CONSUMER TO CONSUMER MARKETING: UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF PRODUCT AND SERVICE ORIENTED ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH COMMUNICATION VIA INSTAGRAM A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Commerce in Marketing in the University of Canterbury by Nathan Petrie University of Canterbury 2016 I Table of Contents Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................... II List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................... VII List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................... IX Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ X Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. XI Abbreviations and Key Terms ............................................................................................................ XII 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background ................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research Aims .............................................................................................................................. 4 1.4 Research Methodology ................................................................................................................. 5 1.5 Contributions of the Research, both Theoretical and Practical ..................................................... 5 1.5.1 Theoretical Implications ........................................................................................................ 5 1.5.2 Practical Implications ............................................................................................................. 6 1.6 Outline of Thesis ........................................................................................................................... 6 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................ 7 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Electronic Word of Mouth ............................................................................................................ 7 2.2.1 Importance of WOM .............................................................................................................. 8 2.2.2. Trust and Trustworthiness in eWOM .................................................................................. 10 2.2.3 Consumer Decisions ............................................................................................................ 13 2.3 Social Media Marketing – Relationship with eWOM................................................................. 13 2.4 User Generated Content .............................................................................................................. 18 2.4.1 Motives for Engaging in UGC ............................................................................................. 19 2.4.2 UGC Motives Relative to eWOM and Social Media Motives ............................................. 20 2.4.3 Technology as a UGC Enabler ............................................................................................. 22 2.5 Chapter Summary ....................................................................................................................... 24 3 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................................. 25 II 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 25 3.2 Conceptual Framework and Approach ....................................................................................... 25 3.3 Research Hypotheses .................................................................................................................. 29 3.3.1 Variance in Emotive Content ............................................................................................... 29 3.3.2 Variance in Company Linking ............................................................................................. 30 3.3.3 Variance in Commercial Intent ............................................................................................ 30 3.3.4 Variance in Recommendation Content ................................................................................ 31 3.4 Relationship between Hypotheses and Research Aims .............................................................. 32 3.5 Chapter Summary ....................................................................................................................... 34 4 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 35 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 35 4.2 Content Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 35 4.2.1 Advantages of Content Analysis .......................................................................................... 36 4.3 Application of Content Analysis Methodology to the Research ................................................. 37 4.3.1 Sampling .............................................................................................................................. 38 4.3.2 Coding Scheme .................................................................................................................... 39 4.3.3 Units of Analysis .................................................................................................................. 41 4.3.4 Product and Service Categories Chosen .............................................................................. 42 4.4 Validity ....................................................................................................................................... 43 4.5 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................................ 44 4.6 Chapter Summary ....................................................................................................................... 44 5 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 45 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 45 5.2 Sample and Poster Level Results ................................................................................................ 45 5.2.1 Post and Poster Characteristic Level Results ....................................................................... 46 5.2.2 Number of Posts ................................................................................................................... 47 5.2.3 Number of Followers ........................................................................................................... 49 5.2.4 Number Following ............................................................................................................... 52 5.2.5 Number of Likes .................................................................................................................. 55 III 5.2.6 Number of Comments .......................................................................................................... 58 5.3 Hypothesis Test Results .............................................................................................................. 61 5.3.1 Variance in Emotive Content ............................................................................................... 61 5.3.2 Variance in Company Linking ............................................................................................. 68 5.3.3 Variance in Commercial Intent ............................................................................................ 75 5.3.4 Variance in Recommendation Content ................................................................................ 81 5.3.5 Hypothesis Results Summary .............................................................................................. 89 5.4 Unit Frequency by Content Theme Category ............................................................................. 90 5.4.1 Emotive Words Count .......................................................................................................... 90 5.4.2 Emotive Phrase Counts .......................................................................................................