Customer to Customer Interactions: Broadening the Scope of Word of Mouth Research

Libai Barak, Bolton Ruth, Bügel Marnix S., Ruyter Ko de, Götz Oliver, Risselada Hans, Stephen Andrew T.

Abstract
The increasing emphasis on understanding the antecedents and consequences of customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions is oneof the essential developments of customer management in recent years. This interest is driven much by new online environmentsthat enable customers to be connected in numerous new ways and also supply researchers' access to rich C2C data. These developmentspresent an opportunity and a challenge for firms and researchers who need to identify the aspects of C2C research onwhich to focus, as well as develop research methods that take advantage of these new data. The aim here is to take a broad view ofC2C interactions and their effects and to highlight areas of significant research interest in this domain. The authors look at fourmain areas: the different dimensions of C2C interactions; social system issues related to individuals and to online communities;C2C context issues including product, channel, relational and market characteristics; and the identification, modeling, and assessmentof business outcomes of C2C interactions.

Keywords
word of mouth; social influence; new media; social networks; customer management