Purpose -This study seeks to investigate how attitude towards and purchase intention of a product will be affected by involvement level and presentation order of positive and negative word-of-mouth (WOM) information when presented in a single-message single-source context. Design/methodology/approach -Two studies were conducted with undergraduates of a top Asian university with sample sizes of 221 and 253 using experimental setups. Findings -It was found that subjects tend to base their evaluations more on later information than earlier information regardless of involvement level. This recency effect was consistently found across the product categories of tourist destination and restaurant in both studies.Research limitations/implications -The main limitation is that the manipulation of involvement level might not have been strong enough. Despite obtaining differences between high and low involvement levels in the pretest for both products, the difference was found again in only the restaurant category in the manipulation check of both studies. Future research can increase the gap between high and low involvement levels using non-laboratory settings to ensure effective involvement level manipulation. Practical implications -Findings of this paper can help companies to position messages in their favour when both positive and negative information needs to be presented. Originality/value -There has been a lot of marketing research on WOM but none has focused on covering positive and negative WOM coming from the same source despite it being a commonality in reality. This paper fills this gap with an investigation into the effects of single-message single-source mixed WOM on product attitude and purchase intention.

This study explores the discourse patterns produced by a group of ESL students and the roles played by the group discussion leaders in literature circles that effectively enhance their comprehension of the stories in graphic and non-graphic novels. Six ESL students were selected in this study and seven literature circles were conducted to gather data to address the research questions. Data were gathered from direct observation, interviews and transcripts of literature circles. The data obtained from the transcripts of literature circles showed that the students used different comprehension strategies during discussions such as questioning, evaluating, using prior knowledge, interpreting and summarising that effectively enhance their understanding of the texts. Turn-taking in discussions also showed that students with better language proficiency in English language dominated the discussions and could comprehend the stories more effectively. Data collected from the transcripts of the students' participation in literature circles and direct observation showed that the group discussion leader played an important role in assisting the group members to understand the graphic and non-graphic novels by paraphrasing the questions asked, initiating the conversation and motivating quiet group members to give personal responses and opinions during the discussions. Discourse patterns produced by the students and the group discussion leaders' roles in literature circles were analysed as to determine whether literature circles assisted the students in comprehending the graphic and non-graphic novels. The findings help teachers to improve literature circles as they know the important aspects in literature circles that should be emphasised to enhance students' comprehension.