Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of electronic referral (eReferral) marketing and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on brand image and purchase intention, coupled with the moderating effect of gender in the relationship. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the interplay between the proposed variables, using a random sample of 308 respondents in Cyprus. Findings – The empirical results suggest the following: eReferral does influence brand image, and the impact is significant with women only; eWOM influences brand image, and the impact is more significant with women than men; eWOM influences purchase intention, and the impact is the same for both genders; brand image influences purchase intention, and the impact is more significant with women than men. Research limitations/implications – Marketing managers can benefit from these competitive advantage tools. Brand image, awareness and sales volume can be increased by utilizing eWOM or eReferral, depending on the product and/or service functionality as well as gender. Originality/value – While there is a substantial research stream on eWOM, to the best of the authors’ knowledge no research has differentiated eReferral from eWOM. This paper provides useful insights regarding the two concepts.

This study was conducted online survey between November 2019 and January 2020, with the objective of determining the production characteristics and sectoral issues of beekeeping enterprises in Turkey. According to the survey, the Black Sea region accounts for 28% of the total; the Central Anatolia region accounts for 18%; the Marmara region accounts for 17%; the Eastern Anatolia region accounts for 13%; and the Aegean region accounts for 9%. It was conducted with a total of 200 participants, 8.5% of which were beekeepers from the Mediterranean region and 6.5% from the Southeast Anatolia region. 82% of the participants are for income; 18% of them are involved in production activities for backyard purposes. The enterprises have an average of 140 colonies and produce 17.29 kg of honey per colony; 31.5% of the enterprises consider beekeeping to be their first job, and 49% use the migratory beekeeping model. 67% of them attended beekeeping classes. The enterprises collectively produce 90.5% extracted honey, 56.5% comb honey, and 23 % natural honey comb. 37% of them work with Caucasian or crossbred bees, and 32.5 % with Anatolian bees. It has been determined that 63.0% of enterprises meet their queen bee demands solely via their own operations, and 60.6% of enterprises are exposed to the varroa infection. According to our findings, one of the most important concerns for enterprises in the industry is marketing, which accounts for 24%. Following issues, accommodation (17.7%), diseases and pests (15.7%), safety (15.7%), transportation (10.4%), and pesticide applications (7.1%).

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