Title: How to motivate digital natives to write online reviews

Authors: Katherine Taken Smith

Addresses: College of Business, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5808, Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5808, USA

Abstract: Online reviews have become a key source of information that consumers use in their decision making process. Research shows that people consider the opinions of fellow consumers to be more credible than traditional marketing. The upcoming generation, digital natives, are known for their ability to create and manipulate content in the digital arena. They frequently write online reviews and endorse products. Thus, digital natives can help promote or demote a product. The purpose of this paper is to discover what motivates this generation to write online reviews and tell their friends about a product. These motivators can help marketers design effective content that will draw digital natives into dialogues about their products. This study found several effective motivators and provides specific recommendations to marketers.

Keywords: online reviews; consumer decision making; consumer reviews; word-of-mouth; digital natives; generation Z.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2023.135873

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2023 Vol.35 No.4, pp.506 - 517

Received: 22 Jun 2019
Accepted: 12 May 2020
Published online: 09 Jan 2024 *

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