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This study aims to understand the effect of cultural dimension (individualism/ collectivism) on promotional rewards (social or economic) resulting in incentivizing consumers to engage in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), further impacting their repurchase intentions.

In Study 1, a 2 (culture: individualism vs collectivism) × 2 (promotional rewards: social vs economic) between-subjects design was used. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. In Study 2, culture was measured instead of just being manipulated. The authors used regression analysis in this study.

Owing to the characteristics of collectivistic individuals, consumers in collectivistic cultures were more likely to respond to social rewards as an incentive to engage in eWOM. However, consumers in individualistic cultures were more motivated to engage in eWOM when economic rewards were offered.

Despite the global nature of eWOM, little research has explored the effects of cultural traits on consumer response to amplified eWOM strategy. Additionally, though many organizations now offer various promotional incentives to reviewers, little research has explored the effects of promotional offers on a reviewer’s subsequent behavior, and no research has explored the relationship between cultural dimensions and current and future response to promotional eWOM rewards.

Although extant studies have investigated the antecedents of negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM), they treated it as a unidimensional concept without classification. To bridge this knowledge gap, this paper distinguishes rational negative eWOM (RNW) from emotional negative eWOM (ENW) and leverages the consumer value framework to investigate their drivers in the context of peer-to-peer accommodation platforms (PPAPs).

This study collected data through an online survey of 437 PPAP users. Partial least squares (PLS) were used to validate the proposed hypotheses. Further, the path coefficients comparison method was adopted to distinguish the different impacts of consumer values on RNW and ENW.

This research showed that self-presentation exerted a positive impact on RNW, but its relationship with ENW was insignificant. Anger and regret were, respectively, positively related to ENW and RNW. Besides, altruism exerted a positive effect on RNW, whereas it had a negative effect on ENW.

First, this paper makes a fresh attempt to categorize negative eWOM into RNW and ENW. Second, this paper draws upon the consumer value framework to dissect varied motivations for posting RNW versus ENW on PPAPs. Third, this paper empirically verifies the differential influences that consumer values exert on RNW and ENW.

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。

The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumer brand engagement (CBE) promotes brand love and eWOM within the influence of brand interactivity and consumer involvement, especially in the context of the smartphone industry and Chinese social media marketing. This study also examines the important role of brand love and gender in this relationship.

Data from 403 participants who are followers of the smartphone brand’s social media page was collected via an online survey. PLS-SEM was also used for examining the research model.

The findings of this research reveal that the (perceived) brand interactivity, and consumer involvement, are key factors influence CBE. As expected, brand love and consumers’ eWOM intention are significant outcomes of CBE. In particular, the relationship between CBE and consumers’ eWOM intention is mediated by brand love. However, gender did not moderate the proposed relationships.

By integrating social exchange theory and attribution theory, this study deepens the understanding of CBE and brand love by examining the relationship between brand interactivity, consumer involvement, CBE, brand love and eWOM in the context of smartphone and Chinese social media marketing.

This chapter examines how information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives affect customers’ everyday routines with an emphasis on how electronic word of mouth (eWOM) affects their purchasing decisions and determines if eWOM might serve as a useful trust factor when making purchasing decisions. This chapter is based on both primary and secondary data and examines how eWOM affects customers’ buying decisions in this era of increasing social media platform usage. One hundred individuals from various regions of Karachi provided the primary data, collected through an online survey. Secondary data are also employed, such as details from business websites, scientific papers, and other related publications of businesses. In Karachi’s developing digital market, it was discovered that eWOM via social media used to have a substantial impact on consumers’ shopping habits. The effectiveness of social media content depends greatly on how appropriate it is for the intended audience. Social media marketing doesn’t quite simply aim to improve consumers’ impressions or directly advertise things. It also entails maintaining and fostering relationships between businesses and prospective customers. According to the research, consumers’ recommendations and ratings of goods and services made on social media, whether through eWOM or another channel, influenced their decisions to buy. Customers consider social media to be trustworthy when making decisions about what to buy. Customers are currently adopting social media as opposed to more conventional means to learn about new products. Most customers believe that eWOM from social media greatly affected their shopping choices, according to the results of the study.

This study aims to fill various gaps detected in the literature on mass prestige (hereafter referred to as masstige) theory. The originality of the work stems from the multidimensional application of Paul’s (2015) model, the introduction of brand addiction as a construct from the consumer-brand relationship (CBR) theory within the context of wines and the exploration of a new and less studied sector in masstige strategies.

A structured questionnaire was distributed to collect data from masstige wine brand buyers in Portugal, of whom 166 completed the questionnaire correctly. A conceptual model was developed and tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The findings include that only two dimensions of Paul’s (2015) masstige scale affect brand addiction: brand knowledge and excitement and status. Brand addiction has a positive effect on brand loyalty and electronic word of mouth (eWOM), and brand loyalty has a positive impact on eWOM. Theoretical and managerial implications were explored.

This research added a CBR perspective to masstige theory and applied masstige theory to wine brands for the first time. These three distinctive aspects collectively contribute to the novelty and significance of the research, opening up exciting possibilities for future investigations and providing a valuable contribution to the academic community and the wine industry alike.

This paper aims to explore students’ intention to use and actual use of the artificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbot such as ChatGPT or Google Bird in the field of higher education in an emerging economic context like Bangladesh.

The present study uses convenience sampling techniques to collect data from the respondents. It applies partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for analyzing a total of 413 responses to examine the study’s measurement and structural model.

The results explore that perceived ease of use (PEOU) negatively affects intention to adopt AI-powered chatbots (IA), whereas university students’ perceived usefulness (PU) influences their IA positively but insignificantly. Furthermore, time-saving feature (TSF), academic self-efficacy (ASE) and electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM) have a positive and direct impact on their IA. The finding also reveals that students' IA positively and significantly affects their actual use of AI-based chatbot (AU). Precisely, out of the five constructs, the TSF has the strongest impact on students’ intentions to use chatbots.

Students who are not aware of the chatbot usage benefits might ignore these AI-powered language models. On the other hand, developers of chatbots may not be conscious of the crucial drawbacks of their product as per the perceptions of their multiple users. However, the findings transmit a clear message about advantages to users and drawbacks to developers. Therefore, the results will enhance the chatbots’ functionality and usage.

The findings of the study alert the teachers, students and policymakers of higher educational institutions to understand the positive outcomes and to accept AI-powered chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Outcomes also notify the AI-product developers to boost the chatbot’s quality in terms of timeliness, user-friendliness, accuracy and trustworthiness.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent and in what ways signaling theory has been explored within the field of international marketing. This paper systematically reviews the use of signaling theory in the field of international marketing. Communication is a core aspect of the international marketing process. Research in this field has explored effective and unique ways of improving the communication flow to reduce the asymmetry of information between international consumers and the firm. This notion is adopted, enhanced and strengthened by signaling theory. Signaling theory has recently received the attention of international marketing scholars.

The systematic review methodology was applied for the purpose of identifying the relevant studies. We extracted academic articles over the last 23 years from the domain of international marketing that directly contribute to signaling theory based on 57 journal articles extracted through the systematic review process.

Based on systematic research the results reveal that the topic has grown and continues to expand within the broader international marketing field. We offer a theoretical conceptual framework to better understand signaling theory in the context of international marketing.

The authors map and critically evaluate the use of signaling theory in international marketing. Relevance of signaling theory in international marketing is growing and authors present an integrative framework that organizes the existing literature, and provides scholars to further expand on emerging themes of the domain. The paper offers some useful future research directions.

Engaging in webcare, i.e. responding to online reviews, can positively affect consumer attitudes, intentions and behavior. Research is often scarce or inconsistent regarding the effects of specific webcare strategies on business performance. Therefore, this study tests whether and how several webcare strategies affect hotel bookings.

We apply machine learning classifiers to secondary data (webcare messages) to classify webcare variables to be included in a regression analysis looking at the effect of these strategies on hotel bookings while controlling for possible confounds such as seasonality and hotel-specific effects.

The strategies that have a positive effect on bookings are directing reviewers to a private channel, being defensive, offering compensation and having managers sign the response. Webcare strategies to be avoided are apologies, merely asking for more information, inviting customers for another visit and adding informal non-verbal cues. Strategies that do not appear to affect future bookings are expressing gratitude, personalizing and having staff members (rather than managers) sign webcare.

These findings help managers optimize their webcare strategy for better business results and develop automated webcare.

We look into several commonly used and studied webcare strategies that affect actual business outcomes, being that most previous research studies are experimental or look into a very limited set of strategies.

This study aims to investigate the impact of social media fitness influencers (SMFIs) on buyers’ purchase decisions by analyzing the factors that determine their influence. Furthermore, it aims to determine the relative influence of different genders of SMFIs on buyers’ decisions regarding supplement purchases.

The research consisted of two phases: a contextual study examining the characteristics of social media influencers and their impact on supplement purchase decisions and a comparative study comparing the influence of different genders of social media influencers. A survey was conducted online involving 426 Thai social media users who follow influencers to obtain the results for both phases.

The results revealed that information credibility and expertise were significant characteristics of SMFIs that had a significant impact on buyers’ purchase decisions. However, other characteristics such as the number of followers, content and attractiveness of SMFIs did not show any correlation with the buyers’ purchase decisions. Additionally, the study identified a positive influence of gender matching between SMFIs and respondents on purchase decisions.

This study emphasizes how the characteristics of social media influencers in Thailand influence buyers’ decisions to purchase dietary supplements.