The role of emotional value for reading and giving eWOM in altruistic services

Abstract

To date there is limited research on the role of customer perceived value for reading and giving positive and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) of an altruistic service within a singular study. Further, emotions have been shown to be important in altruistic services, yet there is no investigation of the role of emotional value for eWOM. This paper investigates these gaps by proposing and empirically testing a model with data from an online survey of 366 consumers of an altruistic service (blood donation) using structural equation modelling. The results show emotional value is a central value concept that mediates the relationship between reading eWOM and other value dimensions, whereas altruistic value is shown to be important for giving eWOM. The findings have theoretical importance for understanding the nature of customer perceived value in altruistic services and are also useful to managers of altruistic services seeking to increase eWOM as a customer recruitment and retention strategy.