微信朋友圈中人际关系对好友评论效果的影响

Impact of Interpersonal Relationship on the Effectiveness of Friends’ Reviews in WeChat Moments

互联网时代为消费者沟通和交流提供了便利的平台,在线评论日益成为影响消费者购买意愿的重要因素。社交媒体作为当下流行的信息渠道,其自身的环境特性也常常影响信息传播的效果。基于此,在以强关系为主的微信朋友圈情景下,在线评论的发送者与接收者之间的人际关系对好友评论效果起着至关重要的作用。基于人际关系视角,采用信号理论,探究亲密程度和社会地位对好友评论效果的影响,并且纳入评论效价和中西文化两个调节变量进行深入探讨。采用情景模拟实验法,以中国高校学生作为主要样本,通过5个实验收集一手数据,并借助Spss软件对实验数据进行处理。研究1和研究2分别在信息情景和消费情景下检验人际关系两个维度亲密度和社会地位对好友评论效果的影响,研究结果表明,亲密度高和社会地位高的好友发布的评论信息均会产生更理想的效果。研究3采用实验启动的方式操控评论信息的发送者与接受者之间的亲密度和社会地位,探究二者的交互作用,研究结果表明,在亲密度低的情景下社会地位对好友评论效果的影响差异显著,在亲密度高的情景下不显著。研究4探究在不同评论效价的情景下消费者购买意愿受好友评论影响后的改变程度,研究结果表明,正面评论对亲密度的调节作用更显著,负面评论对社会地位的调节作用更显著。研究5探究中西文化对于人际关系的调节作用,选取与微信朋友圈环境类似的Facebook作为西方文化的实验平台,进行对比实验,研究结果表明,与西方文化相比,中国文化情景下的亲密度和社会地位对好友评论效果的影响均更为显著。研究结果从人际关系视角出发,完善了已有研究对在线评论影响因素的探索,具有一定的理论意义。同时提醒商家关注社交媒体平台上好友推荐这种新兴的口碑效应,从而为其引导消费者行为而开展营销活动提供借鉴和指导。

The Internet era provides a convenient platform for consumers to communicate with each other.Online reviews have increasingly become an important factor influencing consumers’purchase intention.As a popular information channel,environmental characteristics of the social media often affect the effectiveness of information dissemination.Therefore,the WeChat Moments,which is dominated by strong relationships,the interpersonal relationship between the sender and the receiver plays a vital role in effectiveness of online reviews.From the perspective of interpersonal relationship,the research explored the influence of closeness and social status on the effectiveness of friends’reviews based on the signal theory,with two moderators including review valence and Chinese and Western culture.The first-hand data were collected through five experiments by scene simulation experiment with Chinese college students as the main samples and processed data through Spss software.Study 1 and study 2 respectively verified the influence of interpersonal relationship with two dimensions(closeness and social status)on the effectiveness of friends’reviews in the context of information and consumption.The results showed that reviews posted by friends with high levels of closeness or social status had a better effect.Study 3 manipulated the level of closeness and social status between sender and receiver by experimental initiation to explore the interaction effect.The results showed that the impact of social status on the effectiveness of friends’reviews was significantly different in the low-closeness situation,but not in the high-closeness situation.Research 4 explored the changes in consumers’purchase intention after receiving friends’reviews in the context of different review valence.The results showed that the effectiveness of closeness was more significant when reviews were positive,and social status had a more significant effects when there were negative reviews.Study 5 explored the boundary conditions on the national cultural level by selecting Facebook,which is similar to WeChat Moments,as the experimental platform of Western culture for comparative experiment.The results showed that,compared with the context of Western culture,closeness and social status had a more significant impact on the effectiveness of friends’reviews in the context of Chinese culture.From the perspective of interpersonal relationship,the research conclusion may have theoretical significance by improving the exploration of the influencing factors of online reviews in existing research.The research may present managerial implication for merchants to pay attention to the emerging word-of-mouth effect of friends’reviews on social media platforms,thus providing reference and guidance for them to guide consumer behaviors and make their marketing in the future.