Determinants Of Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) And Purchase Intention

Word-of-Mouth(WOM)is the act of trading marketing associated information among customers,plays a vital role in shaping customers attitude and behavior towards products or services.Because customers usually trust on reliable source of information than company-generated persuasive messages.They often depend on it when looking for information to make purchase decisions.The dawn of internet-based media has given the rise to WOM online-that is,electronic word-of-mouth(eWOM).eWOM as "any positive or negative statement made by present or previous customers about a product,service or company,which is made available to large audiences via the Internet".eWOM can take place through a wide range of online media such as emails,blogs,review sites and forums,virtual communities,chat rooms,instant messaging,and SNSs.We found that eWOM communication can be categorized into two forms which are review generating factors and eWOM effects.Review generating factors such as self-enhancement,social benefits,anxiety,source credibility,etc.On the other hand,eWOM effects on customer purchase intention.The purposefulness of this thesis is to investigate the effects of review generating factors on eWOM.The effects of eWOM motivations which are self-enhancement,social benefits,vengeance,anxiety,altruism,reputation,reciprocity,argument quality,source credibility,and involvement are determined.The generation of eWOM under regulatory focus and attitude toward eWOM are assessed through empirical investigation.Moreover,we investigated the moderating role of platform assistance,perceived usefulness,perceived ease-of-use,and risk-taking in genders.The effects of eWOM on customer purchase intention also determined in the context of Chinese social media.An online and personal survey was conducted in two large Chinese cities,Beijing and Shanghai.A random and convenient sampling techniques were used to collect the data from 2132 online customers.Data were analyzed by employing the validity(discriminant and convergent)and reliability tests,missing value treatment,common bias method,variance in:flation factor,exploratory factor analysis,confirmatory factor analysis and structure equation modelling.The moderations were analyzed by following the three-step moderation technique.All results were generated through SPSS and AMOS 20.We found the following key findings:Promotion-focused customers with aim of self-enhancement and social benefits are motivated to spread positive eWOM on SNSs.While prevention-focused customers are driven by vengeance and anxiety revealing higher intentions to post negative eWOM on review sites.Generation of eWOM is subject to gender as promotion-focused male customers are spreading it more than female customers of prevention-focused as well as promotion-focused.Moreover,platform assistance has significant positive impact upon regulatory-focused customers and eWOM(positive vs negative)relationship.The findings also reveal that altruism,reputation,reciprocity,and attitude have positive impacts on e-WOM.TAM has a significant positive impact upon the relationship between attitude and e-WOM.Furthermore,argument quality,source credibility,and involvement are key determinants of eWOM in social media that positively influence customers purchase intentions.The results also highlighted that risk-taking propensity sounds more strongly in males than females,and it significantly and positively moderates the relationship of eWOM with purchase intentions.This study provides deeper understating of eWOM communication.This empirical study is unique which integrates the eWOM motivations and its effects on purchase intention in the context of Chinese social media.This provides the insights for marketers to design comprehensive distinct marketing plan for customers to get them involve in spreading eWOM that would enhance their purchase intentions.Furthermore,implications for scholars,practitioners,policy makers and marketers are discussed.