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Paper Type
Complete
Description
The online referral reward program (ORRP) is a social marketing method by which firms reward existing users and encourage them to recommend products or services to their friends. Prior research has primarily focused on the impact of ORRP design on users’ participation, however, the role of individuals’ characteristics is unexplored. Based on regulatory focus theory and self-efficacy theory, this research proposes and investigates the effect of users’ regulatory focus (promotion-focused vs. prevention-focused) on their referral intention and explores its mechanism and boundary condition. The results of three experiments show that compared to prevention-focused users, promotion-focused users have higher self- efficacy to complete the referral task; and thus, have higher referral intention. This effect will be attenuated when the tie strength between inviters and invitees is strong. The findings not only contribute to the research on ORRP and regulatory focus but also provide guidance for firms to optimize ORRPs.
Paper Number
1757
Recommended Citation
Jin, Huijie; Lu, Shouwang; and Wang, Kanliang, "Who is More Likely to Initiate Referrals? Effect of User’s Regulatory Focus on Referral Intention" (2023). AMCIS 2023 Proceedings. 7.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2023/sig_core/sig_core/7
Who is More Likely to Initiate Referrals? Effect of User’s Regulatory Focus on Referral Intention
The online referral reward program (ORRP) is a social marketing method by which firms reward existing users and encourage them to recommend products or services to their friends. Prior research has primarily focused on the impact of ORRP design on users’ participation, however, the role of individuals’ characteristics is unexplored. Based on regulatory focus theory and self-efficacy theory, this research proposes and investigates the effect of users’ regulatory focus (promotion-focused vs. prevention-focused) on their referral intention and explores its mechanism and boundary condition. The results of three experiments show that compared to prevention-focused users, promotion-focused users have higher self- efficacy to complete the referral task; and thus, have higher referral intention. This effect will be attenuated when the tie strength between inviters and invitees is strong. The findings not only contribute to the research on ORRP and regulatory focus but also provide guidance for firms to optimize ORRPs.
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