The DOI matches its Crossref record; 86 of the 86 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Role of Metaperception on the Effectiveness of Referral Reward Programs
Abstract
It is generally believed that referral reward programs (RRPs) work because recommendations from friends or relatives are perceived as impartial and trustworthy in analogy to what happens with word-of-mouth recommendations. To understand how an incentivized recommendation affects recommendation behavior, we conducted qualitative interviews and two experiments. We show that recommendation behavior is driven by the givers perception (i.e., their metaperception) of how they will be viewed by the receivers. Metaperception, in turn, is affected negatively by the presence of an incentive, and positively affected by the tie strength between the giver and the receiver. Our findings show that RRPs can have a positive, neutral, and negative effect on recommendation behavior depending on the relative strengths of the negative indirect effect of incentive on recommendation behavior via metaperception, and the positive effect of the perceived attractiveness of the incentive on recommendation behavior.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“However, referral rewards can hinder recommenders ' perceptions relative to their beliefs about how recommendations are viewed by others (Wirtz et al. 2013).”
From Unintended reward costs: the effectiveness of customer referral reward programs for innovative products and services (2019) · cites this paper as Wirtz et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“On the other hand, rewards may prevent referrals with raising social impression concerns (Wirtz and Chew, 2002; Ryu and Feick, 2007; Wirtz et al., 2013, 2019; Orsingher and Wirtz, 2018).”
From Reward Design for Customer Referral Programs: Reward–Product Congruence Effect and Gender Difference (2021) · cites this paper as Wirtz et al., 2013
In the citing paper
“It is generally accepted in related research that a large reward has a positive effect on referral likelihood due to perceived attractiveness (Ryu and Feick, 2007; Wirtz et al., 2013, 2019; Zhang et al., 2019; Wolters et al., 2020).”
From Reward Design for Customer Referral Programs: Reward–Product Congruence Effect and Gender Difference (2021) · cites this paper as Wirtz et al., 2013
Citations
Cites
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173 · Cited by 91,532
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
Naegele, K. D., & Goffman, E. (1956) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2089106 · Cited by 26,049
(1990) · Cited by 24,217
Qualitative evaluation and research methods
Ellis, D. J. (1990) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/0268-4012(90)90041-p · Cited by 17,943
(2025) · doi:10.53555/acr.v2i2 · Cited by 13,486
(1979) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 11,252
A Social Psychologist Discovers Chicago Sociology
Schein, E. H., Hughes, E. C., Dalton, M., & Goffman, E. (1989) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.2307/258197 · Cited by 7,218
Quasi-experimentation: Design and analysis issues for field settings
Shrout, P. E. (1980) · Evaluation and Program Planning · doi:10.1016/0149-7189(80)90063-4 · Cited by 6,091
The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews
Chevalier, J. A., & Mayzlin, D. (2006) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1509/jmkr.43.3.345 · Cited by 6,003
European journal of operational research
Komashie, A., Komashie, E., Mousavi, A., Staff-patient, J. G., Komashie, E., Mousavi, A., Gore, J., & Discrete, U. (1990) · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · doi:10.1016/0040-1625(90)90023-o · Cited by 5,365
Research works printed but not linked: 13
- Churchill Gilbert A., 1995, Marketing Research, Methodological Foundations
- Day George S., 1971, Journal of Advertising Research, 11, 31
- East Robert, 2003, Proceedings of ANZMAC Annual Conference
- Hofstede Geert, 1997, Cultures and Organizations: Softwares of the Mind
- Kenny David A., 2008, First impressions, 129
- 10.1177/002224299105500102 · DOI
- Naylor Gillian, 2000, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior, 13, 26
- Price Linda L., 1984, Advances in Consumer Research Volume 11,, 250
- Silverman George, 1997, Direct Marketing, 32
- Smoldt Robert K., 1998, The Healthcare Forum Journal, 41, 47
- Sundaram D. S., 1998, Advances in Consumer Research, 25, 527
- 10.1016/j.jcps.2008.12.007 · DOI
- Westbrook Robert A., 1981, Advances in Consumer Research, 8, 94
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
Morgeson, F. V., III, Mithas, S., Keiningham, T. L., Aksoy, L., Morgeson, F. V., III, Mithas, S., & Keiningham, T. L. (2013) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/11747.1552-7824 · Cited by 527
Ho, T. H., Tojib, D., & Tsarenko, Y. (2020) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102501 · Cited by 193
Experiences that matter? The motivational experiences and business outcomes of gamified services
Wolf, T., Weiger, W. H., & Hammerschmidt, M. (2019) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.058 · Cited by 151
Jin, L., & Huang, Y. (2014) · International Journal of Research in Marketing · doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2013.08.005 · Cited by 122
Tan, T. M., Balaji, M. S., Oikarinen, E.-L., Alatalo, S., & Salo, J. (2020) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.09.056 · Cited by 98
Metaperception benefits of service robots in uncomfortable service encounters
Pitardi, V., Wirtz, J., Paluch, S., & Kunz, W. H. (2024) · Tourism Management · doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2024.104939 · Cited by 82
Self-citationService recovery's impact on customers next-in-line
Vaerenbergh, Y. V., Vermeir, I., & Larivière, B. (2013) · Managing Service Quality · doi:10.1108/msq-03-2013-0037 · Cited by 61
“Finally, research indicates that customers learn about brands and services through word-of-mouth (Kuo et al., 2013; Wirtz et al., 2013).”
BackgroundDose, D. B., Walsh, G., Beatty, S. E., & Elsner, R. (2019) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-019-00635-z · Cited by 60
Sun, T., Viswanathan, S., & Zheleva, E. (2014) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.2020.3581 · Cited by 58
Referral Reward Size and New Customer Profitability
Wolters, H. M., Schulze, C., & Gedenk, K. (2020) · Marketing Science · doi:10.1287/mksc.2020.1242 · Cited by 52
Psychological drivers of referral reward program effectiveness
Orsingher, C., & Wirtz, J. (2018) · Journal of Services Marketing · doi:10.1108/jsm-07-2017-0247 · Cited by 48
Self-citationThe effects of word-of-mouth incentivization on consumer brand attitude
Pongjit, C., & Beise, M. (2015) · Journal of Product & Brand Management · doi:10.1108/jpbm-11-2014-0752 · Cited by 45
Choi, L., & Burnham, T. A. (2020) · Journal of Product & Brand Management · doi:10.1108/jpbm-12-2019-2670 · Cited by 48
Customer Referral Reward–Brand–Fit: A Schema Congruity Perspective
Stumpf, C., & Baum, M. (2016) · Psychology & Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.20896 · Cited by 40
Engaging customers through online and offline referral reward programs
Wirtz, J., Orsingher, C., & Cho, H. (2019) · European Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1108/ejm-10-2017-0756 · Cited by 43
“…shown that, in offline environments, metaperception acts as a key mediating variable that explains how an extrinsic reward (i.e. an incentive) is internally processed by the recommendation giver and subsequently shapes recommendation behavior (Orsingher andWirtz, 2018; Wirtz et al., 2013a; 2018).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialSelf-citationJung, J., Bapna, R., Gupta, A., & Sen, S. (2021) · Journal of Management Information Systems · doi:10.1080/07421222.2021.1870384 · Cited by 39
Successful referral behavior in referral reward programs
Wirtz, J., Tang, C., & Georgi, D. (2018) · Journal of service management · doi:10.1108/josm-04-2018-0111 · Cited by 45
Self-citationChoi, M., Choi, Y., Kim, S., & Badu‐Baiden, F. (2022) · International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management · doi:10.1108/ijchm-02-2022-0157 · Cited by 39
How language abstractness affects service referral persuasiveness
Angelis, M. D., Tassiello, V., Amatulli, C., & Costabile, M. (2016) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.10.006 · Cited by 37
“…seems to increase referral likelihood (Ryu and Feick, 2007), although such a positive relationship is more likely to occur when the customer is highly satisfied (Wirtz and Chew, 2002), as well as when the recommendation giver and recipient are in a strong tie relationship (Wirtz et al., 2013).”
BackgroundExploring customer engagement in tourism
Romero, J. (2017) · Journal Of Vacation Marketing · doi:10.1177/1356766717725561 · Cited by 38
“…we integrate studies that analyse the antecedents of several CE behaviours on a piecemeal basis (e.g. Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004; Macintosh, 2007; Nambisan and Baron, 2010; Romero, 2017; Tsai, 2015; Wei et al., 2013; Wirtz et al., 2013), thus offering a novel view of CE.”
BackgroundMethodBuffering B2B service failure: The role of customer engagement
Sands, S., Campbell, C., Ferraro, C., & Plangger, K. (2022) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.03.007 · Cited by 36
The enhanced loyalty drivers of customers acquired through referral reward programs
Ramaseshan, B., Wirtz, J., & Georgi, D. (2017) · Journal of service management · doi:10.1108/josm-07-2016-0190 · Cited by 31
Self-citationKhare, A., Dixit, S., & Sarkar, S. (2020) · Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism · doi:10.1080/1528008x.2020.1740133 · Cited by 33
I Will Get a Reward, Too: When Disclosing the Referrer Reward Increases Referring
Xu, M., Yu, Z., & Tu, Y. (2022) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1177/00222437221117113 · Cited by 32
“That is, prospective referrers may feel uncomfortable, conflicted, guilty, and other negative emotions, which we dub the “psychological barrier” (see also Aggarwal 2004; Grayson 2007; McGraw, Tetlock, and Kristel 2003; Tuk et al. 2009; Verlegh et al. 2013; Wirtz et al. 2013) that deters them from referring.”
BackgroundInfluentialKuester, M., & Benkenstein, M. (2014) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2014.07.005 · Cited by 33
“Some academics have questioned the value of incentive referral campaigns (e.g., Trusov et al., 2009; Van den Bulte, 2010; see also Schmitt et al., 2011), particularly because rewarded referrals can be driven by motives of self-interest (Wirtz et al., 2013).”
BackgroundThe effect of tokenized rewards on customer loyalty programs
Boukis, A. (2024) · Annals of Tourism Research · doi:10.1016/j.annals.2024.103851 · Cited by 23
Viswanathan, V., Tillmanns, S., Krafft, M., & Asselmann, D. (2018) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-018-0603-8 · Cited by 30
Can Friends Also Become Customers? The Impact of Employee Referral Programs on Referral Likelihood
Wentzel, D., Tomczak, T., & Henkel, S. (2014) · Journal of Service Research · doi:10.1177/1094670513518271 · Cited by 31
“Arguably, participants may have been concerned that their friends would learn that they had received a reward from their firm and that this reward would reflect unfavorably on them (Wirtz et al. 2013; Xiao, Tang, and Wirtz 2011).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialShare experiences: receiving word of mouth and its effect on relationships with donors
Sundermann, L. M. (2017) · Journal of Services Marketing · doi:10.1108/jsm-08-2016-0319 · Cited by 30
“Another five-item scale tested in the context of referral rewards was adapted from Marsden and Campbell (1984) and Wirtz et al. (2013) to measure tie strength (e.g. ‘I have a close relationship with this person’).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialGarnefeld, I., Helm, S., & Grötschel, A.-K. (2020) · Electronic Markets · doi:10.1007/s12525-020-00425-4 · Cited by 30
“We Earned the Coupon Together”: The Missing Link of Experience Cocreation in Shared Coupons
Fang, E., Dong, B., Zhuang, M., & Cai, F. (2022) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1177/00222429221126990 · Cited by 28
“goal is about the procurement of economic gains (e.g., a coupon’s financial savings; Wirtz et al. 2013).”
BackgroundInfluentialStein, A., & Ramaseshan, B. (2014) · Journal of Service Research · doi:10.1177/1094670514563495 · Cited by 32
“Past studies have examined moderating effects in regression models through interaction variables (Mittal and Kamakura 2001; Bell and Luddington 2006; Wirtz et al. 2013).”
BackgroundInfluentialPergelova, A., & Angulo‐Ruiz, F. (2017) · International Journal of Advertising · doi:10.1080/02650487.2017.1364032 · Cited by 26
“In the services marketing literature many studies have confirmed that people are more likely to rely on interpersonal communication in such industries because of the intangibility and experiential nature of services (de Matos and Rossi 2008; Wirtz et al. 2013).”
BackgroundZhang, D., Zhang, F., Liu, S., & Du, H. S. (2019) · Information Technology & People · doi:10.1108/itp-06-2017-0188 · Cited by 26
Evolution of Referrals over Customers’ Life Cycle: Evidence from a Ride-Sharing Platform
Fernández-Loría, C., Cohen, M. C., & Ghose, A. (2022) · Information Systems Research · doi:10.1287/isre.2022.1138 · Cited by 24
How service quality and outcome confidence drive pre-outcome word-of-mouth
Ifie, K., Simintiras, A. C., Dwivedi, Y. K., & Mavridou, V. (2018) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.07.002 · Cited by 30
Receiver responses to referral reward programs in social networks
Wang, Q., Mao, Y., Zhu, J., & Zhang, X. (2017) · Electronic Commerce Research · doi:10.1007/s10660-017-9271-x · Cited by 25
“Furthermore, there are several studies on the motivation of WOM recommendations [1] as well as studies of costs [1, 3].”
InfluentialThe impact of uncertain rewards on customers’ recommendation intention in social networks
Wang, Q., Sun, Y., Zhu, J., & Zhang, X. (2018) · Internet Research · doi:10.1108/intr-03-2017-0116 · Cited by 21
The effect of incentive structure on referral: the determining role of self-construal
Wang, L., & Chen, Z. (2022) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-022-00852-z · Cited by 21
“, vouchers, gifts, free minutes, and cash) forWOM, which have been effective in generating WOM (compared to no incentives,Ryu & Feick, 2007 ; Wirtz et al., 2013).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialYuan, B., & Peluso, A. M. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13020645 · Cited by 19
“While past research has examined several aspects of this phenomenon, such as the influences of rewards in recommendation plans [17–19], the role of the recommender’s professionalism and expertise [20], the effects of loyalty and satisfaction [21], and the role of recommender–recipient relationship strength in determin…”
BackgroundPeng, X., Xing, Y., Tian, Y., Fei, M., & Wang, Q. (2023) · Decision Support Systems · doi:10.1016/j.dss.2023.113999 · Cited by 19
Reward Design for Customer Referral Programs: Reward–Product Congruence Effect and Gender Difference
Hu, H.-H., & Zhang, X.-M. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.644412 · Cited by 17
Online or offline? Spillover effect of customer-to-customer interaction in a multichannel background
Liu, Y., Fu, X., & Ren, X. (2023) · Internet Research · doi:10.1108/intr-11-2021-0855 · Cited by 17
Referral reward programs with scarcity messages on bank credit card adoption
Song, C., Wang, T., & Hu, M. Y. (2019) · International Journal of Bank Marketing · doi:10.1108/ijbm-12-2017-0260 · Cited by 17
How scarcity and thinking styles boost referral effectiveness
Ang, D., Gerrath, M. H. E. E., & Liu, Y. (2021) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.21557 · Cited by 16
Bifkovics, B., Malota, E., Faria, L. N., & Martinez, L. F. (2023) · Journal of Promotion Management · doi:10.1080/10496491.2023.2253235 · Cited by 15
“As the costs and benefits of taking part in a referral program are evaluated by the customer, the reward has been identified as an important driver in participation (Ryu & Feick, 2007; Wirtz & Chew, 2002; Wirtz et al., 2013).”
BackgroundJin, H., Lu, S., & Wang, K. (2023) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103650 · Cited by 15
Zhu, Y., & Lin, P. (2019) · Journal of Contemporary Marketing Science · doi:10.1108/jcmars-01-2019-0008 · Cited by 16
The role of impulsive behaviour and meta-perception in referral reward programs
Zhan, M., Huang, M., Li, A., & Yang, Y. (2023) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103496 · Cited by 14
Optimal promotional mix and pricing when faced with uncertain product value
Wang, R., Wang, Q., & Chiang, W. K. (2023) · European Journal of Operational Research · doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2023.08.042 · Cited by 14
The role of blocked gratitude in non-voluntary tipping
Karabas, I., & Joireman, J. A. (2020) · Journal of Services Marketing · doi:10.1108/jsm-03-2020-0082 · Cited by 15
“Lastly, participants rated the scenario’s realism on a three-item scale (α = .92; e.g., “The scenario is realistic,” 1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree; adapted from Wirtz et al., 2013).”
BackgroundRole of group cohesiveness in targeted mobile promotions
Gupta, R., Mukherjee, S., & Jayarajah, K. (2021) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.01.030 · Cited by 13
Speaking up against service unfairness: The role of negative meta-perceptions
Ho, T. H., Tojib, D., & Khajehzadeh, S. (2016) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.11.002 · Cited by 13
For all to see: social risk and observable complaining on Facebook
Armstrong, C., Kulczynski, A., & Brennan, S. M. (2021) · European Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1108/ejm-07-2020-0517 · Cited by 12
Referrals for new client acquisition in professional services
Grierson, S., & Brennan, R. (2017) · Qualitative Market Research An International Journal · doi:10.1108/qmr-04-2016-0039 · Cited by 13
“Ryu and Feick (2007) and Wirtz et al (2013) investigated the effectiveness of referral reward programs.”
BackgroundThe role of tie strength in bank credit card referral reward programs with scarcity messages
Song, C., Wang, T., Brown, H. T., & Hu, M. Y. (2019) · International Journal of Bank Marketing · doi:10.1108/ijbm-02-2019-0070 · Cited by 11
Li, X., Wang, K., & Jiang, Q. (2024) · Information & Management · doi:10.1016/j.im.2024.104002 · Cited by 11
Social dynamics of luxury customization: The unique impact of name personalization
O’Rourke, A.-M., Lin, J., Sung, B., & Septianto, F. (2024) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.22136 · Cited by 11
Traditional Word-of-Mouth (WOM)
Ismagilova, E., Dwivedi, Y. K., Slade, E. L., & Williams, M. D. (2017) · SpringerBriefs in business · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-52459-7_2 · Cited by 11
Kuang, D., Ma, B., & Li, X. (2024) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103982 · Cited by 12
Effect of e-referral incentive programs on referrer loyalty on social platforms
Fu, X., & Pang, J. (2018) · Service Industries Journal · doi:10.1080/02642069.2018.1505872 · Cited by 10
“When the reward is large enough, the monetary incentive will strengthen the referrers’ role of marketer and the referrers might feel as though they are ‘selling’ their referrals (Bem, 1972; Ryu & Feick, 2007), and this feeling will conflict with their altruistic motivation (Wirtz et al., 2013).”
BackgroundReward the inductor or inductee? The effect of the inductee's altruism on a shopping guide platform
Zhang, X., & Zhang, Y. (2021) · Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics · doi:10.1108/apjml-06-2021-0421 · Cited by 10
How to Effectively Design Referral Rewards to Increase the Referral Likelihood for Green Products
Kuang, D., Li, X.-F., & Bi, W.-W. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13137177 · Cited by 9
“As for the referral likelihood, the scale was adapted from the study of Ryu and Feick [53] using a 100-point scale (0% = certain not to recommend the backpack; 100% = certain to recommend the backpack).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialExploring customer engagement behavior: construct proposal and its antecedents
Romero, J., & Okazaki, S. (2015) · International Symposium on Partial Least Squares Path Modeling · doi:10.3990/2.339 · Cited by 10
Sharing Reward Program Based on Face Consciousness in Social Media
Han, X., Ju, C., Bao, F., Xu, C., Zhu, Y., & Chen, Y. (2022) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s362920 · Cited by 9
“Considering that, sharers worry about being seen as self-interested and thus reduce their recommendation intentions.(15) The above research emphasizes more on the persuasive utility of information interaction between consumers, but less on the reward mechanism based on informative utility.”
BackgroundThe moderating role of perceived social risk in bank credit card referral programs
Song, C., Wang, T., Lee, H., & Hu, M. Y. (2020) · International Journal of Bank Marketing · doi:10.1108/ijbm-05-2020-0291 · Cited by 9
Jayasuriya, N., Jayasinghe, P. S. K., Rajapaksha, A., Dharmasiri, T., Sumanasinghe, D., & Dasanayake, A. (2024) · Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics · doi:10.1108/apjml-02-2024-0168 · Cited by 7
Yang, X., Su, X., Lin, J., Liu, J., Miao, M., & Jiang, Y. (2024) · Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research · doi:10.3390/jtaer19040171 · Cited by 7
Fan, C.-L., Su, Y.-L., Chang, S., & Liu, D.-Y. Y. (2014) · International Journal of Business and Management · doi:10.5539/ijbm.v9n11p21 · Cited by 7
Impact of Customer’s Social Value on Optimizing Referral Reward Programs
Jiang, F., Mei, S., & Zhong, W. (2020) · Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce · doi:10.1080/10919392.2020.1761750 · Cited by 7
Too assertive to recommend: The effect of assertive tone on referral behavior
Deng, H., Yang, S., & Jin, L. (2024) · Journal of Retailing · doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2024.12.001 · Cited by 6
Diep, D. M., & Le, M. T. T. (2025) · Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing · doi:10.1080/10495142.2025.2488775 · Cited by 6
“Potential donors and volunteers may distinguish NPOs and evaluate their services based on recommendations of existing customers (Arnett et al., 2003; Wirtz et al., 2013).”
Make a good impression: Recommend different products for self-presentation
Wang, L., Chen, H., & Zhang, X. (2023) · Australian Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/03128962231166246 · Cited by 7
“For incentivized WOM, self-presentation is also an essential motivation (Ryu and Feick, 2007; Wang and Chen, 2022; Wirtz et al., 2013).”
InfluentialFriendships in marketing: a taxonomy and future research directions
Banerji, D., Singh, R. P., & Mishra, P. (2019) · AMS Review · doi:10.1007/s13162-019-00153-9 · Cited by 6
Factors Influencing Users’ Word-of-Mouth Intention Regarding Mobile Apps : An Empirical Study
Chen, Y., & Shang, Y.-F. (2018) · Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business · doi:10.13106/ijidb.2018.vol9.no1.51 · Cited by 6
Su, J., Ke, D., Luo, X. R., & Bai, X. (2024) · Electronic Commerce Research · doi:10.1007/s10660-024-09819-4 · Cited by 5
“The effectiveness of referral rewards is influenced by several factors, including the appeal of the rewards [30], the relationship between the referrer and the recipient [31], and the perceived social or economic costs associated with the act of referring [7].”
Chen, C. H., Huang, Y., Liu, Y., & Gao, K. (2023) · Journal of Promotion Management · doi:10.1080/10496491.2023.2216197 · Cited by 5
The Role of Communication Types on Referral Acceptance in Social Networks
Köster, A., Matt, C., & Heß, T. (2015) · doi:10.7892/boris.105435 · Cited by 4
“…that influence the relevance and impact of referrals such as personality (Wirtz and Chew 2002), reward allocation scheme and reward type (Jin and Huang 2014; Ryu and Feick 2007; Wirtz et al. 2013), tie strength and social norms (Shi et al. 2013), and sources of the referral (Gasimov et al. 2010).”
BackgroundAlternatives for Telco Data Network: The Value of Spatial and Referral Networks for Churn Detection
Colot, C., Baecke, P., & Linden, I. (2021) · Information systems management · doi:10.1080/10580530.2021.1887981 · Cited by 3
“This phenomenon of opportunistic behavior in referral programs has already been discussed in the literature (Jin & Huang, 2014; Tuk et al., 2009; Verlegh et al., 2013; Wirtz et al., 2013).”
BackgroundAbid, M., O’Cass, A., Ahmadi, H., & Siahtiri, V. (2026) · Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ) · doi:10.1177/14413582261423008 · Cited by 4
Schmitz, B., Schmalstieg, J., Plötner, O., Eggert, A., & Habel, J. (2025) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2025.09.002 · Cited by 3
Wang, Y., Luo, J., Guo, L., & Zhao, H. (2025) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-025-06213-4 · Cited by 2
“A pilot study ( N = 120, M age = 29.71, SD age = 8.59, 65.0% female) was conducted to test the perceived realism of these three scenarios using the three-item scale developed by Wirtz et al. (2013).”
InfluentialThe role of risk preference in referral reward programs
Wang, T., Song, C., & Hu, M. Y. (2024) · The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice · doi:10.1080/10696679.2023.2291709 · Cited by 3
Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., Roldán, J. L., & Cepeda, G. (2015) · University of Twente Research Information · doi:10.3990/2.319 · Cited by 3
Effects of Social Connectedness on the Sharing of Employee-Created Content
Zhang, X., & Chen, M. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.782304 · Cited by 2
“In practice, many firms often offer various promotional content to attract consumer participation and enhance sales, such as discounts (Wirtz et al., 2013), cash payments (Exley, 2018), and vouchers (Ryu and Feick, 2007), but if the firm cannot accurately target the promotional content to the…”
BackgroundThe influence of reward qualifying conditions on participation in online referral programs
Zhang, J., Lu, Q., Zhang, L., & Harness, D. (2025) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104689 · Cited by 2
Wang, Y., Luo, J., & Wang, X. C. (2026) · Asia Pacific Journal of Management · doi:10.1007/s10490-025-10093-7 · Cited by 2
The effect of referral tasks on customers’ referral likelihood on social platforms
Ma, S., Xie, Q., Wang, J., & Jingjing, D. (2024) · Nankai Business Review International · doi:10.1108/nbri-03-2023-0027 · Cited by 2
Guo, Q. (2024) · Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research · doi:10.3390/jtaer19020056 · Cited by 3
“Meta-perceptions are social inferences [14] of how consumers are viewed/judged by others when accepting a CRFC [14–19].”
BackgroundChen, C., Zhang, D., Zhu, L., & Zhang, F. (2025) · Business Ethics the Environment & Responsibility · doi:10.1111/beer.12849 · Cited by 3
Klopfer, L., & Steul‐Fischer, M. (2020) · Zeitschrift für die gesamte Versicherungswissenschaft · doi:10.1007/s12297-020-00466-w · Cited by 2
“Digitale Technologien und das Internet haben zu einer Verlagerung der Weiterempfehlungsprogramme in die Online-Welt geführt und deren Verbreitung beschleunigt (Wirtz et al. 2013).”
BackgroundInfluentialCan Reward Uncertainty Encourage Social Referrals? Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment
Li, A. T., Belo, R., & Li, T. (2026) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.2024.05685 · Cited by 2
Liu, H., Wang, T., Xiao, Y., & Pan, G. (2025) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104686 · Cited by 1
When are Referral Reward Programs Effective: A Perspective of Regulatory Fit Theory
Huifan, L., Qiuying, Z., & Hua-rui, C. (2014) · International Conference on Service Sciences · doi:10.1109/icss.2014.17 · Cited by 1
Kuester, M., & Benkenstein, M. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-08090-7_8 · Cited by 1
Zou, F., & Zhou, Y. (2023) · Kybernetes · doi:10.1108/k-09-2022-1280 · Cited by 1
Wolf, L., Klopfer, L., Steul‐Fischer, M., & Reinsperger, M. (2024) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.2397 · Cited by 1
Influential Factors In Consumer's Adoption Of Innovative Products
Kalantari, M. (2018) · Human Biology · Cited by 1
Engaging with the engaged – Issues around the topic of customer engagement
Harris, D. A. (2013) · UpSpace Institutional Repository (University of Pretoria)
Metadata
- Authors
- Wirtz, J., Orsingher, C., Chew, P., & Tambyah, S. K.
- Affiliations
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- University of Bologna (IT)
- Singapore University of Social Sciences (SG)
- Corresponding author
- Orsingher, Chiara
- Venue
- Journal of Service Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-11-02
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 82-98
- ISSN
- 1094-6705 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7379
- OpenAlex
- W2137607454
- Cited by
- 119
- References
- 85
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 16.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Service Research (publishedVersion)
- National University of Singapore (submittedVersion)
- Archivio istituzionale della ricerca (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Digital Marketing and Social Media
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Marketing and Advertising Strategies
- Keywords
- referral reward programs, metaperception, recommendation behavior, word of mouth, incentives, tie strength, trust
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
