Abstract

Background: Today, the role of word of mouth (WOM) in making decision particularly in service sector became important. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effect of word of mouth on pregnant woman decision-making behavior to join the Royan Cord Blood Bank.

Materials and Methods: The research is operational and has a causal nature. The population of study was 790 pregnant women enrolled in Royan Cord Blood Bank in Arak city that 294 subjects were selected by available non-random sampling method. To collect data, questionnaire instrument was used. Data were analyzed according to Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) by LISREL (version 8.54) software.

Results: The results of the study revealed that the effect of communication medium on personal information source and word of mouth was significant and positive. In addition, opinion leaders had a significant and positive influence on personal information source and word of mouth and also, the significant and negative effect of opinion leaders on perceived risk was seen. Personal information source had a significant and positive effect on decision-making. However, social structure didn't have any effect on word of mouth. Likewise, word of mouth didn't influence decision-making.

Conclusion: According to the findings of the research, it seems that paying attention to the prerequisites and conditions making a suitable bed for creating effective word of mouth and expanding it to making decision for joining the Royan Cord Blood Bank is very necessary.