How does brand communication affect consumer behavior: The influence of message strategy on word-of-mout

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: The recent studies on the leveraging of consumer voices has focused on electronic word-of-mouth, while few have assessed message strategies effect on a consumer's word-ofmouth. This study examines the effect different message strategies yield on stimulating a consumer word-of-mouth. Design/methodology/approach: The study takes a cross-sectional survey research with a causal design. The message strategies used in this study are informative, transformative, and interactive, and are based upon a set framework of brand posts that represent each of the message strategies. The data is gathered through a questionnaire on Facebook. The sample is analyzed through factor analysis, independent t-test, a correlation matrix, and a multiple regression analysis. Findings: The results of this study show that the informative and interactional message strategies have a moderate effect on consumer word-of-mouth tendencies, and that there is significant difference between male and female in regards to informative message strategies. The research model explains 46% of the variance for word-of-mouth. Limitations: A cross-sectional study is employed due to time constraints. Thus, there might be issues regarding common method variance (CMV), and causal inference (CI). This study does not employ a control variable. Originality/value: (Contribution): This study contributes to the literature by testing the trichotomy of message strategies’ effect on word-of-mouth. As there is little research conducted regarding this message strategy, this study extends the body of knowledge on how consumers can be engaged by a brand’s message. Furthermore, this study finds support for the differences amongst male and female regarding the informative message strategy