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This study aims to examine food tourists’ engagement in positive and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) by considering the following questions: Do satisfied customers engage in advocacy, and do dissatisfied customers make the same effort to spread their negative experiences? Which restaurant experience attributes influence eWOM behavior? What demographic and psychographic characteristics contribute to advocacy?

Using data from an online survey of 456 consumers with restaurant experience in the tourism context, this study applied simultaneous Tobit estimation to examine the research hypotheses.

Engagement in negative eWOM because of poor experiences was stronger than engagement in positive eWOM because of positive experiences. Food taste was a critical attribute for both positive and negative eWOM. Authenticity was influential for positive eWOM only, and value was influential for negative eWOM only. Atmosphere, service and location were found to be insignificant, indicating that they are ‘indifferent’ factors for eWOM in the food tourism context. Female customers were more active in negative advocacy, while Generation Y customers were more active in positive advocacy. Food involvement was significantly related to both positive and negative eWOM.

The results of this study provide useful marketing and service insights for restaurant managers in the digitally connected world, enabling them to formulate services based on factors critical for restaurant eWOM in the tourism context.

To fill a gap in the current literature in the era of digital marketing, this study takes a comprehensive yet industry-specific perspective on eWOM engagement by examining demographic factors and the food involvement of consumers as well as restaurant experience attributes. By investigating both positive and negative eWOM, this study presents meaningful practical and theoretical implications.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) motivations of regulatory-focused customers with positive and negative consumption experiences.

An online survey is conducted in Beijing and Shanghai. A random sampling technique is used to collect data from 854 respondents. Two scenarios of eWOM communication – positive and negative consumption experiences – are randomly assigned to each respondent. This study employs the structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis techniques. However, it uses ordinary least squares and logistic regression to analyze 137 participants in the experimental study.

Promotion-focused customers that aim for self-enhancement and obtaining social benefits are motivated to spread positive eWOM on social networking sites. However, prevention-focused customers are driven by vengeance and anxiety, revealing higher intentions to post negative eWOM on review sites. eWOM generation is subject to gender, as promotion-focused male customers spread it more than both prevention-focused and promotion-focused female customers. Moreover, platform assistance (PA) has a significant positive impact upon regulatory-focused customers and eWOM (positive vs negative) relationships.

This study provides a deeper understanding of motivational factors of eWOM communication. Specifically, in case of product or service failure, negative consumption experiences drive prevention-focused customers to generate negative eWOM. Thus, using various tactics, marketers need to shift customers from focusing on prevention to focusing on promotion. For example, redeemable free coupons can shift customer attention and generate positive eWOM.

This study provides unique insights about eWOM motivation across genders. It examines regulatory focus, positive vs negative consumption experiences and moderation of PA.

The purpose of this study was to investigate consumer preference formation in presence of reviews coming from traditional and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) under different conditions of review valence.

Scenario-based experimental design was used for this study. A total of 172 respondents were randomly assigned across four experimental scenarios and a control group. Across-groups comparisons were conducted using post hoc Dunnett’s test for checking the hypothesis.

The study revealed that negativity bias impacted consumer judgement formation to such an extent that positive valence from higher credibility source (WOM) is over-powered by negative reviews from lesser trusted source (eWOM). Further, a negative valence review from higher credibility source (WOM) may not be countered even in presence of consensus of positive valence review coming from a higher number of positive eWOM.

This study contributes to existing literature by examining consumer preference behaviour in presence of reviews coming from traditional and eWOM under different conditions of review valence. While earlier studies have examined individual role of WOM and eWOM under differing valence conditions, this paper extends literature by studying combined effect of WOM and eWOM under different review valence.

The purpose of this study is to investigate motives for engaging in electronic word of mouth (eWOM) about organizations on social media sites. This study explores motives for posting positive eWOM and motives for posting negative eWOM. It also investigates whether existing WOM frameworks adequately capture consumers’ motives for spreading eWOM within the context of social media. This study seeks to confirm established motives in literature while also identifying new motives specific to social media.

A qualitative study was conducted using the critical incident technique. In all, 64 positive incidents and 60 negative incidents were analyzed.

This study provides a typology for understanding consumers’ motivations for engaging in positive and negative WOM within the context of social media. Four new motives for sharing eWOM are identified; eight established WOM motives are re-confirmed; and new subcategories for eWOM motives are proposed. The study also finds that further refinement of WOM motives and scales within a social media context is needed.

An integrated conceptual framework of both positive and negative motives is developed to illustrate a more comprehensive model of motives of eWOM within social media. Managerial implications for managing negative eWOM and amplifying positive eWOM are discussed. A limitation is that the study is exploratory in nature.

This study identifies new motives for sharing eWOM, re-labels existing WOM and eWOM motives with more descriptive and comprehensive titles and confirms established WOM and eWOM motives within the context of social media. This study is conducted across multiple firms and industries, leading to more generalizable results.

This paper aims to explore the factors that influence Generation Y’s positive or negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) behavior via social media and mobile technology in the foodservice sector. Three types of dining experiences were examined: positive and negative customer experiences and negative customer service followed by a satisfactory recovery package.

A survey was adopted to test the factors posited to influence Generation Y consumers in these service contexts. Participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk , and multi-group structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the data.

Active use of social media and peer influence had a sweeping influence on Generation Y’s intentions to engage in eWOM about their service experiences. Technological sophistication with mobile technology influenced Generation Y to spread positive or negative service experiences, rather than satisfactory recovery experiences. Family influence had a mixed influence on Generation Y subgroups (21-24 years old vs 25-35 years old) to engage in eWOM about their satisfactory or poor service experiences. In satisfactory recovery experiences, family influence showed no significant influence on Generation Y’s eWOM behaviors.

This study enriches online reviews and eWOM marketing theories, adds to service failure and recovery literature and enhances understanding of consumer behavior expressed by Generation Y through the empirical investigation of Generation Y consumers’ behavioral motivations to engage in eWOM through social media and mobile technology.

Engaging Generation Y consumers with social media campaigns and mobile technology development is not merely sufficient in eWOM marketing strategies. Instead, it is essential to create integrative peer communities to motivate Generation Y consumers to engage in eWOM marketing. Marketers need to pay attention to the mixed effects of family influences on the eWOM behaviors of subgroups of Generation Y in positive or negative service experiences.

Given the scarcity of consumer behavior research into Generation Y as an emerging market segment, this paper makes an incremental contribution by developing and validating a model of factors that influence Generation Y consumers’ eWOM intentions through social networking and mobile technologies in three major service contexts: positive, negative and recovery following a service failure.

As YouTubers began to create videos about their personal experience of using products, these video testimonials have become a powerful form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). This study aims to investigate the mediating role of self-effect and third-person effect in the relationships between eWOM seeking and passing along YouTube product review videos (video-based eWOM – vWOM) as a specific form of eWOM.

The paper used a survey to interview a total of 282 respondents at a public university in the Midwest USA with about 18,000 students.

The results show that perceived third-person effect leads to sharing more positive vWOM, while perceived self-effect results in a high likelihood of passing along negative vWOM. The general eWOM consumption does not have a direct effect on the sharing of vWOM. In addition, the YouTube sharing habit contributes to sharing vWOM regardless of valence.

The results provide marketers’ insights on how to utilize the social media such as YouTube to improve the visibility of promotional brand messages. Sharing of positive vWOM is due to perceived third-person effect (presumed influence), but sharing negative vWOM is due to perceived self-effect. It also suggests marketers take immediate remedial measures to avoid spreading of negative reviews to other users because if viewers are persuaded to think it could happen to themselves as well, they will spread the video.

The paper has theoretical implications. It contributes to the third-person effect and presumed influence literature by exploring its role in spreading the word for products. It also fills the gap in effects of eWOM literature by examining the mediating role of the valence of video-based eWOM in the spread of eWOM.

This study aims to investigate if different types of negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) have various negative effects on the attitude of the consumer toward a product (Laptop) and whether this newfound attitude remains unaffected by the subsequent influence of positive eWOM.

A quantitative study in Germany was conducted. In the two-part experimental setting, first, a factorial repeated-measures between-subjects design was used in which the types of negative eWOM have been manipulated. The second part is characterized by a mixed between–within subjects design to test the durability of attitudinal changes.

The results demonstrate that destructive and ethical eWOM only provoke a small decline in consumer attitude compared to functional product criticism. Furthermore, the examination shows that renewed positive eWOM can improve the attitude, whereas ethical criticism is the most difficult to correct.

The study views negative eWOM differentiated. Researchers could adopt this approach by analyzing online communication more precisely. Ambivalent relationships between negative eWOM and their outcomes can be explained.

The findings lessen the fear of permanent loss of brand reputation caused by negative reviews. The harmful effects on the attitude can be compensated through targeted marketing management actions. The study shows which content companies need to focus on.

Previous literature has predominantly overlooked the complex nature of negative eWOM. Therefore, the study provides first empirical results about the divergent effect of different content types of negative eWOM on consumer attitude toward a product. Additionally, the durability of consumer negativity could be measured over time.

Academics and managers scour to understand which perceived quality factors are paramount to consumers during their restaurant experiences and how they influence their emotions, satisfaction, propensity to loyalty and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). However, previous studies are divergent regarding the impacts of satisfaction on eWOM. This survey aims to (a) investigate the impacts of perceived quality by restaurant consumers on positive emotions, negative emotions and satisfaction; (b) verify the impacts of satisfaction on the propensity to loyalty and eWOM; (c) test whether the consumers’ behavioural engagement in the SNS (CBE-SNS) moderates the relationship between satisfaction and eWOM.

This survey included 416 university students in Peru who completed an electronic form about their experiences at à la carte restaurants. PLS-SEM tested the hypothetical model based on S-O-R Theory (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974).

The perceived quality by consumers regarding their restaurant experiences positively impacts satisfaction and positive emotions and negatively affects negative emotions. Satisfaction strongly influences the propensity to loyalty but weakly the eWOM. The CBE-SNS moderates the intensity of the relationship between satisfaction and eWOM.

This study is the first to concomitantly test the relationships between perceived quality, positive and negative emotions, satisfaction, the propensity to loyalty, e-WOM and CBE-SNS. Consumer engagement moderates the relationship between satisfaction and eWOM. Accordingly, to stimulate positive eWOM, restaurants must provide their customers with experiences with high perceived quality, impacting their satisfaction, emotions and propensity for loyalty, and developing strategies to increase CBE-SNS.

Consumers tend to form their perceptions about a company via two associations: corporate ability (CA) that centers on expertise in producing quality products and corporate social responsibility (CSR) that focuses on societal obligations. To date, investigations on the adoption of such association-based corporate communication strategies are yet to address the interactive and multi-source features of social media. Drawing theoretical insights from corporate associations and the warranting principle, the purpose of this paper is to fill the gap and examine the joint effect of association-based corporate posting strategy and corresponding electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) comment valence on social media.

A three (corporate posting strategy: CSR vs CA vs hybrid (CSR + CA)) by two (eWOM comment valence: positive vs negative) between-subjects experiment (n=193) was conducted.

The effect of corporate posting strategy on consumers’ CSR associations was found to be significant only when eWOM comment valence was positive. Significant main effects of both posting strategy and eWOM comment valence were found on CA associations, perceived corporate reputation, and purchase intention.

This study extends the theoretical framework of corporate associations to the interactive context on social media and provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of association-based posting strategies when they are jointly presented with eWOM comments at different valence levels. Findings of this study also provide implications for business and communication professionals to communicate with consumers on social media more effectively.

This study investigates how autonomous vehicle (AV)-related electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) of different polarities affects attitude and perceived risk from the perspectives of both passengers and pedestrians and whether any gender differences exist. It also seeks to identify AV-adoption user archetypes.

An online experiment was conducted, manipulating eWOM polarity (positive, negative or mixed) as a between-participants factor.

While eWOM polarity did not affect attitude, perceived risk was the highest in the mixed eWOM condition. Males and females differed from each other in terms of attitude toward AVs from a passenger perspective, attitude toward AVs from a pedestrian perspective and perceived risk for passengers in AVs. Four AV-adoption user archetypes were identified: AV watchfuls, AV optimists, AV nonchalants and AV skeptics.

The paper contributes to the AV adoption literature by adding the effects of eWOM. It not only sheds light on how AV-related eWOM polarity affects attitude and perceived risk but also teases out nuances from the perspectives of passengers and pedestrians as a function of gender.