This review addresses three contemporary questions on the topic of word of mouth (WOM): (1) Are WOM and online WOM the same phenomenon? (2) What kind of target is more likely to engage in brands recommendations? (3) Can ‘organic’ and ‘fertilised’ WOM have the same value/impact? Furthermore, the present work gives academics a framework for analysing the popular phenomenon WOM, and provides marketers with some best practice suggestions. Finally, the reader can find some suggestions for further research on this topic.

Purpose: This paper aims to look at the effects of different levels of involvement (high and low) on social media (Facebook) users' engagement (likes, shares and comments) with different types and formats of brand content.Design/methodology/approach: The authors analyzed user reactions to 1,156 Facebook posts from eight business-to-consumer brands (goods and services). Based on a post hoc test, four product/services were identified as belonging to the group of high-involvement and the other four as low involvement.Findings: The data suggest that, when involvement is low, users in general engage more with brand posts regardless their format (text, image and post) or type (hedonic and informative), or even the interaction of both. Moreover, low involvement leads users prefer to comment on brand content, whereas higher involvement is associated with to sharing it. Exceptions were observed for images (both hedonic and informative) and for hedonic image and video in both low and high involvement users.Research limitations/implications: The goal was not to measure users’ attention to each type of post. Moreover, the authors did not have access to information regarding which devices were used to access the online content and whether that aspect might have an impact on users’ reactions. Neither do they claim that engagement necessarily reflects positive reactions, as any content analysis of users’ reactions was beyond the scope of this project.Practical implications: These findings are expected to help brand managers and social media strategists to better select content based on their marketing goals, as well as to provide a potential explanation for the success of campaigns.Originality/value: As far as we are aware, no previous study has attempted to observe the mediated effect of consumer involvement on brand posts considering their type and format. We also believe that this is the first observation of how behavior differentiates according to the target audience’s level of involvement. This paper also proposes a convenient framework for categorizing social network sites content. Suggestions for future research are made at the end.

This exploratory research aimed to observe if the purchase channel used (online versus physical store) could influence the number and the type of unplanned purchases in a supermarket purchase situation. 64 participants were asked to simulate a supermarket purchase using a shopping list and a predefined budget. Participants were divided into two conditions: online shopping and physical store shopping simulation.Findings show that consumers purchase more unplanned items (and spent more money on unplanned purchases) when they buy in physical stores, as well as items on promotion. They also tend to spend more time in the decision-making process when compared to participants shopping online. In addition, online consumers spend more money on items that were on their shopping list.Our findings are important to the literature, demonstrating that consumer reactions towards shopping differ according to the channel. Advertisers and web designers can also benefit from these findings by making better decisions regarding online advertising, specifically in the retail domain. Suggestions for future research are provided in the end.

Understanding the impact of personal traits on prosocial behavior becomes vital for the development of effective advertising messages to the target audience. Hence, this exploratory study was developed to contribute to a better understanding of the motivations of actual and potential blood donors, by analyzing and comparing the effect of some of the most prominent personal traits for predicting or explaining prosocial behavior (blood donation). 125 participants from generation Y answered an online survey that besides asking about their blood donation intention also pertained to establish a relation with their personality traits by considering: attribution theory, self-image, social responsibility, altruism, social influence, and empathy. We also take into consideration the possible effect of framing.According to our findings, blood donors are positively influenced to donate blood by self-image and internal attribution. On the other hand, nondonors are only positively influenced by self-image.

A capacidade para reter funcionários qualificados apresenta-se cada vez mais como problemática, não só pela maior exposição a empresas concorrentes internacionais, como também pelo novo paradigma na gestão de carreiras, passando-se de carreiras estáveis, lineares e estruturadas verticalmente, para carreiras transitórias, dinâmicas e multidirecionais. A capacidade de atrair e reter pessoas talentosas tem sido comummente associada a salários mais atrativos, contudo evidências empíricas sustentam que a retenção de pessoas talentosas depende em grande parte de fatores não-monetários, como a qualidade da liderança e a forma comunicacional utilizada para potenciar as habilidades, as competências, e os conhecimentos dos seus funcionários. A comunicação é hoje entendida como um mecanismo de gestão das interações e relacionamentos entre os stakeholders internos, assumindo-se que os colaboradores constituem o ativo mais poderoso de uma empresa, e os seus melhores embaixadores. É no contexto deste triângulo liderança→comunicação→motivação&satisfação que se torna evidente o contributo da comunicação estratégica na retenção de recursos humanos.