On Braggarts and Gossips: A Self-Enhancement Account of Word-of-Mouth Generation and Transmission

TLDR

Research on word‑of‑mouth has produced conflicting evidence on whether consumers prefer to share positive or negative information about products and services. The study proposes a self‑enhancement framework to explain why consumers generate positive WOM but transmit negative WOM, thereby reconciling conflicting findings. The authors compare WOM generation (sharing one’s own experiences) with WOM transmission (passing on others’ experiences) to test how self‑enhancement motives influence each process. Four experiments confirm that self‑enhancement motives drive positive WOM generation but negative WOM transmission.

Abstract

Previous research on word of mouth (WOM) has presented inconsistent evidence on whether consumers are more inclined to share positive or negative information about products and services. Some findings suggest that consumers are more inclined to engage in positive WOM, whereas others suggest that consumers are more inclined to engage in negative WOM. The present research offers a theoretical perspective that provides a means to resolve these seemingly contradictory findings. Specifically, the authors compare the generation of WOM (i.e., consumers sharing information about their own experiences) with the transmission of WOM (i.e., consumers passing on information about experiences they heard occurred to others). They suggest that a basic human motive to self-enhance leads consumers to generate positive WOM (i.e., share information about their own positive consumption experiences) but transmit negative WOM (i.e., pass on information they heard about others' negative consumption experiences). The authors present evidence for self-enhancement motives playing out in opposite ways for WOM generation versus WOM transmission across four experiments.