TITLE:
Good Reviews Go out the Door, Bad News Travels Fast?—Research on the Influence of Reference Groups and Their Language Styles in Positive Online Reviews on Consumers’ Brand Attitudes
AUTHORS:
Jihua Zhang, Yongsheng Huang
KEYWORDS:
Positive Online Reviews, Brand Identity, Reference Group, Language Style, Social Comparison
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.8 No.2,
February
28,
2020
ABSTRACT: Based on the theory of brand
identity and social comparison theory, this study explores how positive
comments from different reference group types affect consumers’ brand
evaluation and purchasing intentions, and then this study discusses how the
language style of positive online reviews can further regulate the influence of
positive comments from different reference group types according to social
comparison theory. The study by two scenario-based experiments found that when
positive comments come from avoided groups compared to desired groups,
consumers produce lower brand evaluation and willingness to buy, in which the
psychological mechanism is that consumers are influenced by the avoided group
and produce lower brand identity. Interestingly, the language style of positive
reviews has a significant lytic effect on the effect of positive comments in
the reference group. Compared with self-reinforcing language style, when
avoiding the group’s self-deprecating language style, consumers will produce
higher brand identity based on downward comparison, which in turn leads to
higher brand evaluation and willingness to buy. This study examines the
influence of reference group type on positive comment effect, and on this
basis, for the first time verifies the adjustment effect of different language
styles on the positive comment of the reference group, which to some extent
makes up for the deficiency of the existing theory, and also gives the
enterprise how to view the positive comments correctly. In the era of Internet e-commerce to make good use
of the power of online review to build a good brand image, improve marketing
effect provides the corresponding management inspiration.