Page 142 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

134 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

the linear marketer influence model. Over time, as the understanding
of the processes of WOM has matured, an emphasis has been placed on the
importance of particularly influential consumers in the WOM process
(Feick & Price, 1987; King & Summers, 1976). Hence, it was in marketers’
best interests to identify and attempt to influence these opinion leaders and
marketing mavens by exposing them to marketing tools such as advertise-
ments and promotions, so that they in turn could convey this information
to consumers. This process was known as the “Two-Step Flow” hypothesis,
where marketer-controlled communication flowed to opinion leaders, who
in turn communicated it through WOM to their peers (Katz & Lazarsfeld,
1955). It operated in the broader framework as the conduit for the flow of
WOM identified as the “Linear Marketer Influence Model” (Kozinets et al.,
2010) because this model assumes that information flows linearly from
corporation to opinion leader to consumer.
However, this approach is not without its criticism. First, opinion lead-
ers appear to be limited to specific areas and to related products because
their influence may not extend across diverse product categories (King &
Summers, 1970). Second, the communication between opinion leaders
and followers may not be one-way; that is, followers may request or trans-
1
mit information from opinion leaders and vice versa. Finally, the opinion
leader is not alone in receiving information from the mass media; followers
are, of course, influenced by advertising and promotion (Assael, 2003).
the network co-production model. WOM communication has been
characterized as evolving into what Kozinets and colleagues (2010) have
described as the “Network Co-Production Model.” The authors have ar-
gued that although this model coincides with the development and recog-
nition of the Internet, it is not limited to this domain. Indeed, the Internet
seems tailor-made for the elements that characterize the process by which
this model of WOM works. Beginning in the 1980s, marketers began to
focus on how WOM that occurs in small groups or dyads (a microperspec-
tive) begins to accumulate more broadly to form large-scale patterns in the
diffusion of information (a macroperspective). Research began to address
the issue of delineating the process by which WOM begins. More impor-
tant, researchers tried to identify the causes that trigger WOM to spread
through a population. Finally, they looked for factors that might facilitate
its spread. Clearly WOM is a social phenomenon, so properties of social
relations might potentially play a crucial role in WOM interactions at both
the micro and macro levels.
The marketing discipline has evolved from one with its roots in the
“transaction” to one that is based upon relationships (Vargo & Lusch,
2004), whether it be retailer and supplier, distributor and manufacturer,