Positive with Strangers, Negative with Friends: How Interpersonal Closeness Affects Word-of-Mouth Valence through Self-Construal

Three experiments show that the closer consumers feel to a message recipient, the greater the likelihood that they will share negative relative to positive word-of-mouth. We attribute this effect to high vs. low interpersonal closeness activating interdependent vs. independent self-construal and subsequently affecting information sharing.