Word of Mouth Marketing in Education and Training Industry : A case study of Word of Mouth communication and its influence on consumer decision making process in the Chinese Education Market

Abstract: Purpose: the purpose of this thesis is to explore how entrepreneurial business within Chinese education and training service industry to conduct Word-of-Mouth marketing and to further investigate the factors that influence the effectiveness of WOM marketing during customer purchase decision making process. Based on the purpose above, the authors aim to investigate whether there is a relationship between input and output WOM in terms of those factors. Method: the authors used both inductive and deductive approaches to fulfill the exploratory and descriptive purposes. In order to gather primary data, the authors applied multiple methods which combine qualitative and quantitative studies. Respectively, interviews and questionnaires were being used. Result and analysis: the authors obtained the empirical findings from six interviews and ninety two questionnaires. From which, the authors selected the most useful information related to the topic of this thesis based on the previous theories and models. In terms of the qualitative data analysis, a comprehensive summary was extracted. As for the quantitative data analysis, the authors used the SPSS software and then interpret the data according to previous theories and models. Conclusion: in this final part, the authors answered the five research questions. And concluded that based on the internal and external information management, the company should have an Integrated Marketing Communication approach to WOM marketing. Furthermore, the factors that have influence on customer purchase decision making process are six channels and eight attributes for the case company. The importance level of those factors will be further discussed in order to gain implications.