Although more than 30 years of research has established the power of word‐of‐mouth (WOM), little work has focused on how it could be managed more effectively. This study examines how incentives would work to actively encourage WOM, and how incentives would potentially interact with other variables that have been shown to drive WOM. In particular, a 3 × 3 × 2 experiment was conducted to examine the impact of incentives, tie‐strength, and satisfaction on WOM behavior. Consumer deal proneness was investigated using a quasi‐experimental design. Suggests from the findings that satisfaction does not necessarily increase the likelihood of WOM being generated. Shows incentives to be an effective catalyst to increase the likelihood of WOM being generated by satisfied consumers and tie strength to be an important variable in explaining WOM behavior. Suggests from the findings that deal prone consumers generate more WOM, independent of incentives. The findings have important implications, and suggest that satisfied customers are a necessary but not sufficient condition for getting positive WOM, and that incentives may be an effective way to get satisfied customers to recommend a firm. Furthermore, incentive programs targeted at strong ties are likely to be more effective than those targeted at weak ties, provided customers are genuinely happy with the service provided.

It is generally believed that referral reward programs (RRPs) work because recommendations from friends or relatives are perceived as impartial and trustworthy in analogy to what happens with word-of-mouth recommendations. To understand how an incentivized recommendation affects recommendation behavior, we conducted qualitative interviews and two experiments. We show that recommendation behavior is driven by the givers perception (i.e., their metaperception) of how they will be viewed by the receivers. Metaperception, in turn, is affected negatively by the presence of an incentive, and positively affected by the tie strength between the giver and the receiver. Our findings show that RRPs can have a positive, neutral, and negative effect on recommendation behavior depending on the relative strengths of the negative indirect effect of incentive on recommendation behavior via metaperception, and the positive effect of the perceived attractiveness of the incentive on recommendation behavior.

Eyes with asymptomatic PACG often present with severe to end-stage VF loss at the time of first presentation to hospital. In contrast, most PACG eyes with previous symptomatic angle closure present with mild or moderate VF defects. The visual morbidity of PACG may be related to the finding that the asymptomatic form of the disease is visually destructive.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the dual influence of traditional Chinese and national Singaporean cultural values on the attitude towards skin beauty and the purchase intention relating to skin care cosmetics among Chinese Singaporean women. It aims is to investigate how ethnic and national cultures might interact to influence the attitude towards skin beauty and hence the willingness to buy skin care products.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 370 Chinese Singaporean women was conducted to test the proposed links. The study adopts an empirical approach using structural equation modelling.FindingsBoth traditional Chinese and national Singaporean cultural values impact the attitude of Chinese Singaporean women towards skin beauty and their willingness to buy skin care cosmetics. The components of the traditional Chinese values (Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism) and national Singaporean values were found to have differing impact on the attitude towards skin beauty and the purchase intention of skin care cosmetics among Singaporean women. Confucianism was found to have a very strong impact on skin fairness and whitening, national Singaporeans' values were found to have a strong impact on skin anti‐ageing, and Buddhist values were found to have moderate impact on attitude towards skin smoothness and skin fairness and on the willingness to buy skin smoothening and skin whitening cosmetics.Research limitations/implicationsEven though the sample can be considered large, given the number of variables in the model, it would be wise to rely on a larger sample. In addition, the research was about specific cosmetics products, namely those related to skin care. It is judicious to extend the analysis to other categories and types of products. For expatriate ethnic groups, it is recommended that marketers think about the interaction between their traditional values and the values of the host country, as these have dual effects on their attitudes and hence on their buying intention. The interaction between these values is not static across products. It varies in size and combination across types of attitudes and products.Practical implicationsTraditional ethnic and national cultural values have differing impact in terms of significance and size on the attitude towards face beauty. Hence, marketing actions such as positioning and advertising should be customized accordingly, to target at these values in an attempt to influence attitude, and hence purchase behavior. Attitude plays a mediating role between cultural values and purchase intention. Influencing consumers' willingness to buy involves influencing their attitudes.Originality/valueFew works have surveyed the dual influence of national and ethnic values on a specific ethnic subgroup in Asia. To the authors' knowledge, there no previous research has been conducted for Singapore. This paper demonstrates that it is important for the marketer to take into account Singaporeans' national and ethnic values while marketing to them.