{"id":1380,"slug":"pham-2024-brand-innovativeness-wom-expertise","title":"Pham et al. (2024), Australasian Marketing Journal — brand innovativeness has positive indirect effect on positive WOM, mediated by perceived brand expertise","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["trust-signals","signalling-theory","interactive-tool-mechanisms"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Pham et al. (2024), *Australasian Marketing Journal*, found **brand innovativeness has a positive indirect effect on positive word-of-mouth, mediated by perceived brand expertise**. A demonstrable capability (\"we built something that works\") signals \"we have the competence to deliver what we promised.\"\n\n**Source:** Pham et al. (2024), AMJ.\n\n**Confidence:** Single-source (peer-reviewed).\n\n**Caveat:** Independent research measures *innovativeness → expertise → WOM* generally, not calculators specifically. The link from \"a calculator\" to \"perceived expertise\" is a **reasonable application of the theory, not a directly measured finding.**\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** Defensible academic anchor for the \"demonstration beats assertion\" argument in client conversations. A broken, inaccurate, or trivial tool signals the *opposite* (negative expertise), so the rule is conservative — only ship tools that genuinely work.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-interactive-tool-mechanisms-smb-june-2026","title":"Research brief: why interactive tools deepen a business's relationship with its audience — a mechanism-level research package (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"caveats-interactive-tool-mechanisms-vendor-outcome-stats","title":"Caveats for the interactive-tool-mechanisms brief: lead on mechanism evidence (peer-reviewed, independent); treat vendor outcome stats (52.6% / 88% / 47.3%) as marketing","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-20T18:18:57.474Z","updated_at":"2026-06-20T18:18:57.474Z"}