Effect of individual and enterprise behaviors on the interplay between product-attributes information propagation and word-of-mouth communication in multiplex networks

In the course of individual consumption decision-making, the interaction between online product-attributes information propagation and face-to-face word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is an important influencing factor, and due to the heterogeneity of individuals and the involvement of enterprise, the interaction becomes more complicated. In this paper, we establish a multi-layer network model to explore the effect of individual and enterprise behaviors on the interaction between product-attributes information propagation and WOM communication, and derive mean-field equations to describe the dynamics process on complex social networks. We use analytical and numerical solutions of these equations to examine the threshold for the product-attributes information propagation and the WOM communication (both positive WOM and negative WOM). It also finds that individual behavior promotes both product-attributes information propagation and WOM communication, but the marginal utility of such promotion is diminishing; enterprise behavior promotes the communication of positive WOM and suppresses the communication of negative WOM.

Automated summary

This study investigates the interaction between individual and enterprise behaviors in the propagation of product-attributes information and word-of-mouth communication. It examines the thresholds and diminishing marginal utility of such behaviors, and finds that individual behavior promotes both information propagation and word-of-mouth communication, while enterprise behavior has a mixed effect on positive and negative word-of-mouth.