional marketing: Findings from an Internet social networking site. J. Marketing 73(5):90–102.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Tuchman A (2016) Advertising and demand for addictive goods: The effects of e-cigarette advertising. Working paper, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.Google Scholar
  • Tuchman A, Nair HS, Gardete P (2017) An empirical analysis of complementarities between the consumption of goods and advertisements. Quant. Marketing Econom. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
  • Tucker CE (2014) Social networks, personalized advertising, and privacy controls. J. Marketing Res. 51(5):546–562.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Villanueva J, Yoo S, Hanssens DM (2008) The impact of marketing-induced versus word-of-mouth customer acquisition on customer equity growth. J. Marketing Res. 45(1):48–59.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • You Y, Vadakkepatt GG, Joshi AM (2015) A meta-analysis of electronic word-of-mouth elasticity. J. Marketing 79(2):19–39.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Zhang XM, Zhu F (2011) Group size and incentives to contribute: A natural experiment at Chinese Wikipedia. Amer. Econom. Rev. 101(4):1601–1615.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Zhu F, Zhang XM (2010) Impact of online consumer reviews on sales: The moderating role of product and consumer characteristics. J. Marketing 74(2):133–148.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
INFORMS site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; Others help us improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Please read our Privacy Statement to learn more.