A Room of One's Own: Need for Uniqueness Counters Online WoM

We examine how consumers' desire to be different reduces their reliance on others' suggestions and thus increases their tendency to diverge from the average opinion. While the extant literature focuses on the role of need for uniqueness in attitude formation and choice behavior, not much has been done to test the effect of uniqueness seeking on reactions to persuasive, word of mouth (WoM) messages. In four studies, we find converging evidence for a uniqueness effect. Specifically, the uniqueness motivation interacts with the valence of the average opinion such that when uniqueness motivation is low, consumers follow others' advice and thus their attitudes depend primarily on the valence of the average opinion; meanwhile, the uniqueness seekers rely less on the valence and are more likely to form less favorable attitudes after reading positive reviews and to hold less unfavorable ones when the reviews are negative. These effects are found when trait need for uniqueness is measured as well as when situational need for uniqueness is manipulated. We further examine the process through which uniqueness motivation results in nonconformist attitudes. Uniqueness seekers perceive minority opinions as more diagnostic. Thus, these minority opinions are disproportionately represented in uniqueness seekers' nonconformist views. These findings are important to the hospitality industry as consumers often rely on others' experiences by reading online reviews to help make decisions concerning their own hospitality needs, which are highly experiential in nature.