This research investigates how consumers’ electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) about consumption experiences is affected by whether the message is shared simultaneously during the experience or retrospectively, that is, after the experience has occurred. Building on the theories of synchrony, we...

How often do salespeople obfuscate in response to a customer's question? And when and why does obfuscating help or hurt the prospects of a sale? We investigate these questions in three studies, developing and testing a framework based on theory from persuasion, social cognition, and...

In this chapter, we develop a theoretical framework that explains how blogs can be categorized based on audiences’ perceptions and how bloggers use different strategies to shape or shift their audiences’ perceptions and increase the persuasiveness of their messages. We posit that bloggers...

We examine how and why bloggers and other influencers might share secrets online. Based on an exploratory survey of bloggers and the literature on secret sharing, we examine the use of secret sharing as a strategy for audience building. Our results suggest that online influencers disclose...

Consumer self-presentation is considered a major driver of word-of-mouth (WOM) communication. In particular, the manner in which consumers self-present using brand mentions is likely to impact impressions of the WOM senders as well as the mentioned brands. In some cases, however, mentioning...

Although advertisers present assurance or certification cues to burnish their “green” credentials, the impact of such “eco-seals” on persuasion is not well understood. We examine consumer characteristics (environmental concern and brand familiarity) and advertiser-controlled...

The rise of online reviews written by consumers makes possible an examination of how the content and style of these word-of-mouth messages contribute to their helpfulness. In this study, consumers are asked to judge the value of real online consumer reviews to their simulated shopping...