Viral Marketing Communication: The Internet Word-of-Mouth

Viral Marketing Communication – A study on consumer perception and response MBA Thesis ’2009
Table of Contents
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. 6
List of Figures & Charts........................................................................................................... 8
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 9
1.1 Background and context .................................................................................................... 9
1.2 Motivation of study ........................................................................................................... 10
1.3 Research focus ................................................................................................................... 10
1.4 Scope of thesis .................................................................................................................... 11
1.5 Organization of study ....................................................................................................... 12
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................... 13
2.1 Consumer Perception ....................................................................................................... 13
2.1.1 The perception process ................................................................................................ 13
2.2 Consumer Response .......................................................................................................... 14
2.2.1 The response process ................................................................................................... 14
2.2.2 Consumer response hierarchy models ......................................................................... 15
CHAPTER THREE: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................. 18
3.1 Word-of-mouth Marketing .............................................................................................. 18
3.1.1 How does WoM work ................................................................................................ 18
3.1.2 What is viral marketing .............................................................................................. 21
3.1.3 Viral marketing vs. traditional WoM ........................................................................... 22
3.2 Review on past WoM and VMC research ...................................................................... 23
CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................... 27
4.1 Research Methodology ................................................................................................. 27
4.1.1 Quantitative – Structured Questionnaire .................................................................. 28
4.1.2 Qualitative – In-depth Interviews ............................................................................ 30
4.2 Limitations of Research Methodology ........................................................................ 31
4.2.1 General limitations ................................................................................................... 31
4.2.2 Limitation of Structured Questionnaire ................................................................... 32
4.2.3 Limitation of In-depth Interview ............................................................................. 33
Low Jiun Wee Xavier and Goh Yun Shuang Summer Page 4 of 93