A WORD-OF-MOUSE APPROACH FOR WORD-OF-MOUTH MEASUREMENT

Abstract

Despite of the fact that word-of-mouth phenomenon gained unseen dimensions, only few studies have focused on its measurement and only three of them developed a word-of-mouth construct. Our study develops a bi-dimensional scale which assigns usual word-of-mouth mechanisms available in online networking sites (eg: Recommend, Share, Like, Comment) into the WOM (+) -  positive word-of-mouth valence dimension - respectively into the WOM (-) - negative word-of-mouth valence dimension. We adapted e-WOM construct developed by Goyette et al. (2010), and we obtained a word-of-mouth propensity scale, whose items include the usual online mechanisms. Our scale measures word-of-mouth propensity on 6 items grouped in 2 dimensions: positive word-of-mouth (index: Recommend, Share, Like) and negative word-of-mouth (index: negative Comment, Share negative comment, Like negative comment). Scale was tested along two studies, a German sampled one and a Romanian sampled other, highlighting adaptations to cultural specifics. High reliability was found in both studies. Providing an instrument that would easily work as a common denominator between theory and practice, present paper contributes to the dissemination of research findings into the business and managerial area.