The Effect of Need for Uniqueness on Word of Mouth

Abstract

positive WOM can decrease the uniqueness of one's possessions, which hurts high-uniqueness individuals (pilot study). As a result, high-(vs. low-) uniqueness individuals are less willing to generate positive WOM for publicly consumed products that they own. However, high uniqueness does not decrease willingness to generate WOM for privately consumed products (study 1). Study 2 demonstrates that for publicly consumed products, WOM that includes positive recommendations is perceived to be more persuasive than WOM that only contains product details. Consequently, the effect of uniqueness is more pronounced for WOM recommendations, compared to WOM that provides details (study 3). Study 4 confirms that high-(vs. low-) uniqueness consumers are less willing to recommend a public product to others, but are as willing to discuss product details. Study 5 content-analyzes real-world WOM and finds evidence that supports these results. Dichter (1966, 166) argues that "advertising cannot replace interpersonal influence."Our research focuses on the fundamental drivers underlying WOM. Most prior research studies the benefits of WOM (e.g., Sundaram, Mitra, and Webster 1998) rather than the costs (see Frenzen and Nakamoto 1993 for an exception). We explore a psychosocial cost associated with a consumer's decision to provide positive WOM about products. While providing WOM may be attractive for several reasons, we demonstrate that consumers who promote a product through WOM may also decrease the uniqueness of their possessions. Thus, positive WOM may hurt consumers who have high need for uniqueness. Additionally, we expect this social cost of decreased uniqueness to vary across contexts. We propose that the detrimental effect of WOM (in terms of its potential to decrease the uniqueness of products) is perceived to be greater for publicly (vs. privately) consumed products (Bourne 1957), greater when the product is owned (vs. not intended to be owned), and greater when the WOM includes positive reviews and purchase recommendations, compared to when the WOM only contains product details.This research strives to make three important contributions. First, it responds to Bagozzi's (1975, 39) Second, we respond to a call for research regarding the types of products that people will talk about with others. Brown and Reingen (1987, 361) state that "an enhanced understanding of the social influence processes in consumer behavior may simply be obtained by examining which products or services consumers are more likely to talk about." We study the effects of need for uniqueness on WOM for different product categories to address this issue.Third, we explore the effect of individual and contextual differences on consumers' willingness to engage in different types of WOM. Specifically, we consider how consumers' need for uniqueness, the product category, and product ownership influence their willingness to provide positive WOM (and purchase recommendations) versus only providing product details.We therefore provide a clearer picture on WOM c...

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