Perceived Influence of Word-of-Mouth Recommendation on Sport-Watching Behavior: A Gender Difference Perspective

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in the relationship between sports consumers’ perceived influence of word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendation and its antecedents. We conducted a survey with sports consumers who had received a WOM recommendation to watch a sporting event and actually watched the event. Survey participants indicated how much the WOM recommendation influenced their sport-watching behavior. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that a recommender’s trustworthiness, the richness of message content, and the strength of message delivery were positively related to perceived influence of WOM recommendation. Latent mean analysis revealed that women perceived greater influence of WOM recommendation on their sport-watching behavior compared to men. Multigroup SEM indicated that trustworthiness had a positive relation with perceived influence of WOM recommendation only for female consumers, whereas strength of message delivery had a positive association with perceived influence of WOM recommendation only for male consumers.