Rediscovering word -of -mouth: An analysis of word -of -mouth talk in the context of online communities

This dissertation seeks to serve a stimulating role in the Word-of-Mouth (WOM) research area by challenging traditional WOM perspectives that have emphasized the instrumental (rather than relational), and dyadic (rather than communal) nature of WOM practices. Further, while most of the previous research has conceptualized WOM episodes as static, instantaneous events, this research studies the organization of WOM interactions in their social contexts, emphasizing WOM as social actions, as situated performances, as tied to social relations and identities, and as essentially matters of practices rather than just instruments.;In this discovery-oriented analysis, text data was used from the discourse of bulletin boards within a selected Internet community: BabyCenter.com---a site for new and expectant parents. For the purpose of this study, I have utilized the verbatim thread transcripts from the Birth clubs' boards. The fact that these boards are organized according to due date enabled me to analyze changes and trends within communities, from their inception to decline. Through the ethnomethodological analysis of WOM talk, I have demonstrated that it is possible to gain insight not only into the performance of everyday WOM at the level of talk, but also into the interactional and social structures that are accomplished through that talk.;A careful examination of numerous WOM interactions suggests that given a particular WOM subject, there exist many varieties of strategies that people use to express it. Yet, this dissertation shows that WOM acts (i.e., WOM initiations, WOM responses) are not the product of isolated practices, determined merely by the participant's preferences and personality. Instead, WOM acts are collective achievements emerging from the collaborative work of participants who constantly monitor on-going WOM interactions and negotiate their possible involvement in it. Moreover, my longitudinal analysis of WOM interactions has demonstrated that WOM rhetorical methods change over the life span of a community. This analysis has led to the development of a new dynamic, contextual WOM model. Within this model, everyday WOM interaction is conceptualized as a constituent feature of the setting of which it is a part and, thereby, is reflexively tied both to the occasion of speaking and to the community in which these interactions take place.