Research Of The Factors Influencing Consumers' Negative Electronic Word-of-mouth Intention

The advance of the Internet facilitates consumers to share and exchange consumption-related experiences through online consumer reviews,giving consumers the opportunity to offer their experiences and opinions to others around the world in the form of electronic word-of-mouth.Previously,when consumers needed information,they often used marketing channels,such as TV advertisements or online advertisements to get information about products.But now,more consumers get useful electronic word-of-mouth from friends on the online social network.Recently,This new form of word-of-mouth communication,electronic word-of-mouth communication,has received significant managerial and academic attention.According to scholars,word-of-mouth has a great influence on consumers' behaviors and attitudes about a brand,and electronic word-of-mouth is more influential than traditional word-of-mouth.In addition,many studies have found that negative word-of-mouth has more influence of consumers than positive word-of-mouth.Therefore,this paper studies negative electronic word-of-mouth.The most studies of negative electronic word of mouth are about the impact that it produces,but have less to do with the cause of it.It is significant for the marketing management of enterprises to explore the factors influencing negative e-word-of-mouth communication.Therefore,this paper studies the relationship between the consumers' negative electronic word-of-mouth intention and the factors.Firstly,we analyze the theories and results of the word-of-mouth communication and its factors with literatures.Secondly,we put forward seven personal factors and three social factors that influence consumers' negative electronic word of mouth combining the characteristics of the present consumers' negative electronic word-of-mouth communication.Based on the theory of reasoned behavior,this paper builds a model of negative electronic word-of-mouth intention,with attitude as the mediator which is divided into two dimensions: emotional attitude and cognitive attitude.Thirdly,we collect data through the form of a questionnaire survey with asample of 305 college students,members of virtual communities and friends.We use SPSS21.0 to analyze the collected data.The model is validated through multiple linear regression analysis.Finally,the results of this study show that:(1)Venting,altruism,network involvement,tie strength and social enhancement have a positive effect on emotional attitude,cognitive attitude and negative electronic word-of-mouth intention;advice seeking and community sense have a positive effect on cognitive attitude and negative electronic word-of-mouth intention.(2)Emotional attitude plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between venting,altruism,network involvement,tie strength,social enhancement and negative electronic word-of-mouth intention.(3)Cognitive attitude plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between venting,altruism,advice seeking,network involvement,tie strength,social enhancement and negative electronic word-of-mouth intention,and plays a complete mediating role in the relationship between community sense and negative electronic word-of-mouth intention.This paper summarizes the results and puts forward corresponding management suggestions to guide enterprises to make effective word-of-mouth marketing strategies,and to pay attention to factors that affect consumers' negative electronic word-of-mouth,avoiding the loss of customers and attracting more new consumers.In addition,the limitations of this study and the prospect of future research are pointed out.