Search results

This study examined the relationship between perceived personalization and positive electronic word of mouth, as well as the mediating impact of online advertising engagement and the moderating effect of online users' modes on that relationship. The theory of presence serves as the foundation for the relationships among variables.

A quasi-experimental research design was used to carry out the investigation. The analysis was performed on 865 valid responses from the treatment and control groups.

Results showed no mediation for the control group and partial mediation for the treatment group. The treatment group's moderated mediation relationships were found as significant, but the control group's relationships were insignificant. The findings also supported the hypothesis that there is a significant association between perceived personalization and online advertising engagement for playful online users and a weak relationship for serious online users. On the mediation link of online advertising engagement between perceived personalization and positive electronic word of mouth, the conditional indirect influence of “online users' modes” has been specifically studied.

This study is the first to examine online advertising through the lens of the theory of presence and offers a moderated-mediation model of Online Users' Modes and Online Advertising Engagement, which is a valuable addition to the marketing body of knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to review and analyze the status of word-of-mouth (WOM) research in the business-to-business (B2B) context and discuss and identify new possible future directions.

A systematic review was conducted and 36 articles on B2B WOM were collected to evaluate the current state of the literature and clarify possible future research directions.

This thematic analysis categorize these articles into three themes: WOM generation, WOM usage and reference marketing. Under each theme, the authors reveal research findings unique to B2B research and different from business-to-consumer (B2C) WOM research. This study identifies several research questions that should be addressed by future research.

Both academic researchers and business practitioners recognize that WOM plays an essential role in B2B marketing. However, no review paper focuses on WOM in the B2B context. Findings in the B2C WOM literature suggest that WOM substantially influences firms’ performance, but that managers cannot simply attempt to extrapolate B2C findings to the B2B arena. By synthesizing and assessing prior research on WOM in the B2B context, this study contributes to a better understanding of the B2B WOM phenomenon and facilitates future research on this topic.

The aim of this research is to measure the impact of eWOM (electronic word of mouth) and brand celebrity use on the purchasing behavior of sports consumers.

To test the model hypotheses, sports consumers who use social media and have purchased at least one online sports product were selected as the research group. Online survey method was used, and 836 participants were reached. The model was tested with structural equation modeling (SEM) through smart PLS software.

As a result, the quality, credibility and usefulness of the information consumers encounter on online platforms cause them to adopt information about products or services, and then exhibit online purchase behavior. While the attractiveness and trustworthiness of celebrities are seen as important factors affecting consumers' online purchase of sports products, the effect of celebrity expertise was found to be ineffective in this study.

Marketers can develop more effective eWOM strategies by considering consumers' expectations. Businesses that want to implement an effective marketing strategy may prefer celebrities in product promotions or advertisements of their brands.

This research revealed the effect of eWOM and celebrity endorsement on the online purchase behavior of sports consumers in terms of the sports industry. Unlike previous studies, this study examined these variables together on sports consumers and contributed to the development of models.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic study of important research trends and published electronic word of mouth (eWOM) studies over the past 20 years in the emerging economy. This research is designed to identify the key areas of eWOM based on the Antecedents-Consequence-Intervention (ACI) framework. This paper is also aimed to analyze the current research status of each WOM area and critically review each area for developing future research directions.

616 articles were selected from 112 journals for in-depth review analysis. For the systematic review of articles, an ACI framework was adopted. This paper used systematic review analysis methodology to critically analyze important research studies in each area of the ACI framework with a set of research questions.

Results identify six significant areas of eWOM, i.e. WOM antecedents, outcomes, senders, receivers, eWOM platform and eWOM management representing the whole environment. The result highlights increasing research interest on mixed eWOM and rich eWOM content and market-level source credibility factors. Research also identifies research gaps based on the ACI framework.

Analyzing the recent trends in the eWOM environment with the SLR approach and linking these trends to the ACI framework with a future research agenda in the emerging market indicated a pioneering attempt in eWOM research.

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of online pharmacies in Qatar using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology-2 (UTAUT-2) framework. Specifically, this study examines the impact of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, habit, technology trust, perceived risk and users’ level of awareness of behavioral intention, which in turn affects the adoption of online pharmacies. Furthermore, this study explores the moderating role of word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations on the relationship between behavioral intention and online pharmacy adaptation.

This study adopted a descriptive, quantitative approach to investigate the UTAUT-2 model in the context of consumers’ adoption of e-pharmacy in Qatar. Through convenience sampling, 455 responses were collected from regular customers accessing online pharmacy services. The data were analyzed using Smart-PLS 3.2 software to examine the hypothesized relationships.

The results showed that WOM recommendations significantly enhanced the relationship between behavioral intention and adopting online pharmacies in Qatar. This study identified the factors that may hinder or enable the adoption of online pharmacies, including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, habit, technology trust, perceived risk and users’ level of awareness.

This study contributes to the existing literature on technology acceptance by extending the UTAUT-2 model and recognizing three additional variables (perceived risk, technology trust and technology awareness). These need to be investigated against UTAUT-2 variables to detect the significance of their impact on adapting the e-health concept in Qatar. The potential for cultural change to accelerate the adoption of online pharmacies is highlighted. Future research should explore the role of moral and cultural factors in technology adoption.

The results underscore the economic and social significance of e-pharmacy adoption, particularly within the context of a developing country. Considering the positive intentions expressed by individuals toward e-pharmacy, it becomes crucial for managers and decision-makers to make strategic choices to address any challenges that may arise. Policymakers are encouraged to enhance their services and implement various development initiatives to expand e-pharmacy accessibility and availability.

This study builds upon previous research on e-commerce in the pharmaceutical industry and provides a comprehensive understanding of customers in developing countries. Extending the UTAUT-2 model and identifying additional variables contributes to the knowledge of e-health concepts in Qatar. The findings have practical implications for developing strategies to promote online pharmacy adoption in Qatar and other countries.

Customization, a marketing strategy through providing personalized products, might be a new solution to motivate consumer feedbacks in electronic commerce (e-commerce) websites. Taking the dual-value of customization (emotional involvement and uniqueness expression) as the theoretical basis, this study aims to investigate the impact of customization on consumer's word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviors and contents by motivating: (1) more, (2) faster, (3) positive at first and then negative, (4) longer and (5) more helpful WOMs.

A field study was conducted with multi-sourced data: customer order data from a Chinese retailer and WOM data from Amazon.com. The two datasets were matched to filter out 463 online reviews among 6,892 customers who placed customized orders. Heckman's two-stage model, logistic regression, Ordinary least squares regression, Tobit regression, analysis of covariance and Lind–Mehlum U Test were used in the data analysis.

This study has found that (1) customization level motivates WOM behaviors including WOM posting and WOM speed, (2) an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between customization level and consumer rating and (3) customization level has a significantly positive impact on WOM helpfulness but not on WOM length.

This study advances theoretical development in the area of WOM motivators by proposing a new product-centric approach, customization, to stimulate voluntary WOMs. Empirical field research that analyzes consumer's real responses to customization is in scarcity. The dual-value of customized products is proposed as the underlying mechanism to explain the impact of customization level on consumer's WOM behaviors/contents. An interesting inverted U-shaped relationship is found between customization level and customer rating. This research provides nuanced practical guidance for websites, companies and consumers.

This study explores the direct relationship between social media user-generated content (UGC), online search traffic and offline light vehicle sales of different models.

The long-run equilibrium relationship and short-run dynamic effects between the valence and volume of UGC, online search traffic and offline car sales are analyzed by applying the autoregressive distribution lag (ARDL) model.

The study found the following. (1) In the long-run relationship, the valence of online reviews on social media platforms is significantly negatively correlated with the sales of all models. However, in the short-run, the valence of online reviews has a significant positive correlation with all models in different lag periods. (2) The volume of online reviews is significantly positively correlated with the sales of all models in the long run. However, in the short run, the relationship between the volume of online reviews and the sales of lower-sales-volume cars is uncertain. There is a significant positive correlation between the volume of reviews and the sales of higher-sales-volume cars. (3) Online search traffic has a significantly negative correlation with the sales of all models in the long run. However, in the short run, there is no consistent conclusion on the relationship between online search traffic and car sales.

This study provides a reference for managers to use in their efforts to improve offline high-involvement product sales using online information.

Global adoption of the internet and mobile usage results in a huge variation in the cultural backgrounds of consumers who generate and consume electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Unsurprisingly, a research trend on cross-cultural eWOM has emerged. However, there has not been an attempt to synthesize this research topic. This paper aims to bridge this gap.

This research paper conducts a systematic literature review of the current research findings on cross-cultural eWOM. Journal articles published from 2006 to 2021 are included. This study then presents the key issues in the extant literature and suggests potential future research.

The findings show that there has been an upward trend in the number of publications on cross-cultural eWOM since the early 2010s, with a relatively steeper increase toward 2020. The findings also synthesize cross-cultural eWOM research into four elements and suggest potential future research avenues.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is currently no exhaustive/integrated review of cross-cultural eWOM research. This research fills the need to summarize the current state of cross-cultural eWOM literature and identifies research questions to be addressed in the future.

El boca a boca electrónico cross-cultural: una revisión sistemática de la literatura

La adopción global de Internet y los móviles da lugar a una enorme diferencia en el origen cultural de los consumidores que generan y consumen el boca a boca electrónico (eWOM). No es de extrañar que haya surgido una tendencia de investigación sobre el eWOM transcultural. Sin embargo, no se ha intentado sintetizar este tema de investigación. El objetivo de este artículo es subsanar esta carencia.

Este trabajo de investigación realiza una revisión bibliográfica sistemática de las investigaciones realizadas sobre eWOM transcultural. Se incluyen artículos de revistas publicados desde 2006 hasta 2021. A continuación, el estudio presenta las cuestiones clave de la literatura existente y sugiere posibles investigaciones futuras.

Los resultados muestran que ha habido una tendencia al alza en el número de publicaciones sobre eWOM intercultural desde principios de la década de 2010, con un aumento relativamente creciente hacia 2020. Los resultados también sintetizan la investigación sobre eWOM intercultural en cuatro elementos y sugieren posibles vías de investigación futuras.

Actualmente no existe una revisión exhaustiva/integrada de la investigación sobre el eWOM cross-cultural. Esta investigación satisface la necesidad de resumir el estado actual de la literatura sobre eWOM cross-cultural e identifica las cuestiones de investigación que deben abordarse en el futuro.

跨文化电子口碑研究：系统性文献回顾

摘要

在互联网全球化以及移动手机的广泛使用的背景下, 不同文化背景的消费者都在贡献电子口碑（eWOM）。这使得电子口碑存在文化差异。然而, 还没有人试图对这个研究课题进行综合分析。本文的目的就是要弥补这一空白。

本研究论文对目前关于跨文化eWOM的研究成果进行了系统的文献回顾。包括2006年至2021年发表的期刊文章。然后, 本研究提出了现有文献中的关键问题, 并提出了潜在的未来研究。

研究结果显示, 自2010年初以来, 关于跨文化eWOM的出版物数量呈上升趋势, 到2020年时增幅相对较大。研究结果还总结了跨文化eWOM研究的四个要素, 并提出了潜在的未来研究途径。

目前还没有关于跨文化eWOM研究的详尽/综合的回顾。这项研究填补了总结跨文化电子WOM文献现状的需要, 并确定了未来要解决的研究问题。

Despite the increasing relevance of seamless shopping experience in an omnichannel context, research on how seamless shopping experience affects customers’ word of mouth on social media (sWOM) remains scant. Based on the attribution theory, this study aims to investigate the effects of seamless shopping experience types on customers’ sWOM intentions from the perspective of smart-shopping feelings and validated the moderation role of shopping orientation.

Using a data set of 301 omnichannel customers, three scenario-based experiments were conducted to address the research questions.

An efficient and interconnected experience is more likely to positively affect sWOM intentions than an inefficient but interconnected experience. Furthermore, smart-shopping feelings were found to have a significant mediating effect. For experiential-oriented shoppers, the positive relationship between an efficient and interconnected experience, smart-shopping feelings and sWOM intentions was significantly strengthened.

This research contributes to the sWOM and omnichannel service experience literature by investigating the influences of seamless shopping experience types on customers’ sWOM intentions. This research also provides recommendations for designing and delivering a superior, seamless shopping experience for omnichannel shoppers.

The purpose of this study is to investigate characteristics of apparel-related critical incidents that motivate both Generation Z and Y consumers to share electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) via specific online channels.

The current research used an exploratory mixed-methods approach.

Qualitative findings of critical incidents revealed that the main situations that led to the spread of eWOM involved new purchases (49%), product quality (21%), pricing and promotions (19%), complaints (9%) and brand content (48%). Participants were motivated to spread information about the critical incidents by a desire to connect with friends and family (83%), help others (37%), influence others (48%) and express brand loyalty (32%). Quantitative results indicated significant relationships between critical incidents, motivations and eWOM channel choice.

This study has theoretical implications for apparel researchers attempting to gain insight into critical incidents that motivate consumers to engage in eWOM on specific channels in a positive or negative manner.

These findings are important for marketers as it appears that brand content does an efficient job at driving engagement on SM; marketers need to increase efforts to engage with consumers via feedback on websites, as this is an opportunity to counteract negative experiences and retain consumers’ loyalty.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current research is the first to extend theories of communication and motivation to connect critical incidents with situational intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for spreading eWOM via online channels for Millennial and Generation Z consumers.