ABSTRACT
Despite the enormous volume of research exploring the behaviours of consumers as isolated actors, it is obvious that we can have profound inuences on one another. The presence of others has been shown to aect the way we process and recall information (Geen, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1979), learn (Burwitz & Newell, 1972; Martens, 1969), allocate resources in couples (Dzhogleva & Lamberton, 2014) and even when we laugh (Chapman, 1973). Further, over the course of the lifespan, observing and interacting with other individuals and groups can prompt compliance (Brock, 1965; Brown & Reingen, 1987; Naylor, Lamberton, & Norton, 2011; Simons, Berkowitz, & Moyer, 1970), conformity (Asch, 1951; Gerard, Wilhelmy, & Conolley, 1968; Naylor, Lamberton, & West, 2012; Rosenberg, 1961) or dierentiation (Chan, Berger, & Van Boven, 2012; Tian, Bearden, & Hunter, 2001). For example, observing others similar to the self supporting a brand will lead to greater anity for the brand (Escalas & Bettman, 2003), while observing dissimilar others supporting a brand can lead consumers to avoid the brand (Berger & Heath, 2007; White & Dahl, 2006, 2007). The vast majority of research aimed at understanding how social inuence aects consumers has focused on oine, in-person connections, previously considered the primary source of social inuence. However, the volume of inuence to which consumers now expose themselves and exert on others in online settings may approach or eclipse in-person inuence opportunities. 82 per cent of adults worldwide now use social networking sites, totalling 1.2 billion users (Pring, 2012), highlighting the fact that connections may occur within and between diverse geographies, across cultures, among both online and oine friends, and with strangers known only in the virtual world. And while approximately 40 per cent of all users regularly search for products using Twitter, implying that consumers are interested in interacting with brands online, 73 per cent of consumers are skeptical that rms are using social media for anything but advertising – suggesting that
consumers may also be less inuenced by rms than they are by other consumers in online settings (Forrester, 2012). Supporting the importance of consumer-to-consumer communication about products online, in a survey conducted in 2013, approximately two-thirds of respondents reported reading online reviews, with Facebook the most common source for positive product reviews and online review sites the most common source for negative reviews (Gesenhues, 2013). Combined, these and related statistics suggest that social inuence online is both sought and experienced as an everyday component in consumers’ lives.
