Word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is arguably the most important source of consumer information. With the rise of Internet forums, blogs, and social media, WOM content has become more easily accessible. Drawing on discourse classification research, we identify three broad categories of WOM content: (1) expressive-narrative, (2) representational-expository, and (3) persuasive-argumentative. Preliminary analysis of online consumer reviews lends initial support to the tripartite classification. Our research raises interesting theoretical questions and also points to important managerial implications.
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