IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joinma/v36y2016icp31-45.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Brands, Friends, & Viral Advertising: A Social Exchange Perspective on the Ad Referral Processes

Author

Listed:
  • Hayes, Jameson L.
  • King, Karen Whitehill
  • Ramirez, Artemio

Abstract

Advertisers worldwide are designing advertising with an eye toward viral activity particularly within social networking sites such as Facebook. Yet, little is known about the social processes at play when ads are shared. Taking a consumer-centric approach, this study investigates the social processes central to ads going viral within the Social Web. Conducting a national online experiment, the intertwining roles of brand relationships, interpersonal relationships, and sharing motivations in the social exchange of advertising are explored by testing two proposed referral decision-making processes: referral and referral acceptance. Results suggest that brand relationships and interpersonal relationships impact referral of ads within SNSs, and brand relationships interact with sharing motivations to impact decisions; specifically, brand relationships are conduits for ensuring reciprocal altruism in exchange, but their influence is tempered within stronger interpersonal relationships. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Hayes, Jameson L. & King, Karen Whitehill & Ramirez, Artemio, 2016. "Brands, Friends, & Viral Advertising: A Social Exchange Perspective on the Ad Referral Processes," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 31-45.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:36:y:2016:i:c:p:31-45
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intmar.2016.04.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1094996816300263
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intmar.2016.04.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dobele, Angela & Toleman, David & Beverland, Michael, 2005. "Controlled infection! Spreading the brand message through viral marketing," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 143-149.
    2. De Bruyn, Arnaud & Lilien, Gary L., 2008. "A multi-stage model of word-of-mouth influence through viral marketing," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 151-163.
    3. Fournier, Susan, 1998. "Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 343-373, March.
    4. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2010. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 59-68, January.
    5. Ho, Jason Y.C. & Dempsey, Melanie, 2010. "Viral marketing: Motivations to forward online content," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 1000-1006, September.
    6. Anderson, Eugene W & Salisbury, Linda Court, 2003. "The Formation of Market-Level Expectations and Its Covariates," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(1), pages 115-124, June.
    7. Frenzen, Jonathan & Nakamoto, Kent, 1993. "Structure, Cooperation, and the Flow of Market Information," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(3), pages 360-375, December.
    8. Phelps, Joseph E. & Lewis, Regina & Mobilio, Lynne & Perry, David & Raman, Niranjan, 2004. "Viral Marketing or Electronic Word-of-Mouth Advertising: Examining Consumer Responses and Motivations to Pass Along Email," Journal of Advertising Research, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(4), pages 333-348, December.
    9. David Godes & Dina Mayzlin, 2004. "Using Online Conversations to Study Word-of-Mouth Communication," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 545-560, June.
    10. David Constant & Sara Kiesler & Lee Sproull, 1994. "What's Mine Is Ours, or Is It? A Study of Attitudes about Information Sharing," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 5(4), pages 400-421, December.
    11. Dobele, Angela & Lindgreen, Adam & Beverland, Michael & Vanhamme, Joelle & van Wijk, Robert, 2007. "Why pass on viral messages? Because they connect emotionally," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 291-304.
    12. Mangold, W. Glynn & Faulds, David J., 2009. "Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 357-365, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stolz, Simon & Schlereth, Christian, 2021. "Predicting Tie Strength with Ego Network Structures," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 40-52.
    2. Moldovan, Sarit & Steinhart, Yael & Lehmann, Donald R., 2019. "Propagators, Creativity, and Informativeness: What Helps Ads Go Viral," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 102-114.
    3. Ana Babić Rosario & Kristine Valck & Francesca Sotgiu, 2020. "Conceptualizing the electronic word-of-mouth process: What we know and need to know about eWOM creation, exposure, and evaluation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 422-448, May.
    4. Hsieh, Jung-Kuei, 2020. "The effects of transforming mobile services into mobile promotions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 195-208.
    5. Tojib, Dewi & Khajehzadeh, Saman, 2017. "Mitigating customers’ negative responses to physical presence reduction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 109-118.
    6. Taylor, Alex & Carlson, Jamie & Liao, Yi-Chuan & Rahman, Mohammad M., 2023. "Customer engagement and sharing behaviors: Toward a contingent curvilinear perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Jansen, Nora & Hinz, Oliver & Deusser, Clemens & Strufe, Thorsten, 2021. "Is the Buzz on? – A Buzz Detection System for Viral Posts in Social Media," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-17.
    8. Li, You & Chang, Yaping & Liang, Zhehao, 2022. "Attracting more meaningful interactions: The impact of question and product types on comments on social media advertisings," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 89-101.
    9. Patrick Hartmann & Paula Fernández & Vanessa Apaolaza & Martin Eisend & Clare D’Souza, 2021. "Explaining Viral CSR Message Propagation in Social Media: The Role of Normative Influences," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 365-385, October.
    10. Giuliana Isabella & Andressa Freitas de Melo & Marcela Carvalho Gonzalez, 2023. "Going viral on advertising YouTube video: Detecting the influences," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 27(Vol. 27 N), pages 220300-2203.
    11. Mujahid Ghouri, Arsalan & Mani, Venkatesh & Jiao, Zhilun & Venkatesh, V.G. & Shi, Yangyan & Kamble, Sachin S., 2021. "An empirical study of real-time information-receiving using industry 4.0 technologies in downstream operations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    12. Hayes, Jameson L. & Brinson, Nancy H. & Bott, Gregory J. & Moeller, Claire M., 2021. "The Influence of Consumer–Brand Relationship on the Personalized Advertising Privacy Calculus in Social Media," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 16-30.
    13. Mulier, Lana & Slabbinck, Hendrik & Vermeir, Iris, 2021. "This Way Up: The Effectiveness of Mobile Vertical Video Marketing," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-15.
    14. Zahy B. Ramadan, 2019. "Brand–brand relational moments," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(6), pages 705-716, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ketelaar, Paul E. & Janssen, Loes & Vergeer, Maurice & van Reijmersdal, Eva A. & Crutzen, Rik & van ‘t Riet, Jonathan, 2016. "The success of viral ads: Social and attitudinal predictors of consumer pass-on behavior on social network sites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2603-2613.
    2. Huang, Jinsong & Su, Song & Zhou, Liuning & Liu, Xi, 2013. "Attitude Toward the Viral Ad: Expanding Traditional Advertising Models to Interactive Advertising," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 36-46.
    3. Kick, Markus, 2015. "Social Media Research: A Narrative Review," EconStor Preprints 182506, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    4. Gavin L. Fox & Stephen J. Lind, 2020. "A framework for viral marketing replication and mutation," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 10(3), pages 206-222, December.
    5. Mauro Bampo & Michael T. Ewing & Dineli R. Mather & David Stewart & Mark Wallace, 2008. "The Effects of the Social Structure of Digital Networks on Viral Marketing Performance," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 273-290, September.
    6. Jarosław Jankowski & Magdalena Zioło & Artur Karczmarczyk & Jarosław Wątróbski, 2017. "Towards Sustainability in Viral Marketing with User Engaging Supporting Campaigns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2011. "Two hearts in three-quarter time: How to waltz the social media/viral marketing dance," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 253-263, May.
    8. Tran, Gina A. & Strutton, David, 2020. "Comparing email and SNS users: Investigating e-servicescape, customer reviews, trust, loyalty and E-WOM," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    9. Zahra MajlesiRad & Abdol Hamid Haji pour Shoushtari, 2020. "Analysis of the impact of social network sites and eWOM marketing, considering the reinforcing dimensions of the concept of luxury, on tendency toward luxury brand," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-19, December.
    10. Bosio, Birgit & Haselwanter, Stefanie & Ceipek, Michael, 2018. "The Utilization of Social Media Marketing in Destination Management Organizations," 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disruptive Change (Dubrovnik, 2018), in: 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disrupt, pages 249-268, Governance Research and Development Centre (CIRU), Zagreb.
    11. Kim, Juran & Kang, Seungmook & Lee, Ki Hoon, 2021. "Evolution of digital marketing communication: Bibliometric analysis and network visualization from key articles," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 552-563.
    12. Agnieszka Zablocki & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Michael J. Houston, 2019. "How valence, volume and variance of online reviews influence brand attitudes," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 9(1), pages 61-77, June.
    13. Hsu, Liwu & Lawrence, Benjamin, 2016. "The role of social media and brand equity during a product recall crisis: A shareholder value perspective," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 59-77.
    14. Roberta De Michele & Gianluca Marchi, 2018. "Influencer identification and selection on social networking sites: An analysis on Instagram," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(4), pages 129-153.
    15. Roma, Paolo & Aloini, Davide, 2019. "How does brand-related user-generated content differ across social media? Evidence reloaded," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 322-339.
    16. Eggers, Fabian & Risselada, Hans & Niemand, Thomas & Robledo, Sebastian, 2022. "Referral campaigns for software startups: The impact of network characteristics on product adoption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 309-324.
    17. Pescher, Christian & Reichhart, Philipp & Spann, Martin, 2014. "Consumer Decision-making Processes in Mobile Viral Marketing Campaigns," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 43-54.
    18. Daphne M. Simmonds & Katia Campbell & Joseph Hasley, 2021. "Viral diffusion of technology products: a comprehensive stage framework," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 597-619, June.
    19. Mira Rakic, Beba Rakic, 2015. "Viral Marketing," Ekonomika, Journal for Economic Theory and Practice and Social Issues 2014-04, „Ekonomika“ Society of Economists, Niš (Serbia).
    20. Shen, George Chung-Chi & Chiou, Jyh-Shen & Hsiao, Chih-Hui & Wang, Chun-Hsien & Li, Hsin-Ni, 2016. "Effective marketing communication via social networking site: The moderating role of the social tie," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 2265-2270.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:36:y:2016:i:c:p:31-45. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-interactive-marketing/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.