Abstract

Retail stores and shopping malls have been putting increased emphasis on enhancing the positive word-of-mouth from stomers and opinion leaders. Word of mouth is regarded as among the most powerful source of communication as it derives from personal and trustworthy sources. We suggest that word-of-mouth is driven from both mall evaluations and the hedonic experience that customers undergo. The drivers for hedonic experiences are employee behaviors, ambiance and self-identification with other shoppers. We test this framework in the context of a shopping mall where we survey 861 customers and find support for our model. Theoretical and managerial implications for the research are also derived.