The Effect Of Word-Of-Mouth On Satisfaction

With the diversification of human communication and facilitation, word of mouth (WOM) plays more and more important role in people’s life. Especially in the Internet age, the rise of a large number of comments on web site and a large number of water army lies are fully illustrates the importance of WOM for enterprise and social. And, to some extent, it also changed the way people consumption. More and more people will be willing to obtain information about the goods from the surrounding people or on the Internet before making a purchase decision. Although this level of access to information will be different with the different types of products, no doubt the WOM information will have a certain effect on people’s purchase decisions, but it should also pay attention to people’s consumption satisfaction.Although WOM affects customers’ purchasing intentions to a large extent, prior research has neglected the role of WOM as a driver of customer satisfaction. According to the related research, to the spread of the product especially the diffusion of new products, WOM occupied a very important position. Several scholars have suggested that WOM not only can affect customer expectation but also can influence perceived quality. Consistent with existing research results and the expectancy disparity model, we established a causal relation between WOM and customer satisfaction. And we also discussed the regulation of the source of WOM and product type for relationships between WOM and satisfaction respectively.In this study, we collect data with experimental method and analysis the data with SPSS19.0and AMOS17.0. Drawing on an experimental study, this article indicates that positive or negative WOM affects customer satisfaction by promoting or lowering customers’expectations. This relation is moderated by product type, rather than the source of the WOM. With experience goods, positive (negative) WOM will decrease (increase) customer satisfaction. However, with search goods, positive (negative) WOM will increase (decrease) customer satisfaction. At the end of this paper, according to the results of the study, the management suggestion is presented to enterprise to better use of the power of WOM to enhance customer satisfaction.