They’re involved, will you be involved? Research on the impact of social network embeddedness on customers’ online referral intention

Purpose People’s economic behaviors are often embedded in their social networks. Based on social embeddedness theory, this study investigates how customers’ social network embeddedness (structural and relational embeddedness) affects their online referral intentions through four studies. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a vignette experimental design and used both offline and online channels to collect data. The respondents were undergraduate students and consumers, covering different age groups and occupation types. We used the ANOVA and bootstrap methods of SPSS to conduct data processing and hypothesis testing. Findings We found that when fewer (vs more) people in a customer’s social network participated in reward referral programs (RRPs), the customer’s online referral intention was also lower because of higher perceived social costs and lower perceived control. However, when the tie strength, reciprocity and normative influence between customers and people who have participated in RRPs were high, customers’ online referral intention also increased, ignoring the influence of participants’ network size. In these relationships, perceived social costs and perceived control played important mediating roles. Practical implications The results provide practical implications for enterprises to develop efficient RRPs in the context of the increasing popularity of the mobile Internet and intelligent terminals. Originality/value This study offers insights into the influence mechanism of social network embeddedness on referral likelihood, contributing to the field of RRPs and social embeddedness theory.