Searching for word of mouth in the digital age: Determinants of consumers’ uses of face-to-face information, internet opinion sites, and social media

In the digital era, consumers choose among various types of word of mouth (WOM) when searching for product information. This research investigates how consumers allocate their search efforts across three key WOM types: face-to-face (e.g., offline communication among consumers), Internet opinion sites (e.g., product reviews), and social media platforms (e.g., recommendations on Facebook). The authors develop a conceptual framework of WOM types and derive hypotheses about the determinants of WOM search behaviors, which they test against representative data from more than 2,000 consumers. Several product and consumer characteristics have systematic effects on search effort allocation, as do WOM type–specific resources. A process-related analysis also suggests different roles of WOM types during customers’ search journeys, such that face-to-face conversations and Internet opinion sites tend to be consulted early, whereas social media mostly serve as final information sources. Overall, the results caution against assuming that the different WOM types are arbitrary or random substitutes.