The Influence of Word-of-Mouth Communication on Consumers’ Choice of Selected Products in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the influence of word-of-mouth communication on consumers’ choice of selected products in Nigeria. To this end, the study evaluated also factors that induce word-of-mouth. In all, a total of three objectives were developed and in an attempt to test them, a survey research method was used. Sample was drawn from consumers of selected companies’ products in Lagos, Rivers, and Anambra States; while the tools used for hypotheses testing included Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and the OLS.The results of the study shows that Consumers’ interactions through word-of-mouth (WOM) had a major impact on consumer response to a product and that quality product induces word-of-mouth communications, and largely driven by Consumer-orientation. It was however recommended that organizations’ emphasis should be directed at consumers’ satisfaction that would in turn propel repeat purchase and instigate satisfied consumers to be organizations best sales’ persons, rather than incurring huge expenses on communication and other promo-tools.

Keywords: Word-of-mouth communication, Consumer-orientation, Quality-focus, Customer satisfaction and referrals