Receiver responses to rewarded referrals: the motive inferences framework

By Peeter W. J. Verlegh, Gangseog Ryu, Mirjam A. Tuk, Lawrence Feick. 2013

156 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Referral reward programs have been shown in past research to stimulate referrals and also to contribute positively to customer lifetime value and firms’ profitability. In this paper we examine whether, how, and under what conditions providing a reward for a referral affects receivers’ responses to the referral. Based on a multiple motives inference framework, we propose that rewards adversely affect responses because they lead receiving consumers to infer ulterior motives for the referral. Using experiments and a survey, we find support for this hypothesis and show that this effect is stronger for unsolicited and weak tie referrals. We also demonstrate that rewarding both the referral provider and receiver or providing symbolic rewards can eliminate the negative effect of rewarded referrals. The paper makes conceptual contributions to the literature on referral reward programs, word-of-mouth, and motive inferences. The work has implications for managers considering ways to construct referral programs and design marketing activities to increase referrals.

Subfields: Marketing, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fa5f8bd90b4fe3deccff275359cbe156ec2d997c

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Marketing

1. Jonah A. Berger
2. Grant Packard
3. Peeter W. J. Verlegh
4. Amna Kirmani
5. Edith G. Smit
6. Marieke L. Fransen
7. E. V. van Reijmersdal
8. Bartosz W. Wojdynski

In Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

1. Peeter W. J. Verlegh
2. Edith G. Smit
3. Grant Packard
4. Jonah A. Berger
5. Amna Kirmani
6. D. Roux
7. Bartosz W. Wojdynski

In Sociology and Political Science

1. Jonah A. Berger
2. Grant Packard
3. Peeter W. J. Verlegh
4. Amna Kirmani
5. Edith G. Smit
6. E. V. van Reijmersdal
7. Bartosz W. Wojdynski
8. Nathaniel J. Evans

Citations in the corpus

• How Language Shapes Word of Mouth's Impact (2017, background): “People may assume that someone who frequently recommends is being paid to do so (Verlegh et al. 2013), which may discourage frequent explicit endorsement.”
• A typology of consumer strategies for resisting advertising, and a review of mechanisms for countering them (2015, background): “The effectiveness of word of mouth marketing depends on the extent to which consumers attribute the message to enthusiasm about the brand or product rather than ulterior motives (Verlegh et al. 2013).”