Do all, or only some personality types engage in spreading negative WOM? An experimental study of negative WOM, big 5 personality traits and brand personality

ABSTRACT

The focus of this research is on examining the interrelationships among brand personality, human personality traits, and the propensity to spread online negative word of mouth (WOM). The results across two studies show that consumers with higher levels of neuroticism (or lower emotional stability) have a greater propensity to spread negative WOM for a sincere brand than for an exciting brand. Conversely, consumers with higher levels of emotional stability exhibit no significant differences in negative WOM across sincere and exciting brands. Implications of these findings for theory are discussed, along with directions for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Big Five personality traits
• neuroticism
• wom
• online word of mouth
• brand personality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The recall incidence was a fictional scenario and participants were informed that this was a fictional scenario developed for research purposes only.