The effects of regulatory focus and tie strength on word‐of‐mouth behaviour

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of tie strength on word‐of‐mouth (WOM) amount and how regulatory focus moderates these effects. Design/methodology/approach – Two studies were conducted with undergraduates of a top Asian university with sample sizes of 106 and 100 using experimental setups. Findings – Replicating findings from existing research, a greater amount of WOM was shared between strong ties compared to weak ties. However, the main finding was that this tie strength effect only held for a prevention‐focused WOM giver but not for a promotion‐focused WOM giver. The latter was found instead giving a similar amount of WOM to strong and weak ties. Research limitations/implications – The two experiments required subjects to write out their WOM. This may be a limitation since WOM is usually spoken instead of written. Future research can compare spoken and written WOM to evaluate the robustness of the current findings. Practical implications – Findings from this paper can help companies solicit more WOM through priming the appropriate regulatory focus when consumers communicate with others that are of different social ties. Originality/value – The current paper contributes to existing WOM literature by investigating the moderating effect of regulatory focus on the relationship between tie strength and WOM amount.