Page 146 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

138 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

(as discussed earlier), homophily (Gilly, Graham, Wolfinbarger, & Yale,
1998), trust (Nisbet, 2006), and interpersonal influence (Bearden,
Netemeyer, & Teel, 1989). Homophily refers to the degree that interacting
individuals are congruent or similar in certain characteristics, attitudes, or
behaviors (Rogers & Bhowmik, 1970). It can be argued that the greater the
perceived similarity between participants on a website, the more likely
they are to engage in WOM with each other when making product choices
and purchase decisions (Chu & Kim, 2011). The same can be said for the
strength of the tie, which arguably is directly related to homophily (Brown,
Broderick, & Lee 2007). That is, one would naturally feel closer to a per-
son who shares similar personal and attitudinal characteristics and would
therefore be motivated to share information with that person. The presence
of close ties, as we have seen, does not in and of itself guarantee that WOM
will spread, because weak ties are required in the network to accomplish
this objective. Trust, defined in this context as “a willingness to rely on an
exchange partner in whom one has confidence” (Moorman, Deshpande, &
Zaltman, 1993), should also be positively related to engagement in WOM
behaviors. Indeed, the term “friend,” meaning someone who is part of your
social network on Facebook, suggests an underlying foundation of trust.
Finally, two dimensions of interpersonal influence have been identified
in the marketing literature: normative and informational (Bearden et al.,
1989). Normative influence represents the need to conform in order to be
liked and accepted by others. Informational influence is a phenomenon
where people accept information from knowledgeable others in the form
of store, product, and brand choice in an attempt to reflect correct behav-
ior for a given situation (i.e., “be like Mike”). In a test of these four factors
as drivers of WOM behavior on a social network site, Chu and Kim (2011)
found that susceptibility to both normative and informational influence
was positively related to WOM behavior on social network sites, as was
trust. However, homophily was found to be negatively related to the en-
gagement in WOM, and tie strength was limited in its effect, affecting
opinion seeking and passing but not giving.
The findings related to tie strength and homophily are not surprising.
In our previous discussion, we observed that strong ties, while important
as source authorities for information, may actually restrict information dis-
semination to those in the group. We also noted that weak tie members be
present for dissemination to a broader group. The implications of the re-
sults suggest that marketers should attempt to build trust in their presen-
tations to others and emphasize various eWOM communication motives
that tie into normative and informational influence. We discuss this topic
next.