Um estudo empírico sobre o uso do boca a boca gerado na internet como comunicação com o cliente

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2010-02-22
Orientador(res)
Urdan, André Torres
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The impact of Word of Mouth Communication on Brand Image and the evaluation of products (goods and services) has been studied for some time in the discipline of consumer behavior. With the growth of the Internet as a social media and as a means of communication between consumers and enterprises, Word of Mouth has gained strength with Marketing professionals and researchers. A review of the literature draws a parallel between traditional Word of Mouth and its electronic version. It is essential to understand scientifically the influence of Electronic Word of Mouth on consumer behavior. In order to do this, two main studies were made: the first one was an exploratory stage conducted with interviews and questionnaires applied to consumers, marketers, and experts on the subject in order to raise general perceptions on the issue. The second study aims to evaluate statistically the hypotheses proposed in this work and involves an experiment applied to 168 students, considering five scenarios and three types of products (clothing, cosmetics and Online Stores). The independent variable was the Comment Posted by the consumer on the internet. Two were the dependent variables: Brand Image and Purchase Intention. To measure Brand Image, the scale 'The Brand Personality' by Aaker (1997) was used. To measure Purchase Intention subjects participated in a contest where they chose, at the beginning and end of data collection, the companies from which they would gain a gift certificate, if they won the contest. Purchase Intention was measured depending on the choice of consumers before and after the stimulus, and compared also the results of different scenarios. It was found that the positive and negative comments that consumers posted on the internet have a significant impact on Brand Image for other consumers of products in Clothing and Online stores. However, there was no perceived impact based on these comments regarding Cosmetic products. No impact was found on other consumers' Purchase Intention. Management of Negative Comments (company's response to comments posted by the consumer on the internet) decreased the negative impact of comments on other consumer's Brand Image on product Online Store and the use of Regulatory Focus Theory on companies' responses did not cause significant differences, counter indicating this theoretical concept as a mean to improve the results of managing the comments posted by the consumer on the internet. Several implications of scientific and professional interest arise from this research. For a Marketing professional, it is evident that internet 2.0 should be considered in the media plan of a company and that it should be treated as a two-way communication channel with consumers.


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