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Many firms have begun rewarding their customers for engaging in positive WOM. While prior research has shown that this practice can encourage WOM and be profitable, its impact on listeners has not been investigated. In this paper, an experiment is used to evaluate the effect that a firm's WOM incentive program has on listeners. Results indicate that when a listener is aware that a firm is rewarding its customers for engaging in WOM, they view such individuals as having lower source trustworthiness and source altruism. Explicit disclosure of the incentive improves trustworthiness as compared to not disclosing the incentive, but has no effect on altruism. Further, source altruism is shown to be an important antecedent to WOM usage, as well as the extent to which listeners incorporate the WOM in their purchase decision. Implications of this research for marketing researchers and practitioners are reviewed, as are limitations and directions for future research.