Staff View
Impact of online word-of-mouth on Amazon ranks in selected product categories

Descriptive

TitleInfo
Title
Impact of online word-of-mouth on Amazon ranks in selected product categories
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Grinberg
NamePart (type = given)
Irina
NamePart (type = date)
1988-
DisplayForm
Irina Grinberg
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
author
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Bhuyan
NamePart (type = given)
Sanjib
DisplayForm
Sanjib Bhuyan
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
chair
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Jin
NamePart (type = given)
Yanhong
DisplayForm
Yanhong Jin
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Wang
NamePart (type = given)
Lei
DisplayForm
Lei Wang
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
outside member
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
school
TypeOfResource
Text
Genre (authority = marcgt)
theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated (qualifier = exact)
2012
DateOther (qualifier = exact); (type = degree)
2012-10
CopyrightDate (qualifier = exact)
2012
Place
PlaceTerm (type = code)
xx
Language
LanguageTerm (authority = ISO639-2b); (type = code)
eng
Abstract (type = abstract)
In this thesis, I address a growing trend in how consumers obtain information prior to making their online purchasing decisions. Specifically, I investigate the relationship between online word-of-mouth (WOM; customer reviews and ratings) and sales, measured by Amazon.com “ranks”, for different product categories. I collect daily data from Amazon.com for twenty products in ten categories from December 8, 2011 to February 29, 2012 in an effort to capture changes in online WOM and how it impacts sales. I expand on the traditional metrics used to measure online WOM and mimic how consumers use review information on Amazon.com to make their purchases there. As part of my approach, I take into account the endogenous nature of reviews via instrumental variables. Results of this thesis show that in the Electronics category (1) the number of reviews significantly impact its rank, (2) a two-star rating (compared to a one-star rating) versus a four-star rating (compared to a one-star rating) has a greater impact on its rank, (3) Amazon’s Facebook.com “Likes” feature significantly impacts rank in Books, Electronics and Music, and (4) the impact of online WOM is significant for experience goods, but not for search goods. My findings suggest that online WOM metrics impact consumer purchase decisions through awareness and persuasion. Moreover, it underlines the emerging role of social media in sales outcomes. From a managerial standpoint, these findings suggest that businesses should use ratings, reviews, and social media to build awareness about their products and influence purchase decisions. Future research in online WOM and sales (or rank) outcomes for product categories should control for advertising and product heterogeneity within categories, as well as incorporate social media metrics, review text and length.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Food and Business Economics
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_4207
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
vi, 77 p. : ill.
Note (type = degree)
M.S.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Irina Grinberg
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Word-of-mouth advertising
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Corporations--Ratings and rankings
Subject
Name (authority = LC-NAF)
NamePart (type = corporate)
Amazon.com (Firm)
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Teleshopping
Identifier (type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000066748
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T30000WR
Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD graduate
Back to the top

Rights

RightsDeclaration (ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder (type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Grinberg
GivenName
Irina
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = start)
2012-08-28 11:41:51
AssociatedEntity
Name
Irina Grinberg
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
Back to the top

Technical

FileSize (UNIT = bytes)
1060864
OperatingSystem (VERSION = 5.1)
windows xp
ContentModel
ETD
MimeType (TYPE = file)
application/pdf
MimeType (TYPE = container)
application/x-tar
FileSize (UNIT = bytes)
1064960
Checksum (METHOD = SHA1)
057d4db2c7f7c0169c68aa09d41034be8aebf99a
Back to the top
Version 8.5.5
Rutgers University Libraries - Copyright ©2024