The effect of word of mouth communications on consumers' purchasing decisions: A research on academicians in Anadolu University

ABSTRACTTHE EFFECT OF WORD OF MOUTH COMMUNICATIONS ON CONSUMERS?PURCHASING DECISIONS: A RESEARCH ON ACADEMICIANS INANADOLU UNIVERSITYTuğba KILIÇERBusiness Administration DepartmentAnadolu University Institute of Social Sciences, August 2006Advisor: Assoc. Prof. Sevgi Ayşe ÖZTÜRKNowadays consumers tend to objective and independent informationsources due to the message confusion caused by mass media, being manyproducts that filled same needs in market, etc. Consumers get information otherconsumers about the products before purchasing activity and they think thatinformation obtained through word of mouth communications is moretrustworthy than other sources. As a result of these interpersonal interactions,consumers conduct their purchasing decisions.In literature there exist many studies examining the effect of word of mouthcommunications on consumers? purchasing decisions. In these studies it iscontend that word of mouth has a major effect on consumers? response towardsa product or an advertisement. In recent years ıt is seen that practitioners utilizeword of mouth communications within their marketing strategies. For this reasonit should be important to determine the factors related to word of mouthcommunications for the practitioners.The aim of this study is to determine the effect of word of mouthcommunications on academicians? purchasing decisions and the factors relatedto word of mouth. In this sense it has examined the effect of sender?s andreceiver?s expertise about the product, tie strength between sender andreceiver, the receiver?s perceived risk on the influence of word of mouth.According to the findings, it can be said word of mouth communications have agreat effect on academicians? purchasing decisions. Furthermore it hasdetermined that there is a significant relationship between the effect of word ofmouth and sender?s expertise and tie strength.