You Gotta Try It! The Negative Side of Positive Word of Mouth

Word of mouth (WOM) is a fundamental process in the marketplace (Katz and Lazarsfeld 1955). Positive WOM can increase consumer attitudes (Bone 1995), switching behavior (Wangenheim and Bayon 2004), and trial and adoption of products (Arndt 1967); negative WOM does the opposite, with attendant consequences for firms (Chevalier and Mayzlin 2006). However, recent work has demonstrated that sharing positive WOM can have unintended negative consequences for the storyteller (Moore 2012). Building on this work, we examine the potential downside of positive WOM (PWOM) from the perspective of the receiver. We ask whether receiving PWOM can ever be “bad” for consumers, and examine when and why this might be the case. We focus on the context of new products, where WOM is a key driver of diffusion (Arndt 1967; Mahajan, Muller, and Bass 1990), and where consumers might be particularly susceptible to the negative consequences of positive recommendations, given the risk and uncertainty surrounding new products (Taylor 1974; Herzenstein, Posavac, and Brokus 2007; Hirunyawipada and Paswan 2006).