The level of viral diffusion expected after a technology product or service is launched is important for determining the marketing budget, forecasting revenue, and understanding the resources necessary to manufacture and/or support the technology. Based on a review of academic and industry literature, this study proposes the “Comprehensive Framework of Viral Technology Diffusion—Stages and Factors.” The framework specifically draws on stage models developed by Wiedemann et al. (Wiedemann DG, Palka W, Pousttchi K (2008) Understanding the determinants of mobile viral effects-towards a grounded theory of mobile viral marketing. Paper presented at the 2008 7th international conference on mobile business) and Phelps et al. (Phelps et al., J Advert Res 44:333–348, 2004), other academic and industry viral marketing literature, and information systems literature including theories widely used in IS research, such as reasoned actioned (Fishbein and Ajzen Fishbein and Ajzen, Intention and behavior: an introduction to theory and research, Addison-Wesley, MA, 1975), Technology Acceptance Model (Davis 1989; Davis et al. 1989) and planned behavior (Ajzen Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: a theory of planned behavior. In: Action control, Springer. New York, Ajzen, Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 50:179–211, 1991). It details five major stages of viral diffusion campaigns, their relationships to each other, and relevant findings from the literature. The five stages recognized are: content development; virality prediction; seed engagement; content propagation; and virality response. Each stage has been identified in prior studies; however, no comprehensive framework of these constructs, nor their relationships to one another, has so far been found. Some important factors included are, for example, at the propagation stage, consideration of the networks through which viral propagation occur and potential transmission costs faced by content forwarders. Our framework contributes to the literature by providing an outline and related set of factors that may be useful for understanding and positioning future research on viral marketing and may also help practitioners who seek to launch products virally. We also offer directions for future research.

在推出技术产品或服务之后，预期的病毒扩散水平对于确定营销预算，预测收入以及了解制造和/或支持该技术所需的资源非常重要。在对学术和行业文献进行回顾的基础上，本研究提出了“病毒技术扩散的综合框架-阶段和因素”。该框架特别借鉴了Wiedemann等人开发的舞台模型。（Wiedemann DG，Palka W，Pousttchi K（2008年），了解移动病毒效应的决定因素-扎根于移动病毒营销的基础理论。该论文在2008年第7届国际移动企业国际会议上发表）和Phelps等。（Phelps et al。，J Advert Res 44：333–348，2004），其他学术和行业病毒式营销文献以及包括在IS研究中广泛使用的理论在内的信息系统文献，例如理性行动（Fishbein和Ajzen Fishbein和Ajzen，意图与行为：理论与研究导论，马萨诸塞州艾迪生-韦斯利，1975年；技术接受模型（Davis，1989年； Davis等人，1989年）和计划行为（Ajzen Ajzen，I.，1985年）。 ：计划行为的理论。在：动作控制中，施普林格。纽约，阿赞（Ajzen），《器官行为改变嗡嗡声的决定》，50：179–211，1991年）。它详细介绍了病毒扩散运动的五个主要阶段，它们之间的关系以及文献中的相关发现。公认的五个阶段是：内容开发；病毒预测 种子参与；内容传播；和病毒反应。每个阶段都已在先前的研究中确定。然而，到目前为止，还没有找到这些结构的全面框架，也没有找到它们之间的关系。包括的一些重要因素是，例如，在传播阶段，对病毒传播所通过的网络的考虑以及内容转发者所面临的潜在传播成本。我们的框架通过提供概述和相关因素集为文献做出了贡献，这些因素可能有助于理解和定位未来有关病毒性营销的研究，还可以帮助寻求通过病毒方式推出产品的从业人员。我们还提供了未来研究的方向。