Exploring the nature of value in the word-of-mouth referral equation for health care

Dobele, Angela R.; Lindgreen, Adam

doi:10.1080/0267257x.2011.545677

Cited by 44 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Surprisingly, only two studies focuse on a primary care physician, one on a health care professional for children and one on a nursing home (Leisen and Hyman 2004;Dobele and Lindgreen 2011;McCaughey et al 2014). This does not reflect the important role of these players in the health care sector.…”

Section: Discussion and Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Europe is focused on in eight studies, Asia in two and other regions in three research papers. Only one study of Dobele and Lindgreen (2011) compared WOM among different countries. The results are summarized in Table 3 and a more detailed analysis of the WOM dimensions is presented in the following pages.…”

Section: Methodological Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to this informational component, WOM might provide emotional support (Liang and Scammon 2011). In this context, Dobele andLindgreen (2011) andHeather et al (2014) point out the important role of trust in the WOM source. The papers not only investigated the influence of patients as WOM sources towards a third party, such as colleagues, friends or relatives.…”

Section: Impact Of Wommentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two papers focused on hospital patients (Lee 2005;Leister and Stausberg 2007), one on potential patients of a physician (Li et al 2015), one on female patients of a health care professional for children (Dobele and Lindgreen 2011), one on pregnant women (Heather et al 2014) and one on members of an obesity group and their health conditions (Liang and Scammon 2011). Of the five research studies three papers emphasized eWOM.…”

Section: Impact Of Wommentioning

confidence: 99%

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Word-of-mouth in the health care sector: a literature analysis of the current state of research and future perspectives

Martin

2016

Int Rev Public Nonprofit Mark

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Health care is a tremendously expensive service that deeply impacts the daily life of individuals. It has become crucial to understand all the factors that influence the usage of these services. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is such a factor, because it strongly affects the health behavior. A research gap exists when it comes to the analysis of the current state of WOM research in the health care sector. Based on a comprehensive literature review of the leading scientific journals in the health care sector, this paper investigates existing WOM studies. The investigated studies emphasize hospital recommendations as well as the necessary preconditions for WOM. The studies highlight that there are factors which are favorable to WOM and might be influenced by service providers and payers. Fewer studies concerned the spread and impact dimension. In this regard it is somewhat unexpected that three times more studies focus on the preconditions for WOM than the actual impact of WOM. Only a small number of electronic WOM studies could be found. Stakeholder theory suggests emphasizing factors which benefit WOM. As WOM might spread in networks and influence large groups of people, stakeholder theory further proposes considering WOM as a possible way to distribute specific health care recommendations. Even if the studies highlight the importance of WOM, several research gaps still exist. For example, due to the strong focus on hospitals, recent research seems to neglect WOM concerning health care providers such as a general practitioners or nursing homes.

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Section: Discussion and Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodological Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Impact Of Wommentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Impact Of Wommentioning

confidence: 99%

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Word-of-mouth in the health care sector: a literature analysis of the current state of research and future perspectives

Martin

2016

Int Rev Public Nonprofit Mark

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“…Referrals have long been identified as a source of new customer acquisition, especially in industries with high experience and credence qualities, in which it is difficult for potential customers to evaluate the service in advance (Dobele and Lindgreen 2011). Next, we provide recommendations organized around four core themes for managers to support effective use of CRPs.…”

Section: Managerial Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing Existing Customers’ Revenue Streams through Customer Referral Programs

Garnefeld

Eggert

Helm

et al. 2013

Journal of Marketing

137

118

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Customer referral programs are an effective means of customer acquisition. By assessing a large-scale customer data set from a global cellular telecommunications provider, the authors show that participation in a referral program also increases existing customers' loyalty. In a field experiment, recommenders' defection rates fell from 19% to 7% within a year, and their average monthly revenue grew by 11.4% compared with a matched control group. A negative interaction between referral program participation and customer tenure reveals that the loyalty effect of voicing a recommendation is particularly pronounced for newer customer-firm relationships. A laboratory experiment further demonstrates that referral programs with larger rewards strengthen attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, whereas smaller rewards affect only the behavioral dimension. This article contributes to our theoretical understanding of the roles played by the commitment-consistency principle and positive reinforcement theory as mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of customer referral programs.

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The current state of research of word-of-mouth in the health care sector

Pauli

Martin

Greiling

2022

Int Rev Public Nonprofit Mark

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Health information plays a significant role in the health behavior of individuals. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is essential in this context. In recent years, new forms of online communication have greatly expanded the possibilities for seeking information and, in consequence, significantly changed communication behavior. Similarly, the doctor-patient relationship has gradually evolved and the traditional asymmetry of medical knowledge is increasingly being corrected as today’s health care consumers are becoming more well-informed. A key source of information is either in-person or online WOM. A research gap exists in terms of analyzing the current state of research of WOM in health care. Although various studies highlight the influence of WOM on health behavior, to the best of our knowledge there exists no systematic literature review that summarizes the current state of research on WOM in health care. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive systematic literature review on WOM in health care. The literature review investigates existing WOM studies in the health care sector based on a systematic search for articles in a twenty-year timeframe from January 2000 to December 2019. The resulting total of 34 articles constitutes the basis of this paper. These studies are analyzed using a model of WOM in health care and – based on the theory of cognitive dissonance, the theory of the strength of weak ties, and the theory of perceived risk – clustered into the creation, spread, and impact of WOM. The investigated studies emphasize the importance of the staff in the service process. Furthermore, negative reviews have a stronger impact than positive ones, with service quality representing the main reason for negative WOM. In addition, the importance of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is underlined, as online reviews are gaining popularity for patient decision-making processes. Although some studies have addressed WOM in health care, research gaps remain. For example, there are few studies on eWOM and some medical disciplines in private practice are neglected in WOM research. By systematically presenting and analyzing the literature on WOM in health care, this paper represents an important starting point for future research and also provides insights into the role of WOM in health care practice.

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Exploring the nature of value in the word-of-mouth referral equation for health care

Cited by 44 publications

References 39 publications

Word-of-mouth in the health care sector: a literature analysis of the current state of research and future perspectives

Word-of-mouth in the health care sector: a literature analysis of the current state of research and future perspectives

Growing Existing Customers’ Revenue Streams through Customer Referral Programs

The current state of research of word-of-mouth in the health care sector

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