推薦獎勵計畫是近年來企業常用的行銷手法，目的在於透過獎勵的方式來鼓勵現有顧客向其他消費者做推薦。本研究延續Ryu and Feick (2007)的研究，以醫美產業為研究對象，從推薦者的角度去探討推薦獎勵計畫中獎勵大小、獎勵類型和關係強度對消費者推薦意願的影響，並檢驗關係強度的調節效果。
我們採用2（強連結 vs. 弱連結）×2（大獎勵 vs. 小獎勵）×2（現金 vs. 禮物）的實驗設計，研究結果發現：強連結比弱連結有更高的推薦意願；在強連結的情況下，獎勵大小對推薦意願沒有顯著影響，但在弱連結的情況下，大獎勵比小獎勵能帶來更高的推薦意願。此外，在弱連結的情況下，獎勵類型對推薦意願的影響不顯著，而在強連結的情況下，以現金作為獎勵對於消費者的推薦意願有顯著提高。
因此，本研究建議企業在設計推薦獎勵計畫時，應將目標對象訂為熟客（即強連結），並針對弱連結提供較高價值的獎勵，才能有效提高顧客推薦意願。

Referral reward programs have been widely used as a means to encourage existing customers to make recommendations to others. Ryu and Feick (2007) examined how marketers can use incentives to stimulate word of mouth. We extend their study by examining how the different reward sizes, reward types, and tie strength influence customer referrals from the perspective of recommenders. In addition, we examine the moderating effect of tie strength between the company and the recommender.
We chose medical cosmetology industry as the experimental subjects. In order to test our research framework, we use a 2 (reward size: large vs. small) ×2 (reward type: money vs. gift) ×2 (tie strength: strong vs. weak) between-subjects design. We find that, in the strong tie condition, customers are more likely to recommend. There is no difference in the effect of reward sizes with strong ties. In contrast, with weak ties, an increase in reward size increases the referral likelihood. Furthermore, there is little difference in reward types with weak ties, while the referral likelihood is higher when the reward is money rather than gift with strong ties.
Based on our findings, companies could target regular customers (strong ties) when designing referral reward programs. Besides, offering larger rewards to weak ties will be more effective for increasing customer referrals.

Aggarwal, Pankaj (2004), “The effects of brand relationship norms on consumer attitudes and behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research, 31 (1), 87-101.
Anderson, Eugene W. (1998), “Customer Satisfaction and Word of Mouth,” Journal of Service Research, 1 (1), 5-17.
Arndt, Johan (1967), “Role of product-related conversations in the diffusion of a new product,” Journal of Marketing Research, 4 (3), 291-295.
Arrow, Kenneth J. (1972), “Gifts and exchanges,” Philosophy & Public Affairs, 1 (4), 343-362.
Biyalogorsky, Eyal, Eitan Gerstner, and Barak Libai (2001), “Customer referral management: Optimal reward programs,” Marketing Science, 20 (1), 82-95.
Blau, Peter Michael (1964), Exchange and power in social life. Transaction Publishers.
Bone, Paula Fitzgerald (1995), “Word-of-mouth effects on short-term and long-term product judgments,” Journal of Business Research, 32 (3), 213-223.
Brown, Jacqueline Johnson and Peter H. Reingen (1987), “Social ties and word-of-mouth referral behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research, 14 (3), 350-362.
Buttle, Francis A. (1998), “Word of mouth: understanding and managing referral marketing,” Journal of strategic marketing, 6 (3), 241-254.
Chandon, Pierre, Brian Wansink, and Gilles Laurent (2000), “A Benefit Congruency Framework of Sales Promotion Effectiveness,” Journal of Marketing, 64 (4), 65-81.
Chang, Hsin Hsin and Su Wen Chen (2009), “Consumer perception of interface quality, security, and loyalty in electronic commerce,” Information & Management, 46 (7), 411-417.
DeCarlo, Thomas E. (2005), “The effects of suspicion of ulterior motives and sales message on salesperson evaluation,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15 (3), 238−249.
Dichter, Ernest (1966), “How word-of-mouth advertising works,” Harvard Business Review, 44 (6), 147-160.
Dodds, William B., Kent B. Monroe, and Dhruv Grewal (1991), “Effects of Price, Brand, and Store Information on Buyers' Product Evaluations,” Journal of Marketing Research, 28 (3), 307-319.
Frenzen, Jonathan and Kent Nakamoto (1993), “Structure, cooperation, and the flow of market information,” Journal of Consumer Research, 20 (3), 360-375.
Garbarino, Ellen and Mark S. Johnson (1999), “The different roles of satisfaction, trust, and commitment in customer relationships,” Journal of Marketing, 63 (2), 70-87.
Gneezy, Uri and Aldo Rustichini (2000), “Pay enough or don't pay at all,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115 (3), 791-810.
Godes, David and Dina Mayzlin (2004), “Using online conversations to study word-of-mouth communication,” Marketing Science, 23 (4), 545-560.
Godes, David and Dina Mayzlin (2009), “Firm-created word-of-mouth communication: Evidence from a field test,” Marketing Science, 28 (4), 721-739.
Godes, David, Dina Mayzlin,Yubo Chen, Sanjiv Das, Chrysanthos Dellarocas, Bruce Pfeiffer, Barak Libai, Subrata Sen, Mengze Shi, and Peeter Verlegh (2005), “The firm's management of social interactions,” Marketing Letters, 16 (3-4), 415-428.
Granovetter, Mark S. (1973), “The strength of weak ties,” American journal of sociology, 78 (6), 1360-1380.
Grayson, Kent (2007), “Friendship versus Business in Marketing Relationships,” Journal of Marketing, 71 (4), 121-139.
Homans, George C. (1958), “Social behavior as exchange,” American journal of sociology, 63 (6), 597-606.
Jang, Dongsuk and Anna S. Mattila (2005), “An examination of restaurant loyalty programs: what kinds of rewards do customers prefer?,” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 17 (5), 402-408.
Johnson, Julie T., Hiram C. Barksdale Jr, and James S. Boles (2003), “Factors associated with customer willingness to refer leads to salespeople,” Journal of Business Research, 56 (4), 257-263.
Katona, George and Eva Mueller (1955), “A study of purchase decisions,” Consumer behavior: The dynamics of consumer reaction, 1, 74-75.
Katz, Elihu and Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (1970), Personal Influence, The part played by people in the flow of mass communications. Transaction Publishers.
Keh, Hean Tat and Yih Hwai Lee (2006), “Do reward programs build loyalty for services?: The moderating effect of satisfaction on type and timing of rewards,” Journal of Retailing, 82 (2), 127-136.
Kim, Byung-Do, Mengze Shi, and Kannan Srinivasan (2001), “Reward programs and tacit collusion,” Marketing Science,, 20 (2), 99-120.
Kivetz, Ran and Itamar Simonson (2002), “Earning the right to indulge: Effort as a determinant of customer preferences toward frequency program rewards,” Journal of Marketing Research, 39 (2), 155-170.
Kornish, Laura J. and Qiuping Li (2010), “Optimal referral bonuses with asymmetric information: Firm-offered and interpersonal incentives,” Marketing Science, 29 (1), 108-121.
Leonard-Barton, Dorothy (1985), “Experts as negative opinion leaders in the diffusion of a technological innovation,” Journal of Consumer Research, 11 (4), 914-926.
Libai, Barak, Katherine N. Lemon,andJohn E. Hogan (2004), “Quantifying the ripple: Word-of-mouth and advertising effectiveness,” Journal of Advertising Research, 44 (3), 271-280.
Marsden, Peter V and Karen E Campbell (1984), “Measuring tie strength,” Social forces, 63 (2), 482-501.
Mayzlin, Dina (2006), “Promotional chat on the Internet,” Marketing Science, 25 (2), 155-163.
Mittal, Vikas, John W. Huppertz, and Adwait Khare (2008), “Customer complaining: the role of tie strength and information control,” Journal of Retailing, 84 (2), 195-204.
Money, R. Bruce (2004), “Word-of-mouth promotion and switching behavior in Japanese and American business-to-business service clients,” Journal of Business Research, 57 (3), 297-305.
Price, Linda L. and Lawrence F. Feick (1984), “The role of interpersonal sources in external search: an informational perspective,” Advances in consumer research, 11 (1), 250-255.
Reichheld, Frederick F. and Thomas Teal (1996), The loyalty effect: The hidden force behind growth, profits and lasting value. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Reingen, Peter H. and Jerome B. Kernan (1986), “Analysis of referral networks in marketing: Methods and illustration,” Journal of Marketing Research, 23 (4), 370-378.
Robertson, Thomas S. (1971), Innovative behavior and communication. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Robertson, Thomas S. and Hubert Gatignon (1986), “Competitive Effects on Technology Diffusion,” Journal of Marketing, 50 (3), 1-12.
Ryu, Gangseog and Lawrence Feick (2007), “A penny for your thoughts: Referral reward programs and referral likelihood,” Journal of Marketing, 71 (1), 84-94.
Schmitt, Philipp, Bernd Skiera, and Christophe Van den Bulte (2011), “Referral programs and customer value,” Journal of Marketing, 75 (1), 46-59.
Silverman, George (1997), “Harvesting the power of word of mouth,” Potentials in Marketing, 30 (9), 14-16.
Smoldt, Robert K. (1998), “Turn word of mouth into a marketing advantage,” The Healthcare Forum Journal, 41 (5), 47-49.
Sundaram, Dinesh S., Kaushik Mitra, and Cynthia Webster (1998), “Word-of-mouth communications: a motivational analysis,” Advances in consumer research, 25 (1), 527-531.
Weenig, Mieneke W. and Cees J. Midden (1991), “Communication network influences on information diffusion and persuasion,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61 (5), 734.
Westbrook, Robert A. (1987), “Product/consumption-based affective responses and postpurchase processes,” Journal of Marketing Research, 24 (3), 258-270.
Wirtz, Jochen and Patricia Chew (2002), “The effects of incentives, deal proneness, satisfaction and tie strength on word-of-mouth behaviour,” International Journal of Service Industry Management, 13 (2), 141-162.
Xiao, Ping, Christopher S. Tang, and Jochen Wirtz (2011), “Optimizing referral reward programs under impression management considerations,” European Journal of Operational Research, 215 (3), 730-739.