Question 1: I want you to think about culture and self-concept. How has your culture affected your self-concept? Within that same culture you just described, are some people more individualistic than others? Are people more collectivistic in some situations than in others?

Question 2: What biblical principle(s) apply in the above scenario?

Attached below assignment description and rubric and relevant resources that could be used. Work will be checked for following instructions and originality and will be canceled if it’s not as decribed thanks!

PSYC 512

Discussion Assignment Instructions

The student will complete 5 Discussions in this course. Each module there will be a prompt that involves 2 questions posed to the student. The student will post one thread of at least 200 words by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Thursday of the assigned module. The student must then post two replies of at least 100 words by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of the assigned module. For each thread, students must support their answers to the first question with at least 2 unique academic citations in APA format, and their answers to the second question with at least 2 unique Scripture verses in APA format. Acceptable sources include the textbook, the Bible, etc.

PSYC 512

Discussion Grading Rubric

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Friend Networking Sites and Their Relationship to Adolescents’ Well-Being and

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Friend Networking Sites and Their Relationship to
Adolescents’ Well-Being and Social Self-Esteem

PATTI M. VALKENBURG, Ph.D., JOCHEN PETER, Ph.D., and ALEXANDER P. SCHOUTEN, M.A.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of friend networking sites (e.g.,
Friendster, MySpace) for adolescents’ self-esteem and well-being. We conducted a survey
among 881 adolescents (10–19-year-olds) who had an online profile on a Dutch friend net-
working site. Using structural equation modeling, we found that the frequency with which
adolescents used the site had an indirect effect on their social self-esteem and well-being.
The use of the friend networking site stimulated the number of relationships formed on the
site, the frequency with which adolescents received feedback on their profiles, and the tone
(i.e., positive vs. negative) of this feedback. Positive feedback on the profiles enhanced ado-
lescents’ social self-esteem and well-being, whereas negative feedback decreased their self-
esteem and well-being.

584

INTRODUCTION

THE OPPORTUNITIES for adolescents to form andmaintain relationships on the Internet have
multiplied in the past few years. Social networking
sites have rapidly gained prominence as venues to
relationship formation. Social networking sites
vary in the types of relationships they focus on.
There are dating sites, such as Match.com, whose
primary aim is to help people find a partner. There
are common interest networking sites, such as
Bookcrossing.com, whose aim is to bring people
with similar interests together. And there are friend
networking sites, such as Friendster and MySpace,
whose primary aim is to encourage members to es-
tablish and maintain a network of friends.

The goal of this study is to investigate the conse-
quences of friend networking sites for adolescents’
social self-esteem and well-being. Given the recent
worldwide proliferation of such sites and the ever-
expanding numbers of adolescents joining up,
these sites presumably play an integral role in ado-

lescent life. Friend networking sites are usually
open or semi-open systems. Everyone is welcome
to join, but new members have to register, and
sometimes the sites only allow members if they are
invited by existing members. Members of the sites
present themselves to others through an online
profile, which contains self-descriptions (e.g., de-
mographics, interests) and one or more pictures.
Members organize their contacts by giving and re-
ceiving feedback on one another ’s profiles.

Although friend networking sites have become
tremendously popular among adolescents, there is
as yet no research that specifically focuses on the
uses and consequences of such sites. This is re-
markable because friend networking sites lend
themselves exceptionally well to the investigation
of the social consequences of Internet communica-
tion. After all, peer acceptance and interpersonal
feedback on the self, both important features of
friend network sites, are vital predictors of social
self-esteem and well-being in adolescence.1 There-
fore, if the Internet has the potential to influence

CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
Volume 9, Number 5, 2006
© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

14337c11.pgs 10/10/06 2:44 PM Page 584

adolescents’ social self-esteem and well-being, it is
likely to occur via their use of friend networking
sites.

There is no period in which evaluations regard-
ing the self are as likely to affect self-esteem and
well-being as in adolescence.1 Especially early and
middle adolescence is characterized by an in-
creased focus on the self. Adolescents often engage
in what has been referred to as “imaginative audi-
ence behavior”2: they tend to overestimate the ex-
tent to which others are watching and evaluating
and, as a result, can be extremely preoccupied with
how they appear in the eyes of others. On friend
networking sites, interpersonal feedback is often
publicly available to all other members of the site.
Such public evaluations are particularly likely to
affect the development of adolescents’ social self-
esteem.1 In this study, social self-esteem is defined
as adolescents’ evaluation of their self-worth or sat-
isfaction with three dimensions of their selves:
physical appearance, romantic attractiveness, and
the ability to form and maintain close friendships.
Well-being refers to a judgment of one’s satisfaction
with life as a whole.3

Our study is conducted in the Netherlands
where, since April 2000, a friend networking site
exists that is primarily used by adolescents. In May
2006, this website, named CU2 (“See You Too”),
contained 415,000 profiles of 10–19-year-olds. Con-
sidering that the Netherlands counts about 1.9 mil-
lion adolescents in this age group, approximately
22% of Dutch adolescents use this website to form
and maintain their social network.

Internet use, well-being, and self-esteem

Ever since Internet use became common as a
leisure activity, researchers have been interested in
investigating its consequences for well-being and
self-esteem. For both well-being and self-esteem,
the literature has yielded mixed results. Some stud-
ies reported negative relationships with various
types of Internet use,4,5 other studies found positive
relationships,6 and yet other studies found no sig-
nificant relationships.7,8

Two reasons may account for the inconsistent
findings on the relationships between Internet use,
self-esteem, and well-being. First, many studies
have treated the independent variable ‘Internet
use’ as a one-dimensional construct. Some studies
did investigate the differential effects of types of In-
ternet use, but the selection of these types usually
did not follow from a theoretical anticipation of
their consequences for self-esteem and well-being.
In our view, at least a distinction between social

and non-social Internet use is required to ade-
quately investigate Internet effects on self-esteem
and well-being. We believe that social self-esteem
and well-being are more likely to be affected if the
Internet is used for communication than for infor-
mation seeking. After all, feedback on the self and
peer involvement, both important precursors of
self-esteem and well-being, are more likely to occur
during online communication than during online
information seeking.

A second shortcoming in earlier studies is that
many authors did not specify how Internet use
could be related to self-esteem and well-being.
Most research has focused on main effects of Inter-
net use on either self-esteem or well-being. None of
these studies have considered models in which the
influence of Internet use on self-esteem and well-
being is considered simultaneously. By modeling
the relationships of Internet use with both self-
esteem and well-being, a more comprehensive set
of hypotheses can be evaluated, which may clarify
some of the contradictory findings in previous
studies.

Our research hypotheses modeled

It has repeatedly been shown that adolescents’
self-esteem is strongly related to their well-being.
Although the literature has not clearly established
causation, most self-esteem theorists believe that
self-esteem is the cause and well-being the effect.9
Based on these theories, we hypothesize that social
self-esteem will predict well-being, and by doing
so, it may act as a mediator between the use of
friend networking sites and well-being. After all, if
the goal of friend networking sites is to encourage
participants to form relationships and to comment
on one another ’s appearance and personality, it is
likely that the use of such sites will affect the di-
mensions of self-esteem that are related to these ac-
tivities. The hypothesis that adolescents’ social
self-esteem predicts their well-being is modeled in
Figure 1 by means of path H1.

We also hypothesize that the use of friend net-
working sites will increase the chance that adoles-
cents (a) form relationships on those site (path H2a),
and (b) receive reactions on their profiles (path
H3a). After all, if the aim of using friend networking
sites is to meet new people and to give and receive
feedback, it is plausible that the more these sites are
used, the more friends and feedback a member gets.
As Figure 1 shows, we do not hypothesize that the
use of friend networking sites will directly influence
the tone of reactions to the profiles because the mere
use of such a site cannot be assumed to influence

FRIEND NETWORKING SITES, WELL-BEING, AND SELF-ESTEEM 585

14337c11.pgs 10/10/06 2:44 PM Page 585

the tone of reactions to the profiles. However, we do
hypothesize an indirect relationship between use of
friend network sites and the tone of the reactions
via the frequency of reactions that adolescents re-
ceive (paths H3a and H5). In a recent study on the
use of dating sites, members of the site often modi-
fied their profile based on the feedback they re-
ceived. By means of a process of trial and error, they
were able to optimize their profile, and, by doing so,
optimize the feedback they received.10 We therefore
assume that the more reactions adolescents receive
to their profiles, the more positive these reactions
will become (path H5). We also assume that the
more reactions adolescents receive the more rela-
tionships they will form (path H6).

We not only assume that adolescents’ social self-
esteem mediates the relationship between the use
of friend networking sites and their well-being; we
also hypothesize that the relationships between the
use of friend networking sites and adolescents’ so-
cial self-esteem will be mediated by three types of
reinforcement processes that are common on friend
network sites and that have been shown to affect
adolescents’ social self-esteem.1 These reinforce-
ment processes are: (a) the number of relationships
formed through the friend network site, (b) the fre-
quency of feedback that adolescents receive on
their profiles (e.g., on their appearance and self-
descriptions), and (c) the tone (i.e., positive vs. neg-
ative) of this feedback. Our hypotheses about these
mediated influences are modeled by means of paths
H2a-b, H3a-b, and H4 in Figure 1.

We expect that for most adolescents the use of
friend networking sites will be positively related to

their social self-esteem. We base this view on theo-
ries of self-esteem, which assume that human be-
ings have a universal desire to protect and enhance
their self-esteem.11 Following these theories, we be-
lieve that adolescents would avoid friend network-
ing sites if these sites were to negatively impact
their social self-esteem. Friend networking sites
provide adolescents with more opportunities than
face-to-face situations to enhance their social self-
esteem. These sites provide a great deal of freedom
to choose interactions. In comparison to face-to face
situations, participants can usually more easily
eliminate undesirable encounters or feedback and
focus entirely on the positive experiences, thereby
enhancing their social self-esteem.

However, if, by contrast, an adolescent for any
reason is mostly involved in negative interactions
on these sites, an adverse influence on his or her so-
cial self-esteem seems plausible. Especially because
reactions to the profiles are made public to other
members of the site, negative reactions are likely to
have a negative influence on adolescents’ social
self-esteem. We therefore hypothesize that a posi-
tive tone of reactions will positively predict social
self-esteem, whereas a negative tone will nega-
tively predict social self-esteem.

METHODS

Sample and procedure

We conducted an online survey among 881
Dutch adolescents between 10 and 19 years of age

586 VALKENBURG ET AL.

s
Use of
site H1

Relationships
formed

Tone of
reactions

H2a
H2b

H3a H3b

H4

H6

H5

Frequency
of reactions

Well-being
Social
self-esteem

FIG. 1. Hypothesized model on the relationships among use of friend networking site, social self-esteem, and
well-being.

14337c11.pgs 10/10/06 2:44 PM Page 586

who had a profile on the friend networking site
CU2 (“See You Too”); 45% were boys and 55% were
girls (M age = 14.8; SD = 2.7). A profile on CU2 in-
cludes demographic information, a description of
the user and his or her interests, and one or more
pictures. Reactions of other CU2 users to the pro-
files are listed at the bottom of each profile (for
more information, see www.cu2.nl).

Upon accessing their profile, members of the site
received a pop-up screen with an invitation to par-
ticipate in an online survey. The pop-up screen
stated that the University of Amsterdam conducted
the survey in collaboration with CU2. The adoles-
cents were informed that their participation would
be voluntary, that they could stop with the ques-
tionnaire whenever they wished, and that their re-
sponses would be anonymous.

Measures

Use of friend networking site. We used three items
measuring the frequency, rate, and intensity of the
use of the friend networking site: (a) “How many
days per week do you usually visit the CU2 site?”,
(b) “On a typical day, how many times do you visit
the CU2 site?”, and (c) “If you visit CU2, how long
do you usually stay on the site?” The first two
items required open-ended responses. Response
categories for the third item ranged from 1 (about 10
min) to 7 (more than an hour). Responses to the three
items were standardized. The standardized items
resulted in a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.61.

Frequency of reactions to profiles. The number of
reactions to the profiles was measured by two
items: “How often do you get reactions to your pro-
file from unknown persons,” and “How often do
you get reactions to your profile from people you
only know through the Internet?” Response cate-
gories to the items ranged from 1 (never) to 5 (very
often). Responses to these two items were averaged,
and resulted in a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.72.

Tone of reactions to profiles. The tone of the reac-
tions to the profiles was measured with the follow-
ing two questions: “The reactions that I receive on
my profile are . . .” and “The reactions that I receive
on what I tell about my friends are . . .” Response
categories ranged from 1 (always negative) to 5 (al-
ways positive). Cronbach’s alpha was 0.87.

Relationships established through CU2. We asked
respondents how often they had established (a) a
friendship and (b) a romantic relationship through
CU2. Response options were 0 (never), 1 (once), and

2 (more than once). The correlation between the two
items was r = 0.34.

Social self-esteem. We used three subscales of
Harters’ self-perception profile for adolescents12:
the physical appearance subscale, the close friend-
ship subscale, and the romantic appeal subscale.
From each subscale we selected the four items with
the highest factor loadings. Response categories for
the items ranged from 1 (agree entirely) to 5 (disagree
entirely). Cronbach’s alpha values were 0.91 for
physical appearance scale, 0.85 for the close friend-
ship scale, and 0.81 for the romantic appeal scale.

Well-being. We used the five-item satisfaction
with life scale developed by Diener et al.3 Response
categories ranged from 1 (agree entirely) to 5 (dis-
agree entirely). Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was
0.89.

Statistical analysis

The hypotheses in our study were investigated
with the Structural Equation Modeling software
AMOS 5.0.13

RESULTS

Descriptive statistics

Adolescents visited the friend networking site on
average three days a week (M = 3.09, SD = 2.07).
When they visited the website, they stayed on the
site for approximately a half hour. The average
number of reactions that adolescents had received
on their profiles was 25.31 (SD = 50.00), with a
range from 0 to 350 reactions. The tone of the reac-
tions varied significantly among adolescents. Of
the adolescent who reported having received reac-
tions to their profiles (n = 592), 5.6% indicated that
these reactions had always been negative; 1.6%
that they had predominantly been negative; 10.1%
that they had sometimes been negative and some-
times positive; 49.3% that they had been predomi-
nantly positive; and 28.4% that they had always
been positive. Thirty-five percent of the adoles-
cents reported having established a friendship, and
8.4% reported having formed a romantic relation-
ship through the friend networking site.

Zero-order correlations

Before testing our hypothesized model, we pres-
ent a matrix showing the Pearson product-moment

FRIEND NETWORKING SITES, WELL-BEING, AND SELF-ESTEEM 587

14337c11.pgs 10/10/06 2:44 PM Page 587

correlations between the variables included in the
model (Table 1).

Testing the hypothesized model

The variables in our model were all modeled as
latent constructs. The construct reflecting the use of
the friend networking site was measured by three
items and well-being by five items. The frequency
of reactions to profiles, the tone of the reactions to
profiles, and the number of relationships estab-
lished by the site were each measured by two
items. The latent construct social self-esteem was
formed by the three subscales measuring physical
appearance self-esteem, close friendship self-
esteem, and romantic appeal self-esteem. For rea-
sons of clarity, we do not present the measurement
model (i.e., the factor-analytic models) in our
graphical presentation of the results. However, all
factor-analytic models led to adequate descriptions
of the data. The factor loadings were all above 0.44.

To investigate our hypotheses, we proceeded in
two steps. First, we tested whether the hypothesized
model in Figure 1 fit the data. Then, we checked
whether we could improve the model’s fit by adding
or removing theoretically meaningful paths from the
hypothesized model. We used three indices to evalu-
ate the fit of our models: the �2/df ratio, the compar-
ative fit index (CFI), and the root mean square error

of approximation (RMSEA). An acceptable model fit
is expressed in a �2/df ratio of <3.0, a CFI value of >0.95, and a RSMEA value of <0.06.14,15

Our hypothesized model fit the data satisfacto-
rily well: �2/df ratio = 2.5; CFI = 0.96; RMSEA =
0.05. However, the results indicated that two paths
assumed in our hypothesized model were not sig-
nificant: path H2b from the number of relation-
ships formed on the friend networking site to
self-esteem, and path H3b from the frequency of re-
actions to the profile to self-esteem.

After removal of the two nonsignificant paths,
we subjected our model to a final test. The modi-
fied model fit the data well, �2/df ratio = 2.5; CFI =
0.98; RMSEA = 0.05. We therefore accepted the
model as an adequate description of the data. Our
final model indicates that all of our research hy-
potheses (i.e., those visualized by paths H1, H2a,
H3a, H4, H5, and H6) were confirmed by the data.
Figure 2 visualizes the observed final model. The
reported coefficients are standardized betas.

The model controlled for age and gender

To test whether our final model also holds when
age and gender are controlled for, we tested a
model in which we allowed paths between age and
gender and all of the remaining independent, me-
diating, and dependent variables in the model. This

588 VALKENBURG ET AL.

TABLE 1. PEARSON PRODUCT-MOMENT CORRELATIONS

Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. Use of
friend networking site

2. Frequency of 0.16***
reactions to profiles

3. Tone of 0.10* 0.24***
reactions to profiles

4. Close friends 0.18*** 0.31*** 0.01
established via site

5. Romantic relations 0.12*** 0.12*** �0.13** 0.34***
established via site

6. Physical appearance 0.04 0.05 0.29*** �0.00 �0.00
self-esteem

7. Close friendship 0.12*** 0.13*** 0.40*** 0.06 �0.05 0.61***
self-esteem

8. Romantic attractiveness 0.06 0.16*** 0.38*** 0.08* �0.00 0.68*** 0.72***
self-esteem

9. Well-being 0.06 0.07* 0.37*** �0.03 �0.01 0.59*** 0.54*** 0.45***

*p < 0.05. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.

14337c11.pgs 10/10/06 2:44 PM Page 588

model again led to a satisfactory fit: �2/df ratio =
2.6; CFI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.05.

DISCUSSION

Our study was the first to show the conse-
quences of adolescents’ use of friend networking
sites for their social self-esteem and well-being.
Adolescents’ self-esteem was affected solely by the
tone of the feedback that adolescents received on
their profiles: Positive feedback enhanced adoles-
cents’ self-esteem, and negative feedback de-
creased their self-esteem. Most adolescents (78%)
always or predominantly received positive feed-
back on their profiles. For these adolescents, the
use of friend networking sites may be an effective
vehicle for enhancing their self-esteem.

However, a small percentage of adolescents (7%)
did predominantly or always receive negative feed-
back on their profiles. For those adolescents, the use
of friend networking sites resulted in aversive ef-
fects on their self-esteem. Follow-up research should
attempt to profile these adolescents. Earlier research
suggests that users of social networking sites are
quite able to learn how to optimize their self-presen-
tation through their profiles.10 Adolescents who pre-
dominantly receive negative feedback on their
profiles may especially be in need of mediation on
how to optimize their online self-presentation.

No less than 35% of the respondents reported
having established one or more friendships
through the site, and 8% one or more romantic rela-

tionships. However, as discussed, the number of
friendships and romantic relationship formed via
the site did not affect adolescents’ social self-
esteem. Obviously, it is not the sheer number of re-
lationships formed on the site that affect
adolescents’ social self-esteem. Research on adoles-
cent friendships suggests that the quality of friend-
ships and romantic relationships may be a stronger
predictor of social adjustment than the sheer num-
ber of such relationships.16 Therefore, future re-
search on friend networking sites should include
measures on the quality of the relationships formed
through friend networking sites.

Our study focused on a new and pervasive phe-
nomenon among adolescents: friend networking
sites. In the Netherlands, about one quarter of ado-
lescents is currently a member of one or more of
such sites. The Netherlands is at present at the fore-
front of Internet-based communication technologies
(e.g., 96% of Dutch 10–19-year olds have home ac-
cess to the Internet, and 90% use Instant Messaging).
Therefore, it is a unique spot to start investigating
the social consequences of such technologies. How-
ever, friend networking sites are a worldwide phe-
nomenon that attracts ever younger adolescents.
Such sites can no longer be ignored, neither by com-
munication researchers nor by educators.

REFERENCES

1. Harter, S. (1999). The construction of the self: a develop-
mental perspective. New York: Guilford Press.

FRIEND NETWORKING SITES, WELL-BEING, AND SELF-ESTEEM 589

Frequency
of reactions

Use of
site

Social
self-esteem Well-being.78

Relationships
formed

Tone of
reactions

.19
n.s.

.28 n.s.

.48

.29

.30

FIG. 2. Structural equations model of the relationships among use of friend networking site, social self-esteem, and
well-being. The ellipses represent latent constructs estimated from at least two observed variables; coefficients repre-
sent standardized betas significant at least at p < 0.01.

14337c11.pgs 10/10/06 2:44 PM Page 589

2. Elkind, D., & Bowen, R. (1979). Imaginary audience
behavior in children and adolescents. Developmental
Psychology 15:38–44.

3. Diener, E., Emmons, R.A., Larsen, R.J., et al. (1985).
The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality
Assessment 49:71–75.

4. Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., et al. (1998).
Internet paradox: a social technology that reduces
social involvement and psychological well being?
American Psychologist 53:1017–1031.

5. Rohall, D.E., & Cotton, S.R. (2002). Internet use and
the self-concept: linking specific issues to global
self-esteem. Current Research in Social Psychology
8:1–19.

6. Kraut, R., Kiesler, S., Boneva, B., et al. (2002). Internet
paradox revisited. Journal of Social Issues 58:49–74.

7. Gross, E.F., Juvonen, J., & Gable, S.L. (2002). Internet
use and well-being in adolescence. Journal of Social Is-
sues 58:75–90.

8. Harman, J.P., Hansen, C.E., Cochran, M.E., et al.
(2005). Liar, liar: Internet faking but not frequency of
use affects social skills, self-esteem, social anxiety,
and aggression. CyberPsychology & Behavior 8:1–6.

9. Baumeister, R.F., Campbell, J.D., Krueger, J.I., et al.
(2003). Does high self-esteem cause better perfor-
mance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier
lifestyles? Psychological Science 4:1–44.

10. Ellison, N.B., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J.L. (2006). Managing
impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the
online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated

Communication, 11(2): http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/
issue2/ellison.html

11. Rosenberg, M., Schooler, C., & Schoenbach, C. (1989).
Self-esteem and adolescent problems: modeling recip-
rocal effects. American Sociological Review 54:1004–1018.

12. Harter, S. (1988). Manual for the self-perception profile
for adolescents. Denver, CO: Department of Psychol-
ogy, University of Denver.

13. Arbuckle, J.L. (2003). Amos 5.0 [computer software].
Chicago, IL: SmallWaters.

14. Byrne, B.M. (2001). Structural equation modeling with
AMOS: basic concepts, applications and programming.
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

15. Kline, R.B. (1998). Principles and practice of structural
equation modeling. New York: Guilford Press.

16. Larson, R.W., Core, G.L., & Wood, G.A. (1999). The
emotions of romantic relationships. In: Furman, W.,
Brown, B.B., Feiring, C. (eds.), The development of ro-
mantic relationships in adolescence. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 19–49.

Address reprint requests to:
Dr. Patti M. Valkenburg (ASCoR)

University of Amsterdam
Kloveniersburgwal 48

1012 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands

E-mail: p.m.valkenburg@uva.nl

590 VALKENBURG ET AL.

14337c11.pgs 10/10/06 2:44 PM Page 590

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6761621

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY, ]](I), 57-73
Copyright O 2001, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Consumers’ Responses to Negative Word-of-Mouth
Communication: An Attribution Theory Perspective

Russell N. Laczniak, Thomas E. DeCarlo, and Sridhar N. Ramaswami
Department of Marketing

Iowa State University

Research on negative word-of-mouth communication (WOMC) in general, and the process by
which negative WOMC affects consumers’ brand evaluations in particular, has been limited.
This study uses attribution theory to explain consumers’ responses to negative WOMC. Experi-
mental results suggest that (a) causal attributions mediate the negative WOMC-brand evalua-
tion relation, (b) receivers’ attributions depend on the manner in which the negative WOMC is
conveyed, and (c) brand name affects attributions. Results also suggest that when receivers at-
tribute the negativity of the WOMC message to the brand, brand evaluations decrease; however,
if receivers attribute the negativity to the communicator, brand evaluations increase.

Word-of-mouth communication (WOMC) is an important
marketplace phenomenon by which consumers receive infor-
mation relating to organizations and their offerings. Because
WOMC usually occurs through sources that consumers view
as being credible (e.g., peer reference groups; Brooks, 1957;
Richins, 1983), it is thought to have a more powerful influ-
ence on consumers’ evaluations than information received
through commercial sources (i.e., advertising and even neu-
tral print sources such as Consumer Reports; Herr, Kardes, &
Kim, 1991). In addition, this influence appears to be asyrn-
metrical because previous research suggests that negative
WOMC has a stronger influence on customers’ brand evalua-
tions than positive WOMC (Amdt, 1967; Mizerski, 1982;
Wright, 1974). Given the strength of negative, as opposed to
positive WOMC, the study presented here focuses on the for-
mer type of information.

Our research develops and tests, using multiple studies, a
set of hypotheses that describes consumers’ attributional and
evaluative responses to different types of negative-WOMC
messages. The hypotheses posit that consumers will generate
predictable patterns of attributional responses to nega-
tive-WOMC messages that are systematically varied in terms
of information content. Furthermore, they predict that
attributional responses will mediate the negative
WOMC-brand evaluation relation. Finally, and similar to re-
cent studies (cf. Herr et al., 1991), the hypotheses suggest

Requests for reprints should be sent to Russell N. Laczniak, Iowa
State University, Department of Marketing, 300 Carver Hall, Ames,
IA 5001 1-2065. E-mail: LACZNIAK@IASTATE.EDU

consumer responses to negative WOMC are likely to be
influenced by strength of the targeted brand’s name.

This study extends research on negative WOMC in two im-
portant ways. First, whereas previous studies have typically
examined receivers’ responses to a summary statement of a fo-
cal brand’s performance (cf. Bone, 1995; Herr et al., 1991), it is
likely that the information contained in negative-WOMC mes-
sages is more complex than thls. In this study, focal messages
are manipulated to include three components of information
besides the communicator’s summary evaluation (Richins,
1984). Messages include information about the (a) consensus
of others’ views of the brand (besides the communicator), (b)
consistency of the communicator’s experiences with the brand
over time, and (c) distinctiveness of the communicator’s opin-
ions of the focal brand versus other brands in the category. In-
terestingly, these types of information correspond to the
information dimensions examined in Kelley’s (1 967) seminal
work dealing with attribution theory. It is also important to note
that although others have used this work to model individual
responses to another’s actions (e.g., observing someone’s in-
ability to dance), this study is the first that empirically extends
Kelley’s research into a context in which consumers interpret a
conversation about a brand.

Second, whereas other studies have posited the existence
of a direct relation between negative WOMC and
postexposure brand evaluations (e.g., Amdt, 1967;
Haywood, 1989; Katz & Lazerfield, 1955; Morin, 1983), our
investigation examines the attributional process that explains
this association. This approach is consistent with the thinking
of several researchers (i.e., Bone, 1995; Herr et al., 1991;
Smith & Vogt, 1995) who posited that cognitive mechanisms

are important, as they can more fully explain the negative
WOMC-brand evaluation linkage. Furthermore, this re-
search is consistent with other studies that suggest (but do not
test the notion) that receivers’ cognitive processing of nega-
tive WOMC involves causal attributional reasoning (cf.
Folkes, 1988; Mizerski, Golden, & Kernan, 1979).

THEORY AND HYPOTHESES

Negative WOMC

Negative WOMC is defined as interpersonal communication
concerning a marketing organization or product that deni-
grates the object of the communication (Richins, 1984;
Weinberger, Allen, & Dillon, 1981). Negative WOMC po-
tentially has a more powerful influence on consumer behav-
ior than print sources, such as Consumer Reports, because in-
dividuals find it to be more accessible and diagnostic (Herr et
al., 1991). In fact, research has suggested that negative
WOMC has the power to influence consumers’ attitudes
(Engel, Kegemeis, & Blackwell, 1969) and behaviors (e.g.,
Arndt, 1967; Haywood, 1989; Katz & Lazerfield, 1955).

Attributions as Responses to
Negative WOMC

Because the transmission of negative WOMC involves inter-
personal and informal processes, attribution theory appears to
be particularly helpful in understanding a receiver’s interpre-
tation of a sender’s motives for communicating such informa-
tion (Hilton, 1995). The central theme underlying attribution
theory is that causal analysis is inherent in an individual’s
need to understand social events, such as why another person
would communicate negative information about a brand
(Heider, 1958; Jones & Davis, 1965; Kelley, 1967). For this
study, causal attribution is defined as the cognition a receiver
generates to infer the cause of a communicator’s generation
of negative information (Calder & Burnkrant, 1977).

Figure 1 illustrates the proposed process consumers use to
deal with negative WOMC. Specifically, it proposes two im-
portant influences on receivers’ attributional responses to
negative-WOMC communication. First, the information con-
veyed by the sender in a negative-WOMC message is posited
to influence receivers’ causal attributions. Second,
brand-name strength of the focal brand is also thought to di-
rectly affect receivers’ causal attributions. These attributional
responses, in turn, are expected to affect receivers’ brand
evaluations. Therefore, this study suggests that attributions
mediate the presupposed negative-WOMC-brand evaluation
relation. Such a model is consistent with theoretical frame-
works of interpersonal communication that suggest that attri-
butions mediate an interpersonal message’s effect on a
receiver’s evaluation ofthe focal object (e.g., Hilton, 1995).

FIGURE 1 Attributional process model for receivers of negative
word-of-mouth communication.

There is additional support for the mediational role played
by attributions in influencing individuals’ brand evaluations.
For example, studies in the advertising literature have sug-
gested that receivers generate causal attributions that in turn
affect their evaluations of the advertised brand (e.g., Wiener
& Mowen, 1986). In the performance evaluation literature,
studies indicate that sales manager attributions of salesperson
performance shape their reactions toward a salesperson (e.g.,
DeCarlo & Leigh, 1996). Thus, the following is proposed for
receivers of negative WOMC:

H I : Causal attributions will mediate the effects of
negative WOMC on brand evaluations.

Information Type and Causal
Attributions

According to research in classical attribution theory
(Kelley, 1967, 1973), the categories of causal attributions that
people generate in response to information include: stimulus
(i.e., brand, in this case), person (i.e., communicator, in this
case), circumstance, or a combination of these three.’ The
specific type of attributions generated by individuals, how-
ever, depends on the manner in which information is con-
veyed. According to attribution theory (Kelley, 1967) and
other studies dealing with WOMC (e.g., Richins, 1984), a re-
ceiver is likely to use three important information dimensions
to generate causal attributions: consensus, distinctiveness,
and consistency. In a negative-WOMC context, the consen-
sus dimension refers to the degree to which others are likely to
agree with the negative views of the communicator. The dis-
tinctiveness dimension encapsulates the extent to which the
communicator associates the negative information with a par-
ticular brand but not other brands. Finally, the consistency di-

‘Although attribution theo~y suggests that individuals have the potential
to generate multiple and interactive attributional responses, this study fo-
cuses only on those attributions that are thought to have a significant impact
on brand evaluations in the negative-WOMC context (i.e., brand and com-
municator attributions).

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