Effects Of Online Word-of-mouth On Consumer Purchase Intention

As the rapid development of Internet is undertaking, more and more consumers make comments about shopping and services on the network, such as the spread of ideas and the exchange of information on dianping.com, Amazon.com, Taobao.com, jd.com and other sites. Therefore, understanding the online word-of-mouth may provide some help for consumer purchasing decisions, and even has a positive impact on sales.This paper summarizes the results of previous studies and compares the differences of traditional word-of-mouth and online word-of-mouth. Based on the theory of consumer behavior, the author uses Elaboration Likelihood Model to build an effect model of consumer purchasing intentions. From the information system acceptance and consumer behavior perspectives, this paper introduces some mature theories, such as theory about EKB, TRA, TPB and TAM. This paper refers online review as an important type of online-WOM, analyzes the effects of online review on consumer decision comprehensively, and verifies the mechanism of these effects.Based the dual-path model of attitudes, motivation of handling personal information will be manipulated as personal relevance or involvement related to the word-of-mouth information recipient, and ability of handling personal information will be manipulated as personal prior knowledge. Specifically, the degree of consumer involvement of products refers to motivation on behalf of the information processing; consumers who have the expertise to process the information are those with prior knowledge. The level of elaboration likelihood depends on involvement and expertise in the process of consumer review information.Then the author designs scales to measure the variables in this paper. The SPSS20.0software was used to analyze the reliability and validity of the sample data. Statistical analysis showed that Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient for each variable of the questionnaire was above0.7, KMO values were above0.7, and Bartlett test each variable was significantly less than0.001. This shows that the sample of this study has a certain degree of reliability and validity.Finally, this paper made a summary and presented research findings and management implications. The author also points out the limitations of the study, proposes future investigations regarding to the research methods and scale improvements.