Although many hospitality organizations strive to handle negative word of mouth (NWOM) online, limited research has attempted to understand the influence of NWOM on potential consumers’ buying behaviors in order to suggest the appropriate organizational response strategies to NWOM communication. In an attempt to bridge this gap, the authors identified the roles of consensus in NWOM communication and how organizational responses to NWOM affect the ways in which potential consumers evaluate service organizations—by making attributional judgments and forming attitude. The results show that consensus in online NWOM communication plays a pivotal role in influencing how potential consumers incorporate NWOM into their evaluations about the organization. Additionally, these NWOM consensus effects are contingent on organizational response strategies. Finally, the authors discuss theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research.

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PurposeThe androgen receptor (AR) plays a central role in prostate cancer. Evidence from several groups indicates that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) may enhance AR activity in prostate cancer cell lines. This study was designed to investigate the protein expression of AR, EGFR, and HER2 and to determine whether the EGFR and HER2 genes are amplified in prostate cancer tissues.Materials and MethodsThe protein expression levels of AR, EGFR, and HER2 in a tissue microarray block of 66 prostate cancer samples were investigated by immunohistochemical analysis and chromogenic in situ hybridization was used to determine whether the EGFR and HER2 genes were amplified in these tissues.ResultsThe AR and EGFR proteins were expressed in 59.1% and 40.9% of prostate cancers, respectively, but their expression levels were not significantly associated with clinicopathologic factors. Of the cases in which tissues were negative for EGFR protein expression, 69.2% were positive for AR protein expression; however, AR protein expression was significantly reduced (44.4%) in tissues in which EGFR protein was expressed. HER2 expression was detected in only 1 case (1.5%). No amplification of the EGFR or HER2 genes was found in prostate cancer specimens.ConclusionThis study was limited by small number of subjects, but it can still be inferred that the expression levels of the AR and EGFR proteins are inversely correlated in prostate cancer patients. The potential utility of EGFR and HER2 as prognostic factors or therapeutic targets warrants further study.

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