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Do recommendations matter? social networks, trust, and product adoption
Author(s) -
House Lisa A.,
House Mark C.,
Mullady Joy
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
agribusiness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1520-6297
pISSN - 0742-4477
DOI - 10.1002/agr.20171
Subject(s) - product (mathematics) , social network (sociolinguistics) , social network analysis , word of mouth , recommender system , position (finance) , marketing , social influence , psychology , regression analysis , advertising , computer science , social psychology , business , social media , world wide web , machine learning , geometry , mathematics , finance
Social network analysis allows researchers to capture the dynamics of social interactions, which may influence the impact of word of mouth advertising. This research seeks to combine a regression analysis of stated willingness to try a new food product with social network analysis. The goal of this article is to determine if variables that represent different aspects of group structure can better explain why some participants choose to adopt new food products while others do not. Our findings indicate that social network variables are a significant influence on a person's willingness to listen to a recommendation from someone else within their social network. Both the subject and the recommender's position in the network are influential. Additionally, the characteristics that impact willingness to listen to the recommendation vary depending on the food product studied. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.