Word of mouth communication in political marketing: Understanding and managing referrals

ABSTRACT

There is a lack of research relevant to word of mouth (WOM) communication in political marketing. Also, existing studies on WOM communication identified behavioral determinants of the concept and neglected associated marketing stimuli. This study offers a 10-dimensional 62-item statistically significant WOM model for political marketing to address the stated lacuna. The study utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze 2357 pieces of primary data collected as samples from voters in Bangladesh. To prepare the questionnaire, authors created a pool of relevant items (through recent studies found in Google scholars) and tested the content validity through literature review, expert opinion of five academics, comments of three political scientists, and pilot study. Results of the study revealed that all political marketing dimensions of the model influence WOM sharing and WOM recommendation. The study also found a significant influence of external variables (media, internet, and technology) on WOM communication. Item-specific results found that in regards to political mix components, the ones that had the most influence on WOM communication were psychological cost if the candidate wins, image of the candidate as leader, using celebrities and icons in the campaigns, building election gates, and candidate’s modesty.

KEYWORDS:

• Word of mouth communication
• political marketing
• multidimensional model
• developing countries
• Bangladesh

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the North South University Annual Research Grants, 2017. Authors would like to thank two anonymous referees for their insightful comments on the earlier versions of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the North South University Annual Research Grants, 2017. [grant number NSU/MKT/CTRG/47].

Notes on contributors

Tamgid Ahmed Chowdhury

Tamgid Ahmed Chowdhury has received his PhD in Economics from Macquarie University, Sydney-Australia and specialized in using Structural Equation Modeling. He is currently serving as an Associate Professor in the School of Business and Economics at North South University, Bangladesh. Dr. Tamgid has several publications in reputed international journals such as International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Australian Journal of Career Development, Journal of Non-profit and Public Sector Marketing, Journal of Asia Pacific Business, European Journal of Development Research, Journal of Global Marketing, Journal of Asia Business Studies, Oxford Development Studies, and Journal of Socio-economics. Dr. Chowdhury has presented papers in several international conferences held in USA, UK, Australia, Turkey, South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Shahneela Naheed

Ms. Shahneela Naheed is a Lecturer at the Department of Marketing and International Business of North South University, Bangladesh. She completed MBA from Cal Poly Pomona, USA. Ms. Naheed presented a research paper at the EMAC 2018 Conference at Glasgow, UK. Her research interests are value chain framework, word of mouth promotion and consumer behavior.”