Positive word of mouth: does generational membership and psychographic characteristics matter?

The specific question that this paper seeks to answer is: are psychographic culturallyanchored values antecedents to positive word of mouth intention independent of an individual's generational (Generation Y rather than Generation X) membership? This question has important implications specifically for university leaders and more generally to service-based industries. Results suggest that positive word of mouth intention is influenced by psychographic characteristics. Generation Y's positive word of mouth antecedents were: high collectivism, high uncertainty avoidance, and high power distance; whereas Generation X's was only high collectivism. This paper concludes by outlining the implications for future research of Generation Y for university leaders tasked with enhancing positive word of mouth in current students and alumni.