A word-of-mouth approach to informal information sharing among part-time and short-term employed front-line workers in tourism

This article aims at understanding informal information sharing among a group of part-time front-line employees with short-term contracts in tourism, by adapting an external marketing concept, Word-of-Mouth communication (WOM), into an internal environment of an organization — the employee market. As a result of using this approach, insights have been made into the informal internal marketing activities and subsequent learning processes that occur through informal information sharing between employees. It is also evident that through this sharing of experiences front-line employees learn how to create successful service encounters and thereby find their roles as a part-time marketer within their organization. As a result of the findings a new concept is introduced and discussed — Internal Word-of-Mouth (IWOM).