Literature Review Since the 1960s, a large body of marketing research has documented the pervasive impact of word of mouth on consumer attitudes and behaviors (Bansal & Voyer, 2000 Bone, 1995; Herr et al., 1991; Word-of-mouth communication (WOM) is recognized as an important means of influencing consumer behavior (Arndt, 1967). marketing, therefore, personal word of mouth has usually been the most effective (Arndt1967). Furthermore, previous research has found that word of mouth is particularly important for service (Murray, 1991) and also adequate for persuading a person to try a particular supplier. services (Frenzen & Davis, 1990; Reingen, 1987). However, while the relevance of WOM is widely accepted, significant gaps in research exist. First, the forces that determine the effectiveness of WOM effects are not well understood (Wangenheim and Bayom, 2002). Although some authors have addressed the effects of communicator characteristics (such as competence or similarity; Brown and Reingen, 1987; Price et al., 1989) or the relationship between communicator (such as bond strength; Raluca, 2012) on the strength of the influence of a referral, the interaction of these two groups of factors remains largely understudied. Marketing research on the determinants of word-of-mouth conceptualizes word-of-mouth as a dyadic communication between a source (i.e., sender) and a recipient (i.e., receiver) (Gilly et al., 1998). This implies that the frequency of word of mouth is determined by the characteristics of the recipient, the characteristics of the source and their mutual relationship...... middle of paper ...... relationship is defined as the closeness of the social relationship between the recipient and the source of the information through word of mouth (Brown & Konrad, 2001). Close friends are an example of strong ties, whereas rarely contacted acquaintances represent weak ties (Brown & Reingen, 1987). Stronger ties are generally more readily available and result in more frequent interactions through which information can be requested or provided via word of mouth (Gilly et al., 1998). Several studies have found that consumers engage more in word of mouth with strong ties than with weak ties (Bansal & Voyer, 2000; Bone, 1992; Wirtz & Chew, 2002). To conclude the above discussion, how effective is word of mouth The effectiveness of word of mouth in influencing consumer behavior depends on the characteristics of the source, the characteristics of the resources, and the strength of the tie (their relationship with each other).