研究對學術的貢獻貴在知識創造 (knowledge creation) 與知識擴散( knowledge dissemination ) ( Parasuraman 2003 )，而任何一篇論文其目的不外乎貢獻新的知識及讓這些知識擴散對學術或實務產生貢獻。雖然口碑 (word of mouth) 領域的發展已超過40年，過去已有許多學者在此領域進行相關的研究，而且最近10年間口碑研究更是大幅成長，研究的議題也非常廣泛。過去的研究讓我們對口碑有相當多的瞭解，但基本上這些研究是很分散的，而我們也常因此陷入只見樹木不見林的困惑中。對於某一個變數是否會影響口碑的傳播意願我們也許瞭解，但對於下列較宏觀的議題，我們卻缺乏明確的認識，如已被研究的口碑議題有那些？發表口碑領域研究論文的期刊有那些？有那些機構或個人對這領域有所貢獻？及在最近幾年口碑的研究趨勢如何等等。瞭解這些知識能帶給研究者及讀者對此領域有更完整的視野。
本研究整合引文分析與社會網絡分析方法來探討2005年以前口碑論文被引用的情形，用以驗證口碑研究的貢獻，進而論證口碑研究的知識擴散。研究結果顯示Richins (1983)、Brown and Reingen (1987)、Herr, Kardes and Kim (1991) 等三篇論文是位於引用網絡的較中心位置，是口碑領域的核心論文，在知識擴散上扮演重要的角色。引用網絡將可讓研究人員瞭解過去40多年來口碑研究論文引用的全貌。研究結果對口碑領域整體的知識貢獻將有很大的幫助。本研究具體的貢獻如下：
一、本研究確認了過去40多年來，口碑研究領域個人及機構的貢獻。
二、透過本研究的分析，整理出過去口碑研究論文被引用情形，由研究結果可以看出口碑研究的經典論文，如Richins (1983)、Herr, Kardes and Kim (1991)、Brown and Reingen (1987)，這些論文都是被行銷相關領域高度引用，對研究者而言，具重要的參考價值。
三、本研究建立口碑研究地圖，由圖中可以看出口碑研究隨著時間的變化，其研究議題的發展情形，這些研究結果有助於學者對於未來研究方向的掌握。
四、本研究回顧口碑相關文獻，建構了口碑理論架構，從架構中我們可以看到口碑領域的核心理論，本架構的管理價值是提供口碑的管理重點，也填補了口碑研究文獻上的缺口，具有管理及理論上的意涵。
五、本研究從口碑論文相互引用情形，描繪出過去40多年來口碑研究發展的路徑。由宏觀的角度來看，可以看出口碑領域研究的主要方向，頗具參考價值。
六、本研究分析過去口碑研究論文被其他領域的學者引用情形，論證口碑知識已普遍被其他領域所應用，而且創造出更多的知識。這是口碑知識擴散的具體證明，這對口碑研究的發展及成長具有重要的意涵。
七、本研究利用社會網絡分析建構了口碑論文相互引用的網絡圖，由圖中可以看出口碑研究論文的引用全貌，並可由視覺清楚的看出那些論文是口碑領域的重要核心論文，對研究者而言，具有重要的參考價值。

The academic contributions of research mainly include two aspects: one is knowledge creation and the other is knowledge dissemination (Parasuraman 2003). The purposes of research papers are to provide new knowledge and contribute to academia or real life cases.The field of word-of-mouth research has developed over the last 40 years, and many studies have been conducted. In the past 10 years, the number of related studies has increased considerably, and topics have been diverse.
Although the early research provides considerable understanding of word of mouth, the studies are rather diverse and, while rich in detail, provide no clear overall picture. We might understand if a particular variable has influenced willingness to engage in word-of-mouth communication, however, for the following broader issues, we had no answers. For example, what are the word-of-mouth issues that have been studied? What research is being publishing in the word-of-mouth field? What are the institutions and who are the individuals contributing to this field? What is the research trend in word of mouth in recent years? Acquiring the above knowledge can bring more complete insight for researchers and scholars with respect to this field.
This research integrated the methods of citation analysis and social network analysis to explore the citation of word-of-mouth papers before 2005 and further validated knowledge dissemination of word-of-mouth studies. The result of research reveals the three papers by Richins (1983), Brown and Reingen (1987) and Herr, Kardes and Kim (1991) were in more centralized positions in the citation network. These were the core papers in the word-of-mouth field and play critical roles in knowledge. These research findings allow researchers to access studies related to the word-of-mouth field from the past 40 years, and dissemination of word-of-mouth knowledge that helps researchers' control over future research directions and the overall knowledge contribution of the word-of-mouth field. This concrete contribution of research is as follows:
1. This research evaluates the contribution of individual researchers and institutions in the word-of-mouth field before 2005.
2. This research analyses the citation of the word-of-mouth article. The result of research reveals the three papers by Richins (1983), Brown and Reingen (1987) and Herr, Kardes and Kim (1991) were the core papers in the word-of-mouth field and play critical roles in knowledge.
3. The research proposed a word-of-mouth research map showing a domain visualization of the whole word-of-mouth research field. These results are expected to help researchers to identify future research directions.
4. By reviewing the related literatures of word of mouth, this research conducted a theoretical framework of word of mouth. The core theories of the word of mouth could be seen from the framework. The managerial value of this framework was to provide the full view of managerial points of word of mouth. In addition, the theoretical framework of word of mouth constructed by this research could also fill in the gaps of word of mouth in the literature. It also has theoretical implications.
5. This research pointed out the research development route of word-of-mouth studies in the past 40 years according to the mutual citation of word-of-mouth papers. From a broad perspective, we can still discover the major directions of the word-of-mouth field that functioned as the reference for study and benefit researchers' control of future research directions.
6. This research use citation analysis to explore the citation of word-of-mouth papers. We found this significant for the development and growth of word-of-mouth studies, as it means that knowledge in the word-of-mouth field has been applied generally by other fields, and more knowledge has been created. The result also clearly indicates that word-of-mouth knowledge has been diffused to other fields.
7. This research used social network analysis to explore the overall structure of the mutual citation of word-of-mouth papers. According to the paper citation network graph, we recognize the domain visualization of mutual citation of academics in the word-of-mouth field and can visually indicate the core papers in the word-of-mouth field. However, from a broader perspective, it still has value for researchers.

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