Page 138 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

130 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

three-volume thesis, Rhetoric, which was written almost 2,500 years ago
and can be characterized as one of the first major theses focused on inter-
personal influence and persuasion from a social perspective. In it, Aristotle
focused on three means of persuasion on which an orator must rely: one
grounded in credibility (ethos), one grounded in the emotions and psy-
chology of the audience (pathos), and one grounded in patterns of reason-
ing (logos). Ethos is present in what the speaker communicates through
his or her personal character and is perceived by the audience as having
content representative of substance and credibility. Pathos represents the
persuasion of audiences through the use of emotion. It works most effec-
tively when the audience identifies with these emotions and thus accepts
the ideas, propositions, or calls to action presented in the communication.
Finally, logos represents the art of persuasion through the use of both de-
ductive and inductive reasoning (Buttle, 1998). In today’s world, it is evi-
dent that some elements of ethos, pathos, and/or logos must be present for
a communication to serve as an effective source of influence. Indeed,
WOM is typically distinguished from other informational sources such as
advertising and promotion based on two important criteria. First, it is usu-
ally perceived as more credible and trustworthy because the source of the
information may be known and is presumably unbiased; second, it is more
readily available and accessible through social networks (Brown &
Reingen, 1987; Murray, 1991). Both of these characteristics serve to make
WOM an effective conduit through which information is communicated.

Definition of Word of Mouth and Early Word-of-Mouth Research

WOM has been described in the literature as one of the world’s most effec-
tive, yet least understood, marketing strategies (Misner, 1999). As noted
by Trusov, Bucklin, and Pauwels (2009, p. 90), “marketers are particularly
interested in better understanding WOM because traditional forms of
communication appear to be losing effectiveness.” Indeed, a recent Adweek
Media/Harris poll (Dolliver, 2010) found that more than 90 percent of
Americans admit that they ignore some ads, with the largest segment (43
percent) ignoring Internet banner advertisements, undoubtedly because
advertising is so ubiquitous today.
Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955), seminal researchers on interpersonal
communication, defined WOM as the act of exchanging marketing infor-
mation among consumers, which plays an essential role in changing
consumer attitudes and behavior toward products and services. Arndt
(1967), one of the first researchers to investigate the influence of WOM
on consumer behavior, characterized WOM as “oral, person to person