1 DERIVING CONSENSUS RANKINGS VIA MULTICRITERIA DECISIO.docx

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DERIVING CONSENSUS RANKINGS VIA MULTICRITERIA
DECISION MAKING
METHODOLOGY
1AmyPoh. AL, 2M. N. Saludin, 1M. Mukaidono
1Faculty of Science and Technology, Meiji University
2Faculty of Management & Defense Study, National Defense
University of Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Purpose – This paper takes a cautionary stance to the impact of
marketing mix on customer satisfaction, via a case study
deriving
consensus rankings for benchmarking on selected retail stores in
Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach – ELECTRE I model is used in
deriving consensus rankings via multicriteria decision making

method for benchmarking base on the marketing mix model 4Ps.
Descriptive analysis is used to analyze the best practice among
the
four marketing tactics.
Findings – Outranking methods in consequence constitute a
strong base on which to found the entire structure of the
behavioral
theory of benchmarking applied to development of marketing
strategy.
Research limitations/implications – This study has looked only
at a limited part of the puzzle of how consumer satisfaction
translates into behavioral outcomes.
Practical implications – The study provides managers with
guidance on how to generate rough outline of potential
marketing
activities that can be used to take advantage of capabilities and
convert weaknesses and threats.
Originality/value – This paper interestingly portrays the
effective usage of multicriteria decision making and ranking
method to help
marketing manager predict their marketing trend.
Keywords: Marketing mix, Customer satisfaction, Retailing,
Benchmarking, Multicriteria decision-making, ELECTRE I
method

Type of paper: Research Paper
http://www.upnm.my/
http://www.upnm.my/
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1. INTRODUCTION
With increasing globalization, local retailers find themselves
having to compete with large foreign players
by targeting niche markets. To excel and flaunt as a market
leader in an ultramodern era and a globalize
world, the organizations must strive to harvest from its
marketing strategies, benchmarking and company
quality policy.
Ranking and selecting projects is a relatively common, yet often
difficult task. It is complicated because
there is usually more than one dimension for measuring the
impact of each criteria and more than one
decision maker. This paper considers a real application of
project selection for the marketing mix element,

using an approach called ELECTRE.
The ELECTRE method has several unique features not found in
other solution methods; these are the
concepts of outranking and indifference and preference
thresholds. The ELECTRE method applied to the
project selection problem using SPSS (Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences) application.
Our contribution is to show the potential of Marketing mix
model in deriving a consensus ranking for
benchmarking. According to the feedback from the respondents,
we dynamically rank out the best element
to be benchmark.
The decision problem faced by management has been translated
into our market research problem in the
form of questions that define the information that is required to
make the decision and how this information
obtained. The corresponding research problem is to assess
whether the market would accept the consensus
rankings derive from benchmarking result from the impact of
marketing mix on customer satisfaction using
a multi-criteria decision making outranking methodology.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The project ranking problem is, like many decision problems,
challenging for at least two reasons. First,
there is no single criterion in marketing mix model which
adequately captures the effect or impact of each
element; in other words, it is a multiple criteria problem.
Second, there is no single decision maker; instead
the project ranking requires a consensus from a group of
decision makers. (Henig and Buchanan and
Buchanan et al.)
Buchanan et al. have debated that effective decisions come from
effective decision process and proposed
that where potential the subjective and objective parts of the
decision process should be branched. The
relationship between the alternatives and the criteria is
portrayed using attributes, which are the objective
and measurable character of alternatives. Attributes form the

bridge within the alternatives and the criteria.
Often, marketing management is looking and interesting on the
solution rather than the outlines criteria.
Referring to the statement of Simon (1977), analysis decisions
ex post cannot accurately be done due to
human memory has some known biases. Through observation,
we noticed that in many cases, decision is
treated as a one shot game whereas most decisions are more or
less repetitious. A decision maker can learn
the effect of the assignment he has distributed to the weights.
Likewise, the decision maker can learn to
modify concordance and discordance factors in outranking
methods (Roy and Skalka, 1985; Vetschera,
1986).
In the theoretical account of decision making, we remember
that, the subjective and contextual data play an
important role due to the prominent look-ahead component
(Pomerol, 1995). Moreover, due to the rawness
of the framework, particularly during the evaluation stages
(Lévine and Pomerol, 1995), explanations and
contextual knowledge are among the elements facilitating the
cooperation, and the need to make them

explicit and shared both by the system and the user (Brezillon
and Abu-Hakima, 1995) and Brézillon
(1996).
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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Recognizance Survey
This section takes into consideration sites in Selangor area,
geographical position in the center of
Peninsular Malaysia, contributed to the state's rapid
development as Malaysia's transportation and industrial
hub, with a population of 4,736,100 (2005 estimate). The
selected data collection sites are Tesco Saujana
Impian Kajang, Carrefour Alamanda Putrajaya, Giant Bukit
Tinggi and Mydin Kajang.
3.2 Research Instrument
A non-comparative Likert scaling technique was used in this
survey. The questionnaire is divided into 4

sections: customer information, marketing mix model, customer
perception and motivating factor. The
demography variables measured at a nominal level in Section 1
include gender, ethnic, marital status, age
and how often do the respondents shop at the specific retail
store.
A typical test item in a Likert scale is a statement. The
respondent is asked to indicate his or her degree of
agreement with the statement or any kind of subjective or
objective evaluation of the statement. In Section
2, a six-point scale is used in a forced choice method where the
middle option of "Neither agree nor
disagree" is not available. The questions comprise four
attributes such as product, price, promotions,
place/distribution; six questions are allocated for each of the
4Ps.
Section 3 evaluates customer‟s perception using the same scale
as practice in Section 2 whereas Section 4,
the last part of the questionnaire measure the factor that
motivates respondents the most to patronize the
specific retail store using the nominal measurement. Simple
random sampling technique is used in the
research.

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3.3 Illustration of Research Framework
FIGURE 1. Attribute – 4P‟s – Retail Stores Mapping
The illustration of Attribute - 4P‟s - Retail Stores Mapping in
Figure 1 was built to sprout a better
understanding on our study framework. Figure 1 elucidates the
main idea of how we determine the targeted
attribute of the 4Ps and generate it in the questionnaire to meet
out objectives. The relationship between the
marketing mix, 4ps with the criteria lies in each P element were
clearly linking to the four selected retail
stores.
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When all are agreed on the category of criteria, to examine each
alternative concordance to the attribute, we

presuming that the options are known, it remains to complete
the decision matrix. The assessment is
generally independent of the aggregation procedure; it was due
to the fact that examination theoretical
counts on the posterior aggregation operation are generally
ignored by the designers. The location of the
respective alternatives or transforming a pair wise comparison
into a numerical (normalized) scale as, for
example, in the so-called "Analytical Hierarchical
Process"(AHP) (Saaty, 1980).
The utilities of a prearranged option, in the structure of multi-
attribute utility, regarding each attribute, are
jointly cardinal. They have therefore to be jointly evaluated
(Pomerol & Barba-Romero, 1993). The support
of a Multicriteria Decision Making methodology should be very
useful in the case considering the difficulty
either to validate the probabilistic independence or to aid the
decision maker to jointly measure the options
by solvability or by the mid-preference point method.
3.4 DATA COLLECTION
The data were collected by means of questionnaire. First
appointment was conducted with the personal in-

charge in each retail store to request cooperation and approval
for data collection and survey respond via
formal letters from the Department of Mathematical Sciences,
Faculty of Science and technology, National
University of Malaysia.
Field research was conducted in Tesco Saujana Impian Kajang,
Carrefour Alamanda Putrajaya, Giant Bukit
Tinggi and Mydin Mart Kajang. A simple random sample of 214
household‟s respondents was obtained
from each of the four retail stores; sum up a total of 856
respondents data.
3.5 Data Analysis and Interpretation
The retail market place promotes continuous improvement to
survive in a turbulent atmosphere. For that,
benchmarking is the exploration for industry best practices that
leads to superior performance (Camp,
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1989). The benchmarking dimension of the retail stores
conceives a set of indicators and for this reason

assumes the configuration of a multi-criteria analysis. The
literature on retail stores and marketing mix
model has identified four major underlying criteria essential to
take place in the market place. They are as
follows:
1
ATT : Product Attribute
2
ATT : Price Attribute
3
ATT : Promotions Attribute
4
ATT : Place/Distribution Attribute
An organization will show better performance on the basis of
some indicators and worse performance on
the basis of some others: “there is no single performance
management enterprise system which is best in
class across all areas” (Sharif, 2002).
Computed by averaging the scores assigned to all the
organizations on the basis of all the criteria, we could
obtain the result of the “best in class” in the organization, with
the maximum averaged value.

Consider four retail stores:
1
R : Tesco
2
R : Mydin
3
R : Carrefour
4
R : Giant
The contribution of the multi-criteria outranking methodology
to the valuation of the impact of marketing
mix on customer satisfaction on four retail stores in terms of
benchmarking analysis is significant. The
application of outranking approach enables the benchmarking of
the impact of marketing mix without the
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necessity of an aggregate indicator obtained by averaging all
scores assigned to the organizations on the
basis of the different criteria.

3.6 Benchmarking and Outranking-Satisfying Methodology
Developed by Operational Research, the outranking
methodology is a family unit of algorithms (Roy, 1985;
Vincke, 1992; Roy and Bouyssou, 1993; Pomerol and Barba-
Romero, 2000). Of these, ELECTRE I method
will be introduced here. The input of the ELECTRE I method is
represented by a multi-criteria matrix as in
Table 1, surrounded by a line containing the weights that the
decision making assigns to each criterion.
Table 1 Multicriteria matrix (ELECTRE I)
1
ATT
(Product)
2
ATT
(Price)
3
ATT
(Promotion)

4
ATT
(Place/Distribution)
1
R
(Tesco) 4.42 3.94 3.97 3.90
2
R
(Mydin) 3.91 3.73 3.42 2.95
3
R
(Carrefour) 4.10 3.60 3.71 3.70
4
R
(Giant) 3.90 4.02 3.76 3.92
Weight 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4
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From Table 1, the retail stores‟ positioning is generated and

shown in the table below:
Table 2 Retail stores Positioning Table
1
ATT
(Product)
2
ATT
(Price)
3
ATT
(Promotion)
4
ATT
(Place/Distribution)
1st Tesco Giant Tesco Giant
2nd Carrefour Tesco Giant Tesco
3rd Mydin Mydin Carrefour Carrefour

4th Giant Carrefour Mydin Mydin
Average (
N
R ) = [
1
ATT (
N
R ) +
2
ATT (
N
R ) +
3
ATT (
N
R ) +
4
ATT (
N
R )]/4
Now, let us consider
2

R and
3
R . Taking into account the values in Table 1 it is evident that
3
R is better
than
2
R for three criteria out of four (Marketing Model 4Ps). That is:
1
ATT (
3
R ) = 4.10 >
1
ATT (
2
R ) = 3.91
3
ATT (
3
R ) = 3.71 >
3
ATT (

2
R ) = 3.42
4
ATT (
3
R ) = 3.70 >
4
ATT (
2
R ) = 2.95
Three criteria {1, 3, and 4} agree in considering
3
R better than
2
R . Only one criterion {2} considers
2
R
better than
3
R . That is:
2
ATT (

2
R ) = 3.73 >
2
ATT (
3
R ) = 3.60
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Concordance-discordance principles are used to build
outranking relations. Interpreting the same procedure
for all the other pairs of retail companies will obtain the Table
3.
Table 3 Matrix of Concordance Subsystems (
c
J )
1
R
2
R

3
R
4
R
1
R
{1,2,3,4} {1,2,3,4} {1,3}
2
R
Ø {2} {1}
3
R
Ø {1,3,4} {1}
4
R
{2,4} {2,3,4} {2,3,4}
The generic element
c

J (
i
R ,
j
R ) of the matrix of Table 3 is given by:
c
J (
i
R ,
j
i
ATT (
i
j
ATT (
j
R )}; where: J = {1, 2, 3, 4}
Taking into account the weights assigned to the various criteria,
a concordance index can be calculated for
each pair of company (
i

R ,
j
R ):
C (
i
R ;
j
R ) =
c
jj J
K
Where:
j
K is the weight assigned to the
th
j criterion.
For example, for the pair (
3
R ,
2

R ) we have:
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C (
3
R ,
2
R ) =
1
K +
3
K +
4
K = 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 = 0.75 (75 percent)
We therefore have a majority of criteria of 75 percent in favor
of
3
R with respect to
2
R . Iterating the same
procedure for other pairs or organizations, we obtain the

concordance matrix of Table 4.
Table 4 Concordance Matrix
1
R
2
R
3
R
4
R
1
R
1 1 0.50
2
R
0 0.25 0.25
3
R

0 0.75 0.25
4
R
0.50 0.75 0.75
The concordance indicator in Table 4 varies between 0 and 1. It
is equal to 1 only if there is unanimity or a
majority of criteria that are 100 percent in favor of
i
R with respect to
j
R . In order to decide on the
superiority of one retail company with respect to another, the
decision maker should set a concordance
threshold C*. Generally, it is chosen to be a majority greater
than or equal to 75 percent (simple majority
Taking into account the database of Table 4 and the
concordance threshold C* we have the following
concordance test:

c
T (
i
R ,
j
R ) =
1 if C (
i
R ;
j
0 if otherwise
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The results of concordance test are shown in Table 5.
Table 5 Outcomes of Concordance Test
1
R
2

R
3
R
4
R
1
R
1 1 0
2
R
0 0 0
3
R
0 1 0
4
R
0 1 1
The ELECTRE I methodology considers another step: the

construction of discordance test in order to take
into account of an excessive “distance” (dissimilarity) between
the scores
j
ATT (
j
R ) and
i
ATT (
i
R ).
The discordance test (
d
T ) is fulfilled if the distance:
D (
j
R ,
i
R ) = max [
j
ATT (
j
R ) -
i

ATT (
i
R )];
does not exceed discordance threshold D*. In order to simplify
the analysis we suppose that the test of
discordance is fulfilled by all pairs (
i
R ,
j
R ).
The outranking methods consists in examining the validity of
the proposition “a outranks b”. The
concordance test “measures” the arguments in favor of saying
so, but there may be arguments strongly
against that assertion (discordant criteria). The “discordant
voices” can be viewed as vetoes.
There is a veto against declaring that “a” outranks “b” if “b” is
so much better than “a” on same criterion
that it becomes disputable or even meaningless to pretend that
“a” might be better overall than “b”. The
logic of the test of discordance is quite similar to that on which

statistical tests are based. Here as well,
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conventional levels of significance, like the famous 5 percent
rejection intervals, are widely used. The
decision maker decides the discordance threshold, that is he
decides whether a hypothesis must be rejected
or not.
If the discordance test is not passed alternatives a and b are said
incomparable. They are too different to be
compared. Taking into account both the concordance and the
discordance test we construct a binary
outranking relation S. Given two generic retail companies (
i
R ,
j
R ) we say that
i
R outranks
j
R if and
only if the concordance test (

c
T ) and the discordance test (
d
T ) are fulfilled, that is:
i
R S
j
R if and only if
c
T and
d
T fulfilled.
Because we suppose that the discordance test (
d
T ) is passed by all pairs (
i
R ,
j
R ) the outranking relation S
coincides with the outcomes of concordance test of Table 5.
That is:

i
R S
j
R if and only if
c
T fulfilled.
The relation S may be represented by the graph of Figure 2.
1
R
4
R
3
R 2R
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Now,
3

R is the “ 2
nd
worst in class” and
2
R is the “worst in class”. But
1
R and
4
R are not comparable
structures: neither
1
R outranks
4
R nor the opposite. This is another important difference arising
from the
refusal of the ordering based on the average benchmarking.
3.7 Benchmarking On Customer Satisfaction
Through benchmarking, we get better understanding of the
customer because it is based on the reality of
the market estimated in an objectivist way and a better
economic planning of the purposes and the
objectives to achieve in the company for they are centered on

what takes place outside controlled and
mastered. The management will get a better increase of the
productivity, resolution of the real problems
and understanding of the processes and what they produce.
FIGURE 3. Product Benchmarking towards customer
satisfaction
From Figure 3, R1 ranks the highest on customer satisfaction
towards product and it shall be the benchmark.
R2, R3 and R4 should benchmark R1‟s product strategy and
improve to compete in the market.
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FIGURE 4. Price Benchmarking towards customer satisfaction
Figure 4 show that R4 ranks the highest on customer
satisfaction towards price. It proves that R4‟s

“Everyday low price strategy” is a success. R1 ranks the second
with mean value of 3.94, in the competition
mood with R4. R2 and R3 should benchmark R4‟s pricing
strategy.
FIGURE 5. Promotion Benchmarking towards customer
satisfaction
R1 ranks the highest again in Figure 5 on customer satisfactions
towards promotion, it is the benchmark. R1
promotion strategy is well organized and effective; customers
are aware of the latest promotion from the
newspaper, flyers and promotion booklet. R4 and R3 are a little
bit behind. R2 ranks the last, it need to
benchmark R1‟s and revise on its promotion strategy and
improve to compete in the competitive market.
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FIGURE 6. Place/ Distribution Benchmarking towards
customer satisfaction

Figure 6 elucidates R1 ranks the highest on customer
satisfaction towards place and distribution and it shall
be the benchmark for other retail stores. The other three retail
stores having very close mean value.
Meaning the customer satisfaction towards place and
distribution in four retail stores are well perceived.
4. DISCUSSION ON SWOT ANALYSIS
It is not simply enough to identify SWOT of the ELECTRE I
outranking method. Applying SWOT in this
fashion can obtain leverage for a company (Ferrell, 1998).
4.1 Strength
The strength of MCDM is to aid decision-makers to be
consistent with fixed „general‟ objectives; to use
representative data and transparent assessment procedures and
to help the accomplishment of decisional
processes, focusing on increasing its efficiency. The ELECTRE
I method, in which the criteria of the set of
decisional alternatives are compared by means of a binary
relationship, often defined as outranking
relationship, is more flexible than the ones based on a multi-

objective approach.
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4.2 Weakness
On a fuzzy angel of statement, often times different methods
may yield different answers in terms of
rankings when they are fed with exactly the same numerical
data. It is a challenging and intriguing problem
with decision-making methods which rank a set of alternatives
practicing a set of number of competing
criteria. Some kind of testing procedures need to be determined
given that it is practically unworkable to
know which one is the best alternative for a given decision
problem.
4.3 Opportunity
In this paper, a new approach has been carried out for the use of
the ELECTRE I model in marketing mix
selection. This work shows that ELECTRE can be used
successfully in deriving a consensus ranking in

benchmarking to select the best in class.
4.4 Threat
In outranking approaches, the inaccuracy of the data can be
modeled through the indifference and
preference threshold, so-called pseudocriteria. Of course,
threshold must be assessed for each criterion and
for each problem separately.
5. CONCLUSION
As can be seen, the marketing manager should have rough
outline of potential marketing activities that can
be used to take advantage of capabilities and convert
weaknesses and threats. However, at this stage, there
will likely be many potential directions for the managers to
pursue. The manager must prioritize all
marketing activities and develop specific goals and objectives
for the marketing plan (Boone, 1992).
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It the effort of avoiding the shortcomings of the traditional
methods based on the average aggregate
monocriterion, outranking methods make it possible to deal with
multicriteria benchmarking. They are a
complete alternative to the traditional approach proviso applied
to the measurement of learning capability.
They can support the behavioral theory of organizational
analysis initiated by H. Simon (Biggiero and
Laise, 2003a, b). The behavioral theory is nonetheless perfectly
comparable with them (Simon, 1997). The
retail stores management uses the information so obtained to
interpret the needs of individuals in the
marketplace, and to create strategies, schemes and marketing
plans.
The more the satisfying solutions will be when the lower the
threshold assigned to the concordance test
computing the lower the aspiration levels as a result.
6. DIRECTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
The relationships between customer satisfaction and behavioral
outcomes are probably much more

complex than initially assumed. This study has looked only at a
limited part of the puzzle of how customer
satisfaction translates into behavioral outcomes. In what way
consumer characteristics moderate the
relationship between satisfactions and repurchase behavior is
likely to be contingent on the product or
service category and the buying and usage process for that
category. Other consumer characteristics not
included in this study, such as a propensity for variety seeking
behavior or a recreational shopping
orientation, could potentially be important in many retail
industries. Further research on how the effects of
satisfaction on behavior is moderated by different consumer
characteristics would advance customer
satisfaction research as well as be of great managerial
significance.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are deeply indebted to National University of
Malaysia for making this project a success. The

authors express their gratitude to GCOE Meiji University for
supporting on my ideas. To fellow research
assistants, Chen, Leong, Tan and Wong, much of this work and
data collection was done in conjunction
with them.
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www.ccsenet.org/ibr International Business
Research Vol. 4, No. 1; January 2011
ISSN 1913-9004 E-
ISSN 1913-9012 266
The Effect of Human Resource Management Practices on
Corporate
Performance: A Study of Graphic Communications Group
Limited
Rosemond Boohene, PhD (Corresponding author)

School of Business
University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast
Tel: 233-20-710-5865 E-mail: [email protected]
Ernesticia Lartey Asuinura
School of Business
University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast
Tel: 233-33-213-7870 E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
In developing economies such as Ghana, the influence of
governments in state-owned entities renders many human
resource management best practice principles ineffectual.
Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) is a
state-owned entity. Its human resource practices can be crucial
to its performance. The purpose of this study
therefore was to assess whether GCGL’s human resource
management practices, particularly recruitment and
selection, performance appraisal, remuneration, and training and
development practices influence its performance.
Simple random sampling was used to select one hundred
employees from GCGL. T-tests were carried out to
examine the relationship between the selected HR practices and
corporate performance. The results revealed that,
from the perceptions of the respondents, there exists a positive
relationship between effective recruitment and
selection practices, effective performance appraisal practices
and GCGL’s corporate performance. The research did
not gather sufficient evidence to conclude on how remuneration,
training and development practices influence
GCGL’s performance. The study recommends that the

management of GCGL continues to ensure that the
company’s HR policy, effective recruitment and selection
practices, as well as effective performance appraisal
practices are upheld.
Keywords: Human Resource Management, Performance, Best
Practices
1. Introduction
Increasing productivity in the public sector to match the levels
of the private sector has been the call of the Public
Services Commission in Ghana. According to Michie &
Oughton (2003), research suggests that closing the
productivity gap between the private and public sectors will
require increased investment in research and
development, capital and people, improved education and
training, and a modernised productive infrastructure. In a
bid to improving productivity, Michie & Oughton (2003) further
suggest that there should be a continuous
improvement in management practice, corporate governance and
organisational design. Guest, Michie, Conway &
Sheenan (2003) also point out that a major challenge for modern
organisations is the urge for increasing productivity
and achieving a competitive advantage.
To achieve competitive advantage, Bohlander, Snell & Sherman
(2001) argue that while people have always been
central to organisations, they have now taken on an even more
central role in building a firm’s competitive
advantage. They reiterate the fact that success increasingly
depends on the organisation’s people-embodied
know-how, which includes the knowledge, skills and abilities
embedded in an organisation’s employees. In the view
of Schuler and Macmillan (1984), organisations best able to
meet this challenge are those that can acquire and utilise

valuable and scarce resources. Human resources fall into this
category of resources, particularly if they are
effectively deployed through appropriate human resource
practices. One of the key tasks for an organisation,
therefore, is the effective management of human resource.
Research in Human Resource Management (HRM) has
established that the success of any organisation is highly
influenced by the calibre of its human resource (HR),
which in turn, is affected by the organisation’s human resource
management practices.
The Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) is a state-
owned media organisation, which is not on government
subvention. Thus, it is required to generate its own funds,
operate profitably and be able to pay at least 30% of profit
as dividend to government annually. In the year 2003, the
company underwent a corporate restructuring. Prior to this
time, the company was barely breaking even and its ability to
attract and retain skilled employees was limited. The
HR department, which was headed by a non-HR professional,
was also restructured with the recruiting of HR
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 267
professionals into the department. The HR department was then
tasked with reviewing the company’s HR practices
and recommending policy changes, where necessary. As part of
the review, training programmes were organised for
all categories of staff. Employees who lacked basic skills and
qualifications and could not be retrained were laid off,
whilst a rigorous recruitment process was instituted to attract

skilled personnel for the various departments.
After 2003, the company’s profit began growing and has
continued ever since. Accordingly, it has paid annual
dividends to government. This is in contrast to other state-
owned media companies, which are struggling to break
even. Since the restructuring, no research has been carried out
to ascertain the effect of human resource management
practices on the company’s performance. The study therefore
seeks to examine how the human resource
management practices at GCGL have impacted on its
performance.
2. Research Framework
Armstrong (2006) observes that the assumption underpinning
the practice of HRM is that people are the
organisation’s key resource and organisational performance
largely depends on them. Therefore, if an appropriate
range of HR policies and processes are developed and
implemented effectively, then HR will make a substantial
impact on firm performance. Guest, Michie, Conway & Sheenan
(2003) also argue that the case for an association
between human resource management and performance is based
on two arguments. The first one being that the
effective deployment of human resources offers one of the most
powerful bases of competitive advantage. The
second argument is that effective deployment of human
resources depends on the application of a distinctive
combination of practices, or the use of a consistent set of human
resource practices. Additionally, Guest et al stress
that there is a plausible case that human resource management
will be more effective if it fits the business strategy of
the firm.
Again, according to Collins & Druten (2003) researchers have

produced compelling evidence for the causal link
between how people are managed and organisational
performance. They argue that the effectiveness of human
resource practices, particularly employee selection procedures,
performance appraisals, rewards and benefits
management, and employee training and development (the
matching model of HRM) often have a direct bearing on
organisational productivity and performance. Contributing to
this assertion, Schuler and Macmillan (1984) present
that, the result of effectively managing human resources is an
enhanced ability to attract and retain qualified
employees who are motivated to perform. To them, the benefits
of having the right employees motivated to perform
include greater profitability, low employee turnover, high
product quality, lower production costs, and more rapid
acceptance and implementation of corporate strategy. These
invariably lead to higher productivity.
2.1 Employee Recruitment and Selection and Corporate
Performance
Recruitment and selection involve getting the best applicant for
a job. Huselid (1995) notes that recruitment
procedures that provide a large pool of qualified applicants,
paired with a reliable and valid selection regime, will
have a substantial influence over the quality and type of skills
new employees possess. Mullins (1999) also points
out that the important thing is for some suitable plan to be used;
and that the plan is appropriate to the essential or
desired characteristics of the candidate. It is also necessary to
comply with all legal requirements relating to
employment and equal opportunities, to follow recommended
codes of practice and to ensure justice and fair
treatment for all applicants. Bohlander, Snell & Sherman (2001)
indicate that it is important for managers to
understand the objectives, policies and practices used for

selection. In that way, they can be highly involved in the
process from the very beginning. Those responsible for making
selection decisions should have adequate
information upon which to base their decisions. Robbins (1991)
further observes that an organisation’s human
resource policies and practices represent important forces for
shaping employee behaviour and attitudes. The
selection practices will determine who is hired. If properly
designed, it will identify competent candidates and
accurately match them to the job. The use of the proper
selection device will increase the probability that the right
person will be chosen to fill a slot. When the best people are
selected for the job, productivity increases. Thus the
first hypothesis states that:
H1: Effective recruitment and selection practices have a
positive effect on corporate performance.
2.2 Performance Appraisal and Corporate Performance
The process of performance management, according to Mullins
(1999), involves a continuous judgement on the
behaviour and performance of staff. It is important that
employees know exactly what is expected of them, and the
yardstick by which their performance and results will be
measured. A formalised and systematic appraisal scheme
will enable a regular assessment of the individual’s
performance, highlight potential and identify training and
development needs. Most importantly, an effective appraisal
scheme can improve the future performance of staff.
The appraisal scheme can also form the basis for a review of
financial rewards and planned career progression.

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Bohlander et al (2001) suggest the following steps in
conducting a performance appraisal: scheduling, preparing for
the review and conducting the review. Scheduling the review
involves notifying the employee ten days or two weeks
in advance; asking the employee to prepare for the session by
reviewing his or her performance, job objectives and
development goals; and clearly stating that this will be the
formal annual performance appraisal. Preparing for the
review entails reviewing the performance documentation
collected throughout the year while concentrating on work
patterns that have developed; being prepared to give specific
examples of above or below average performance;
when performance falls short of expectations, determining what
changes need to be made. If performance meets or
exceeds expectations, discussing this and planning how to
reinforce it; after the appraisal is written, setting it aside
for a few days and then reviewing it again; and following
whatever steps are required by the organisation’s
performance appraisal system.
According to Waal (2007), there is a clear and strong relation
between organisational performance and the attention
given to performance management and employee appraisal. The
chances of actually achieving the objectives of the
organisation are considerably improved when all management
levels are in line with each other. In addition, this
ensures that all organisation members know what is important
for the organisation and what is expected from them.
Everybody works under the same clear-structured regime. Waal
further points out that, since the assessment and
reward criteria are related to the strategic objectives of the

organisation, it means that these human resource tools
directly support the achievement of the organisational strategy.
Therefore, the second hypothesis of this study is:
H2: Effective performance appraisal has a positive effect on
corporate performance.
2.3 Employee Rewards and Benefits Management and Corporate
Performance
Reward and benefits management, according to Armstrong
(2006), is concerned with the formulation and
implementation of strategies and policies, the purposes of which
are to reward people fairly, equitably and
consistently in accordance with their value to the organisation
and thus help the organisation to achieve its strategic
goals. It deals with systems (reward processes, practices and
procedures) that aim to meet the needs of both the
organisation and its stakeholders. Armstrong further presents
that the philosophy of reward management recognises
that if human resource management is about investing in human
capital from which a reasonable return is required,
then it is proper to reward people differently, according to their
contribution (i.e. the return on investment they
generate). Additionally, the philosophy of reward management
also recognises that it must be strategic in the sense
that it addresses longer-term issues relating to how people
should be valued for what they do and what they achieve.
Reward strategies and the processes that are required to
implement them have to flow from the business strategies.
Therefore, rewarding will be affected by the business and the
human resource strategies of the organisation, the
significance attached to reward matters by top management, and
the internal and external environment of the
organisation. Armstrong (2006) further explains that the

external environment includes the levels of pay in the
labour market and submits that a reward system should consist
of policies that provide guidelines on approaches to
managing rewards; practices that provide financial and non
financial rewards, and processes concerned with
evaluating the relative size of jobs (job evaluation) and
assessing individual performance (performance
management). A reward system should also consist of
procedures operated in order to maintain the system so as to
ensure that it operates efficiently and flexibly, and provides
value for money. The reward strategy should set out
what the organisation intends to do in the longer term to
develop and implement reward policies, practices and
processes that will further the achievement of its business goals.
Waal (2007) suggests that, an employee’s ability to see the
connection between his or her work and the
organisation’s strategic objective is a driver of positive
behaviour. This clarity is achieved by formulating and using
personal objectives derived from strategy. Furthermore,
uncertainty about the assessment criteria used for review
and reward purposes also diminishes because employees know
beforehand which criteria will be used. The
identification of functional objectives and competencies helps
improve the quality of the development of function
descriptions and competency profiles. This will eventually
result in better qualified and skilled personnel in the right
positions. Finally, Waal is of the opinion that the
implementation of personal objectives, personal targets and
clear
assessment criteria linked with a flexible reward structure, can
lead to a positive cultural change. The commitment
of employees to achieve the objectives of the organisation
increases. Standards of what is good and what is wrong
also become clear and consistent with each other. These
ultimately lead to greater productivity and improved

performance. Following from this, the third hypothesis of the
study is that:
H3: Effective rewards and benefits management has a positive
effect on corporate performance.
2.4 Training and Development and Corporate Performance
Training, according to Armstrong (2006) “is the use of
systematic and planned instruction activities to promote
learning” (p. 575). It involves the use of formal processes to
impart knowledge and help people acquire the skills
necessary for them to perform their jobs satisfactorily. The
focus of training is on practical skills and is concerned
with applying and implementing techniques and processes.
Therefore, training is investing in people to enable them
to perform well and empower them to make the best use of their
natural abilities. The objectives of training, as
identified by Armstrong are to develop the skills and
competences of employees to improve their performance; to
help people grow within the organisation in order for the
organisation to meet its future human resource needs; to
reduce the learning time for employees on appointment, transfer
or promotion, and ensure that they become fully
competent.
Development, according to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright
(2004), means learning that is not necessarily

related to the employee’s current job. Instead, development
prepares employees for other positions in the
organisation and increases their ability to move into jobs that
may not yet exist. Development may also help
employees prepare for changes in their current jobs, such as
changes resulting from new technology, work designs
or customers. Development therefore is about preparing for
change in the form of new jobs, new responsibilities, or
new requirements. Noe et al further reiterate that employee
development is a necessary effort of a company to
improve quality and to meet the challenges of global
competition and social change.
Lundy et al (2004) also observe that there is no all-embracing
concept that brings together the processes of
education, learning, training and development. However, it must
be clear that they are inextricably linked. They
share many common principles, e.g., learning theories,
assessment and evaluation, and design of programmes, and
so there is the need for synthesis. Lundy et al further reiterate
that each individual matures over a lifetime and that
development is the process, which can enable employees to
reach a personal full potential. Development is therefore,
for the most part, long term in focus. Education contributes to
each individual’s development by facilitating the
attainment of mental powers, character and socialisation, as
well as specific knowledge and skills.
Huselid (1995) also notes that providing formal and informal
training experiences, such as basic skills training,
on-the-job experience, coaching, mentoring and management
development can further influence employees’
development and hence, their performance. Training, when well
done, will reflect in productivity, that is,
productivity will increase, there will be reduction in accidents
on the job and in the end profits of the organisation

would be maximized; the ultimate goal of every employer.
Dessler (2003) also sums up how training and
development influences corporate performance by arguing that
developing human capital through continuing
training may increase the productive output from each employee
either through improvement in skill level or
through improvement in morale and job satisfaction.
Consequently, the fourth hypothesis of this study is that:
H4: Training and development have a positive effect on
corporate performance.
3. Methodology
The most common method of generating primary data is through
survey (Zikmund 1999). He defines a survey as a
research technique in which information is gathered from a
sample of people through a questionnaire. Thus, because
of the need to generate primary data to achieve the objectives of
this study, survey research was adopted.
In addition, this study adopted the case study method.
Kumekpor (2002) observes that case studies provide
precedence as well as a source of reference for future cases. It
also helps track the root cause of an issue or problem
to a number of, hitherto, unsuspected factors and may result in
probing into real meanings of phenomenon likely to
be otherwise overlooked. Case studies also help in developing
analytical and problem solving skills and allows for
further exploration of solutions for complex issues. The method
is also useful for research, especially in cases where
the subject matter is of a unique nature rather than the normal
or expected conditions. Because of the usefulness of
the case study method, as enumerated above, the uniqueness of
the circumstances of GCGL, and the fact that there is
no clear single set of outcome on how specific HR practices

impact on performance, the case study method of data
collection was used for this study.
3.1 Population and Sample
The target population was the permanent workers of GCGL who
number four hundred and sixty, and approximately
three hundred of which are at the corporate Head office, which
also houses the production plant. Simple random
sampling was used to select 100 head office employees, made
up of junior and senior staff. This was because given
the circumstances, mainly time constraints and employees’
willingness to answer the questionnaire; it was the only
practical way of gathering the needed data for the research.
3.2 Data Collection
In gathering data, self-administered questionnaires were used to
gather information from the employees. The
rationale for using self administered questionnaires was to
allow the respondents to answer at their own pace
without taking them away from their work. In answering the
questionnaire, the respondents were asked to indicate
their responses to the questions on a five point Likert scale,
ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
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The respondents had to indicate whether they strongly disagree,
disagree, are neutral, agree or strongly agree to the

question posed. The questionnaire was in seven segments.
Segment A captured information about the respondents
such as information regarding their department, whether they
are junior, senior or management staff, their age, and
length of service with the company. Segment B captured
information on the company’s recruitment and selection
practices while segment C was on performance appraisal.
Segment D tackled questions on the remuneration while
segment E concentrated on training and development issues.
Segments F and G were on human resource
management practices and corporate performance issues
respectively.
4. Results and Discussions
The study adopted the quantitative technique using the SPSS
package in the analysis of information collected. The
analysis involved the use of percentages and t-test to generate
insights, make inferences and draw conclusions about
the relationship that exists between HR practices and corporate
performance.
4.1 Preliminary Analysis
Analyses of the demographic characteristics of respondents
indicate that, 29% of them were females while 71%
were males. Even though the sex of the respondents was skewed
toward males, this imbalance is representative of
the company’s workforce as in Ghana, the majority of
organizations are dominated by men, particularly when it
includes a manufacturing plant. Moreover, 12% of the
respondents are in the Audit department while 21% are in the
Marketing department. 23% of respondents are employed in the
Newspaper department, 16% and 18% in the
Finance and Technical department respectively while 10% are
employed in the HR department. Furthermore, 43%

of the respondents fall within the age of 26 years to 35 years,
while 33% are within the ages of 36 years to 45 years.
Moreover, 41% had been employed for 5 years or less while
24% had worked with the company for between 6 to 10
years. The results indicate the youthfulness of workforce of the
GCGL. This is expected considering the fact that the
GCGL has undergone restructuring in 2003.
4.2 Hypothesis Testing
The t test was used to test the hypotheses between the human
resource management practices and corporate
performance. The results are depicted in Table 1.
Place table here
The first hypothesis tested the effect of recruitment and
selection practices on corporate performance. The t-test
gives a positive figure of 8.252. In addition, the probability
value (p-value) of the relationship between recruitment
and corporate performance is 0.000. This value is substantially
smaller than the specified alpha value of 0.05. Thus,
the test of the hypothesis confirms that effective recruitment
and selection practices have a positive effect on
GCGL’s corporate performance. This positive significant
relationship means that GCGL should always ensure that
the best candidate is recruited whenever vacancies arise, thus
minimising employee ineffectiveness and its
associated costs.
In testing the effect of performance appraisal practices on
corporate performance, the t-test yields 7.790 and the
probability value (p-value) of the relationship between
performance appraisal and corporate performance is 0.000.
Because the t-test is positive and the p-value is 0.000, lower
than the level of significance, it shows that that

effective performance appraisal practices have a positive effect
on GCGL’s corporate performance. The results may
be that employees of GCGL are satisfied with the performance
appraisal system and therefore will always strive to
bring out the best in terms of their contribution to financial
performance.
The t-test for the third hypothesis yields a result of -1.042 and a
p-value of 0.300 which is greater than the alpha
value of 0.05. This suggests that it cannot be concluded that
effective reward and benefits management has a
positive effect on corporate performance. In effect, the research
did not observe evidence to support the hypothesis
that effective reward and benefits management practices have a
positive effect on GCGL’s corporate performance.
As the review of the literature showed, research has established
that although the value of a company’s human
resource assets may not show up directly on its balance sheet, it
nevertheless, has tremendous impact on an
organisation’s performance. These findings attest to the view
expressed by Stup et al (2005) that the relationships
between firm level performance and HRM are complex and not
always positive and also in public organisations
remunerations are usually not commensurate with output.
The fourth hypothesis examined the effect of training and
development on corporate performance. The t-test yields a
result of -0.650 and a p-value of 0.517. This suggests that it
cannot be concluded that effective training and
development practices have a positive effect on corporate
performance. In effect, the research did not observe
evidence to support the hypothesis that effective training and
development practices have a positive effect on
GCGL’s corporate performance. This may be because GCGL is
a public organisation and therefore although
workers go through training and development programmes they

are not motivated to apply what they have learnt as
promotion is may also be based on long service not on output.
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
In sum, GCGL’s financial performance could be explained by
its effective recruitment and selection practices and
performance appraisal practices. As the review of the literature
showed, research has established that although the
value of a company’s human resource assets may not show up
directly on its balance sheet, it nevertheless, has
tremendous impact on an organisation’s performance. However,
there was insufficient evidence to show that
GCGL’s remuneration practices as well as its training and
development practices contribute positively towards its
corporate performance, as perceived by the respondents.
Based on the findings of this research, it is recommended that
the management of GCGL continues to ensure that the
HR policy, which is a result of the corporate strategy to use
human resource, among others, to achieve outstanding
performance every year, is upheld. In addition, copies of the HR
policy should be made available to all employees to
ensure widespread dissemination and application of the policies.
Management should continue to ensure that the
recruitment and selection process is, and seen to be fair. There
should be measures that will ensure that all
recruitment and selection practices adhere to the standards and
policies of the company since effective recruitment

and selection practices will ensure positive financial returns for
the company, either through ensuring effectiveness
on the part of employees, or minimisation of costs associated
with training and retraining of employees.
The management of GCGL should also ensure that performance
appraisal is taken seriously and policy standards
rigorously adhered to because this study has established that
there is a clear and strong relation between its
performance and the attention given to performance
management and employee appraisal. Management must also
ensure that training and development programmes are relevant
for current and future employee performance on the
job. Training and development programmes must therefore be
strategically planned. Further, management must
ensure that there is a fair balance between financial and non-
financial rewards when designing, reviewing and
implementing a reward strategy.
6. Limitations and Directions for Future Research
This research is subject to the usual limitations of survey
research. First, the research focused on a single
organisation and only four human resource management
practices. Secondly the respondents were only based at the
head office and not the other regions where the firm has
branches. Finally, the research did not gather enough
evidence to conclude on the effect of some HRM practices on
corporate performance. Thus, future research could
also be replicated to other sectors, including a comparison
between the private and public sector. In addition, the
research framework and hypothesis developed for this study
could be expanded to include the influence of other HR
practices and environmental factors on corporate performance.
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Table 1. Effects of Human Resource Management Practices on
Corporate Performance
Human resource practices and corporate performance Mean
Standard
deviation
Standard error
of mean
t value p value (two
tailed)
Recruitment and selection and corporate performance 5.330
6.459 0.646 8.252 0.000
Performance appraisal and corporate performance 4.560 5.854
0.585 7.790 0.000
Rewards and benefits and corporate performance -.620 5.952
0.595 1.042 0.300
Training and development and corporate performance -0.410

6.310 0.631 -0.65 0.517
Assignment-W2
Three different research papers will be given to students (from
their area). Students are asked to write a critical review of
literature as per the research papers given to them.
Q1) Use your notes to conduct a critical review of literature in
the selected papers.
Q2) What do you understand by referencing and what are its
different styles?
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications,
Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2014 1
ISSN 2250-3153
www.ijsrp.org
Word of Mouth and Its Impact on Marketing
Fatima Naz
Department of Business Studies, Kinnaird College for Women
Lahore, 93-Jail Road Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract- As a result different aims were drawn; the initial aim
of
this research is to study the attention of the customers in word
of

mouth to power their online purchasing activities. The next aim
is to analyze the people influenced by interest of word of
mouth.
The following aim is to examine the marketing behavior bearing
in mind the internet progress and word of mouth, their
consideration for word of mouth marketing.
In the form of research questions the aims of study are:
information about online purchasing experience?
h phenomenon and
how they handle it?
Index Terms- Belief, Power, Inspiration, Self expression,
Positive attitude to online marketing, Forwarding of contents,
Purchasing decision and Standard marketing.
I. INTRODUCTION
xact from the start, humans have constantly communicated
with each other, sharing and talking about everything,

everywhere any time. In this mode, it is really easy to share
point
of views, experiences, disagreements, or constant advices and to
build up informal communications. Therefore, people can easily
explain their last experience without any trouble and give their
experience about the product, the website, the eminence of the
service etc. The past thirty years have seen the fast progress of
the Internet and the different way to communicate with each
other building sharing of information easier and more efficient.
Within a high-speed moving globe and in our modern customer
society, where everything is altering rapidly, where products
and
services are fast becoming out of date, and where firms suggest
to the customers an ever more diverse collection of products
and
services, customers need to face the brutal competition that
engages companies to magnetize customers. Consumer buying
behavior is becoming more observant what they buy. (Lange&
Elliot, 2012). Even if most of the time they will license the
cheapest ones with the top quality, it is not actually simple to

be
sure that it is the good one. People gather concerning
information
and opinions about product from people before purchasing.
(Attia et al, 2012)
‘’Word-of-mouth is defined as any positive or negative
statement made by customers experiences about a product or
company, which is made available to a mass of people and
institutions using the Internet (Hennig- et .al. 2004). Word of
Mouth (WOM) can also be clear as the method of
communication between two noncommercial people and without
benefit in the business they are talking about (Taylor et. al,
2012)
Following consuming the product, more and more
consumers are keen to response, creating an exchange of
information between consumers and increasing more and more
the Word-of-Mouth fact. Appreciation to the Internet,
consumers
have the widest likely cause of information to be successful in
this way. A bundle of blogs, forums and social networking

websites in the World Wide Web present customers the means
of
getting and sharing this kind of information (Chu & Kim, 2011).
Thus, the Word-of-Mouth trend developed firstly through Face-
to-face communication's way is now also available by means of
all the technologies together with the Internet, most important
consumers to the e-Word-of Mouth trend (Fakharyan&Elyasi,
2012). The Internet enhanced the technique to be in touch with
people around you or around the world. Online word-of-mouth
became more admired with better use of online social network
tools such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Communication
vehicles such as face-to-face connections, phones, mobile
devices, and even e-mails are replaced by social networks (Ho,
J.
Y., & Dempsey 2010).
Marketing is a significant division of the companies'
strategies. These strategies are more and more inventive and
disturbing in people lives. Currently, Word-of-Mouth is also a
great aspect in marketing and more above all in e-Marketing.

The
diverse tools used by marketers in order to pass on information
to
likely customers are present everywhere on the Web, from
advertisements to opinion on blogs or forums. (Hung & Li,
2007). Whether companies like it or not, people chat online
about
a variety of products and services. Companies frequently are not
successful in trying to stop public online discussions of their
products by limitation the use of their company names and
brands in discussion groups (Huang, J. H., & Chen, Y. F,
2006).WOM also called E-WOM (Electronic Word of Mouth)
can be originating in effective communities: consumer reviews,
blogs, forums, and social networks (Yi-Wen Fan & Yi-Feng
Miao 2012). Communal norms or opinions in the effective
communities affect approval of eWOM, mainly between regular
internet users (Kozinets, et. al. 2010).
It is ever harder to make a choice to purchase a computer
or
even a coffee machine. Many people take friend’s advices and

remain alert of all the substitutes given to them. Many analysts
say that the person can make the accurate and stable decision
(Ren et al, 2013). Most persons found that social set-ups have a
greater influence on others than themselves, and that third
person
influence undesirably on individual’s behavioral aim related to
word of mouth communication (Cengiz& Yayla,2007).. Online
word of mouth occurs just among few people, but a message is
sent by people on various discussion platforms where many
other
users notice it directly.
E
ISSN 2250-3153
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II. LITERATURE REVIEW & HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT
Early studies on WOM have shown that it has an important

impact on customer decisions (Allsopet al.2007), and helps to
present a good post-purchase wakefulness. Word-of-Mouth
might have different kinds of special effects in the present
world.
Initially, it could be optimistic or unconstructive effects.
Secondly, it could have an effect on the product, the brand, the
service or even the employees' performance within the company
(McGriff, J. A, 2012). Word-of-Mouth's effects might have
dissimilar targets. A successful product sharing could be
affected
by positive word of mouth and lack of negative word of mouth
(Mcgriff, J. A, 2012). An additional target could be the entrance
of a brand in a fresh market. If the brand has not a good
representation by the Word-of-Mouth distribution, it will be
really hard for the company to set off its products and services
in
this fresh market.
In the earlier period, online shopping has crossed the
space
to become primarily well-known, particularly among the little

and wealthy (Chai, S., & Kim, M, 2010). Nonetheless, due to
the
quality concerns and other customer supposed risks (Thorson
&Rodgers, 2006), the challenges of e-shopping, mostly with
respect to awareness and doubt, have begun to surface (Sharma
&Arroyo, 2012). Consumers who want to purchase products
from online markets, they need positive, dependable, and honest
evaluation about products. Online systems and electronic-Word-
of-Mouth (e-WOM) help customers make such up to date
decisions.
At present new technologies are all over the place around
us. These new technologies altered our way to communicate and
to interconnect with people. People now use more technology
platforms such as email, chitchat, phone or social networking
websites (Herr et. al. 1991) than previous to, when they used
face-to-face communication or mails. Usability of these
technologies makes them more eye-catching and facilitates
people's communication. The communication's technology,

which is the most motivating for Word-of-Mouth, is the social
networking websites in World Wide Web. These kinds of
websites could be finding in the form of blogs, forums or
personal pages such as Facebook or MySpace (Vilpponen et al
2006). They are typically created by some people who broaden
the site to their own personal networks and steadily the number
of people following and concerned in this site grows up
(Thurauet. al. 2009). (Brown et. al.2007) studied the impact for
an individual to control another individual by social networking
websites. They accomplished in the importance of this
technology to share out an idea from individual to individual
and
then from this individual to one more individual. Furthermore
they ended that someone with few friends will have a better
impact on his friends when he will pass on a message than
someone with a lot of friends (Brown et. al. 2007).
In corporation, a significant effect of Word-of-Mouth is
the
customer purchase (Osmonbekovet. al. 2009). From short-range

effect to lasting effect, Word-of-Mouth communication is a
good
way for enterprises to catch the attention of new customers. It is
achievable to measure it thanks to Word-of-Mouth referrals and
to the sign-up processes (Thurauet. al. 2009). If customers
never
heard about a brand or if they never thought to buy a product or
a
service by this brand, the actuality that some connections
suggest
this brand to them will most likely affect their behavior and
guide them to choose this brand over another one. A lot of
people
seek out recommendation from other people before buying
something. The first persons that you will talk with are family
members, and then you will give more response to someone
with
experience and information in this field. The persons most
affected by this are people in towering uncertainty-avoidance
culture (Osmonbekov.et. al. 2010), who need to be more at
easiness and who will ask advice from their dependable
relatives.

One of the strongest networks of communication in the market
is
word of mouth (Allsop et al). Word-of-Mouth has a dissimilar
impacting people that are without a fundamental knowledge of
this part of business .When you do not have any experience in a
part of business you will be more biased by someone who will
tell you something positive or negative about a picky brand.
(Goldsmith, R. E., & Horowitz, D 2006).Alternatively if you
have your own standard brand you will be less tempted by
another brand that a comparative advises you to purchase.
Though Word-of-Mouth communication about the brand that
you
are usually using is negative you will be perhaps extra affected.
H1:Customer perceived belief, power; inspiration in their
links is absolutely associated to their engagement in WOM
behaviors in making decision on the basis of marketing
H2: The self-expression of WOMmessage has a straight
positive outcome on the possibility that the message will be

mutual with others.
H3: High (versus low) perceived WOM interactivity will
give way further positive attitudes to the online marketing i.e.
website, impressions of the applicant, and voting intentions.
H4:The need to belong will positively affect the
forwarding
of Contents through all possible means of communications i.e.
electronic media, print media, social media etc.
H5: Word of mouth positively affects the purchasing
decision and standard marketing
III. METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research design:
Impact of word of mouth on purchasing behavior of
communities will be seen in this research. And for that
descriptive study will be done on consume attitudes and
behaviors in relation to shopping, personal productivity,
advertising, and entertainment.

ISSN 2250-3153
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3.2 Population and sampling:
To confirm that the sample selected is representative of
the
population, stratified sampling will be used in this research
where the population will be broken down into categories, and a
random sample will be taken from each category. For this study,
a well-designed questionnaire will be exercised. The
questionnaires will direct to 150 respondents constituting the
sample size.
3.3 Data collection:
Data will be collected through the use of primary or
secondary sources. Primary research design will be included
both
quantitate and qualitative method ie structured questionnaire
and

unstructured interview will be conducted. Questionnaire will
help
to view the public opinion more broadly. Interview will give an
excellent result due to respondent’s expertise experiences.
Secondary data will be included help taken from articles,
research papers, blogs, etc. related to word of mouth impact on
purchasing behavior of online communities.
3.4 Procedures and measures:
The questionnaire will be circulated to different
respondent.
The respondents will be from two different ecommerce
websites.
The interview questions would be like marketing behavior of
company, word of mouth impact on overall marketing, changes
in marketing due to awareness of internet. Questionnaires
would
be like how customer responds to changes of new
product/services. The second questions would be like customers
are satisfied from marketing purchasing experience, the last part
would be like how customer perceive word of mouth, and they

can give any additional comment regarding word of mouth
online purchasing behavior. Responses will be used to test the
hypothesis
The respondents will be given four options to choose one
from 4.ordinal scale will be used and Likert scale will be used
whether they agree or disagree with the statements.
IV. CONCLUSION
Impact of word of mouth on marketing arises due to social
media where people see comments of the people who did
shopping from such places. They see whether or not it would be
effective for them to buy such things or not.so maketers become
aware of people choices now and they try to improve or produce
better quality,due to customers loyalty.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We authors would like to thank respected Dr.Fareeha Zafar
for her valuable guidance through understanding of subject and
professional guidance which help us in the completion of this

term paper.
REFERENCES
[1] Allsop, D. T., Bassett, B. R., & Hoskins, J. A. (2007).
Word-of-mouth
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[2] Attia, A. M., Aziz, N., & Friedman, B. A. (2012). The
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Review of
Business Research, 2, 91-108.
[3] Brown, J., Broderick, A. J., & Lee, N. (2007). Word of
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communication within online communities: Conceptualizing the
online
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[4] Cengiz, E., &Yayla, H. E. (2007). The effect of marketing
mix on positive
word of mouth communication: Evidence from accounting
offices in
Turkey. Innovative Marketing, 3(4), 73-86.
[5] Chai, S., & Kim, M. (2010). What makes bloggers share
knowledge? An
investigation on the role of trust. International Journal of
Information
Management, 30(5), 408-415.

[6] Chu, S. C., & Kim, Y. (2011). Determinants of consumer
engagement in
electronic word-of-mouth (ewom) in social networking sites.
International
Journal of Advertising, 30(1), 47-75.
[7] Fakharyan, M., Reza, M., &Elyasi, M. (2012). The influence
of online word
of mouth communications on tourists’ attitudes Howard Islamic
destinations and travel intention: Evidence from Iran. African
Journal of
Business Management, 6(33), 9533-9542.
[8] Fan, Y. W., & Miao, Y. F. (2012). Effect of electronic word-
of-mouth on
consumer purchase intention: The perspective of gender
differences.
International Journal of Electronic Business Management,
10(3), 175.
[9] Goldsmith, R. E., & Horowitz, D. (2006). Measuring
motivations for online
opinion seeking. Journal of interactive advertising, 6(2), 1-16.
[10] Hennig-, T., Gwinner, K. P., Walsh, G., &Gremler, D. D.
(2004). Electronic
word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates
consumers
to articulate themselves on the internet?.Journal of interactive
marketing,
18(1), 38-52.
[11] Hennig-, T., Malthouse, E. C., Friege, C., Gensler, S.,
Lobschat, L.,
Rangaswamy, A., &Skiera, B. (2010). The impact of new media
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customer relationships. Journal of Service Research, 13(3), 311-
330.
[12] Herr, P. M., Kardes, F. R., & Kim, J. (1991). Effects of
word-of-mouth and
product-attribute information on persuasion: An accessibility-
diagnosticity
perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 454-462.
[13] Huang, J. H., & Chen, Y. F. (2006). Herding in online
product choice.
Psychology & Marketing, 23(5), 413-428
[14] Hung, K. H., & Li, S. Y. (2007). The influence of eWOM
on virtual
consumer communities: Social capital, consumer learning, and
behavioral
outcomes. Journal of Advertising Research, 47(4), 485.
[15] J. Y., & Dempsey, M. (2010). Viral marketing: Motivations
to forward
online content. Journal of Business Research, 63(9), 1000-1006.
[16] Kozinets, R. V., De Valck, K., Wojnicki, A. C., &Wilner,
S. J. (2010).
Networked narratives: Understanding word-of-mouth marketing
in online
communities. Journal of marketing, 74(2), 71-89.
ISSN 2250-3153

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[17] Lange-Faria, W., & Elliot, S. (2012). Understanding the
role of social media
in destination marketing. Tourismos. An International
Multidisciplinary
Journal of Tourism, 7(1).
[18] Mcgriff, J. A. (2012). A conceptual topic in marketing
management: the
emerging need for protecting and managing brand equity: the
case of online
consumer brand boycotts. International Management Review,
8(1), 49-54.
[19] Ren, L. C., Wu, M., & Lu, J. T. (2013). Research on the
Classification of
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Science
Issues,10(1),1694-0814
[20] Sharma, R. S., Morales-Arroyo, M., &Pandey, T. (2012).
The Emergence of
Electronic Word-of-Mouth as a Marketing Channel for the
Digital
Marketplace. Journal of Information, Information Technology,
and
Organizations, 6, 2011-2012.
[21] T. W., Osmonbekov, T., &Czaplewski, A. J. (2006).
eWOM: The impact of
customer-to-customer online know-how exchange on customer
value and
loyalty. Journal of Business research, 59(4), 449-456.
[22] Taylor, D. G., Strutton, D., & Thompson, K. (2012). Self-

Enhancement as a
Motivation for Sharing Online Advertising. Journal of
interactive
marketing, 12(2), 28.
[23] Thorson, K. S., & Rodgers, S. (2006). Relationships
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Journal of Interactive Advertising, 6(2), 39-50
[24] Vilpponen, A., Winter, S., &Sundqvist, S. (2006).
Electronic word-of-
mouth in online environments: exploring referral network
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adoption behavior. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 6(2), 71-
86.
AUTHORS
First Author – Fatima Naz, Department of Business Studies
Kinnaird College for Women Lahore, 93-Jail Road Lahore,
Pakistan. Tel: +92-42-9203788
Week 2
The Sources of Information

RES 500 Academic Writing and Research Skills
1
Reading, Note-taking and guarding against plagiarism
Any study involve reading what other have written about your
area of interest, gathering information to support your
arguments and writing about your findings.
Much reading about research topic may give ideas about the
research others have done and their approach and methods.
The bulk of reading should come early on in the investigation.
Make notes of what seem to you to be important issues and
highlight them.
Make it quite clear in notes which is the quotation and which is
paraphrase.
Plagiarism is using other people’s words as if they are your
own.

2
Reading, Note-taking and guarding against plagiarism Cont…
Important to acknowledged, including paraphrases of other
people’s words and of other people’s ideas.
Ensure never use other people’s words or ideas as your own
without acknowledgement in note-taking and in recording exact
details of references.
Ask yourself whether you can trust what you read.
What does the research/report/document actually say, and what
evidence is provided to support the findings?
3
Referencing
There are several perfectly acceptable ways of recording
sources of other information.

For books (APA)
Author’s surname and forename or initials.
Date of publication.
Title (underlined or italics) and which edition, if appropriate.
Place of publication.
Name of publisher
For example:
May, Tim (2001) Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process,
3rd ed. Buckingham: Open University Press.
4
For journal articles (APA)
Referencing Cont…
The author’s surname, forename or initials and the date of
publication. After that
The title of the article (sometimes in inverted commas,
sometimes not);
The title of the journal from which the article or chapter is
derived (generally underlined or in italics, though again, not
always);
The volume number of the journal, the issue and page numbers.
For example, for a journal article:
Whitehead, N. (2003) ‘Herbal remedies: integration into
conventional medicine’, Nursing Times, 99(34): 30–33.
For chapters in books (APA)
Wragg, T. (2002) ‘Interviewing’, in M. Coleman and A.R.J.

Briggs (eds) Research Methods in Educational Leadership and
Management. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
5
For conference proceedings (APA)
Bickman, L., & Ellis, H. (Eds.). (1990). Preparing psychologists
for the 21st century: Proceedings of the National Conference on
Graduate Education in Psychology, University of Utah, 1988.
Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum.
Creating, editing and storing references
Software such as EndNote, ProCite and Reference Manager are
used these days to keep track of references.
EndNote gives the facility to create, store, organize, retrieve
and cite references in our reports.
Its library (database) holds more than 30,000 references and it
allows us to search and manage the online
bibliographic databases.
Cards have less weight and cost, fit comfortably into a pocket
and can be used anytime.
Methods used by other researchers may give you ideas about
how you might organize and categorize your own data.
6

Refining your search
The library search
Consult your library catalogue and the library web page.
Library web pages give information about:
Passwords
Information about the databases and journals subscribed.
Copyright regulations relating to the use of electronic resources
Books
Book titles can be misleading, but the contents lists will give
you a good idea of what the books are really about and the
language used.
Photocopy the list of references/bibliographies at the end of
books.
Note possible keywords and add a note to remind you where you
found the book.
7
Refining your search Cont…
Journals

Look at the list of contents at the front of the journals, read
abstracts and make a note of any interesting items and possible
keywords.
Take a photocopy of lists of references and, if copyright
conditions permit.
Some search engines may accept phrases; others will not.
Individual and grouped keywords
Two important search engines are Yahoo
(http://search.yahoo.com/) and Google Scholar
(http://www.scholar.google.com/).
Note the URL and add it to the ‘Favorites' list in your computer
so you can find it again, if necessary.
8
Copyright and licensing restrictions
Be careful about copyright and licensing restrictions.
Database helplines should inform you what you can download,
print and use, and what you cannot.
Focusing your keywords
Not finding useful results, try alternative keywords.
If some items relate to journal articles, the name of the journals
are generally given.
9

Top ten guide to searching the Internet
1. Give yourself plenty of time.
2. Be optimistic.
3. Be prepared with search limiters.
4. Know your search engines.
5. When you find something do not lose it!
6. Do not underestimate the news.
7. Avoid spam.
8. Networking – the old-fashioned type.
9. Referencing.
10. Patience and persistence!
10
Literature Review
The literature review section examines:
Recent (or historically significant) research studies.
Company or industry reports act as a basis for the proposed
study.

It begins with discussion of the related literature and relevant
secondary data moving to more specific studies that are
associated with your problem.
It might reveal that the sponsor can answer the management
question with a secondary data search rather than the collection
of primary data.
Literature review is integral part of entire research process.
11
Literature Review Cont…
Avoid extraneous details of the literature.
Do a brief review of the information.
Always refer to the original source.
If find something of interest in a quotation, find the original
publication.
Emphasize on important results, conclusions, relevant data,
trends and particular methods or designs that could be
duplicated or should be avoided.
Literature review helps to explain emerging results.
12

Discussion should be done on the following with in the
literature review process:
How the literature applies to the study you are proposing.
Discuss the weaknesses or faults in the design.
How you are going to avoid similar problems.
At the completion summaries the important aspects and
interpretate them in terms of your problem.
Explain the need for the proposed work.
13
A literature review tells about:
What procedures and methods used by other similar to the ones
that you are proposing.
Which procedures and methods have worked well for them.
What problems they have faced.
Thus, making us in a better position to select a methodology
that is capable of providing valid answers to our research
questions.
14

References
15
1. Business Research Methods by Donald R Cooper, 12th
Edition.
Chapter 20 - Presenting Insights and Findings: Oral
Presentations, PP 538-574
2. Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time
Researchers in Education, Health and Social Science, 5th
Edition
Chapter 4 - Reading, referencing and the Management of
information, PP 65-86
Chapter 5 - Literature Searching, PP 87-103

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