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.
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“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
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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
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