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Today, consumers play an active role in creating, generating and distributing the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) independent of marketers. Customer acquisition through referrals and word of mouth (WOM) has thus become an important goal for firms. In addition, mobile social networks have created valuable opportunities for eWOM. People are now able to discuss products and services of brands with their friends and acquaintances. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of eWOM information on consumers’ behavioral intentions in mobile social networks.

This study employed the information adoption model (IAM), theory of reasoned action and social exchange theory to investigate the influence of eWOM information on consumers’ behavioral intentions in mobile social networks. The study used 394 respondents to evaluate the proposed model using SmartPLS software.

Results show that the quality and credibility of eWOM information has a positive direct effect on perceived information usefulness. Attitude toward eWOM information mediates the influence of perceived information usefulness on information adoption. Also, attitude toward eWOM information has a significant positive influence on behavioral intentions, such as purchase intention and forwarding of eWOM information. However, information adoption does not have any significant relationship with the forwarding of eWOM information.

This study seeks to address the dearth of research in the field of mobile social networks, especially regarding eWOM information. The study proposes a new model and empirically validates the hypothesized relationships. This research can serve as a stepping-stone for future research in this field.

This research is one of the first studies focusing on the influence of eWOM information, especially in mobile social networks. The research offers comprehensive and empirically validated factors pertaining to eWOM information in mobile social networks. The results of this study may be useful also for practitioners and managers of online companies.

A new eWOM IAM in mobile social networks is proposed based on information characteristics and consumer behavior. The model is validated afterward.

The purpose of this paper is to examine what influence travelers’ adoption of online reviews, and whether the online reviews will influence their travel planning decisions.

Data were collected from 193 respondents from eWOM websites and analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The results revealed that eWOM has a significant influence on travel decisions. Furthermore, travelers were willing to adopt information from eWOM and this information was useful in their travel planning and decisions. Gender and time spent on online reviews were found to affect travel planning and decisions. Travelers also found that the reviews and issues raised in eWOM had credibility and were of good quality.

The study was not able to incorporate all factors which may be relevant to this study and so further theoretical development may be necessary to develop the conceptual model. The sample size, while adequate, can be expanded further.

Operators and administrators of eWOM can use these findings to develop more user-friendly interfaces so that more positive reviews and sales can be generated.

The results showed that travelers who adopt the information in eWOM will, in turn, use eWOM in their travel planning. This confirms the importance of eWOM and travelers in general will translate their pre-travel decisions into actual travel planning.

This research extended existing eWOM and information system adoption studies and focused on the travel planning context. This research validated the significant roles of eWOM argument quality and credibility in predicting the information usefulness of eWOM.

This study developed a new interpretation of the attitude contagion theory, with the information adoption model (IAM) as the theoretical basis. A review of electronic word-of-mouth studies was conducted by using informational and individual determinants to develop an integrated empirical model that identified the antecedents and consequences of consumer attitude toward online reviews.

This study recruited 750 members of Facebook beauty fan pages in Taiwan and used the structural equation model to test research hypotheses.

Results revealed that perceived “ electronic word-of mouth (eWOM) credibility of online reviews” and “product involvement” could be used to explain the effects of attitude toward online reviews. Regarding the attitude contagion effect, the effect of “attitude toward online review” on both “attitude toward a product” and “attitude toward a brand” is stronger than that on “eWOM adoption.”

This paper provides valuable insights into the antecedents, consequences and mediating mechanisms that determine consumer attitude toward online reviews.

Young consumers are increasing using electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in travel social networking sites to make purchase decisions. This paper aims to test the extended Information Adoption Model (IAM) that places perceived usefulness and information adoption as consequences of argument quality, source credibility, information quantity and emotive word comprehension, and as an antecedent of purchase intentions.

Data are collected through survey questionnaire from 405 hotel young customers in Malaysia, who had experienced travel social networking sites. The hypothesized relationships were analysed using structural equation modelling.

The results show that argument quality, source credibility, information quantity and emotive word comprehension have positive effect on the perceived usefulness of eWOM. Perceived usefulness has positive influence on the information adoption of eWOM, which in turn predicts the young consumers’ purchase intentions.

The present study strengthens and advances the existing literature on tourism, social media and marketing by offering an extension to the IAM. The proposed extended model of IAM is verified and applied effectively in the context of eWOM for travel social networking sites.

Practitioners and marketers of travel social networking sites can improve the usability and effectiveness of eWOM to attract more young consumers.

The study contributes to the extension of IAM by adding information quantity and emotive word comprehension. This research validated the significant roles of eWOM argument quality and source credibility in predicting the information usefulness of eWOM.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the model of enhancing the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) effects through the virtual community by discussing the relationship among sense of virtual community, social influence and eWOM effects.

This research adopted structural equation modeling to test the proposed model, and the structural model showed a good fit. This research sample consisted of 492 members who have used Facebook for at least half-a-year.

The results indicated that sense of virtual community had effects on normative influence, informative influence, and perceived eWOM review credibility. Both social influence and perceived eWOM review credibility had effects on eWOM review adoption. Social influence in virtual community partially mediated the relationship between virtual community members’ sense of virtual community and perceived eWOM review credibility. Virtual community members’ perceived eWOM review credibility partially mediated the relationship between normative/informative influence and eWOM review adoption.

This study discussed conclusions and managerial implications of the findings.

This research filled a void that most of the previous studies in this area focussed on a single social interaction perspective. The authors argued that community studies should incorporate and distinguish SOVC and social influence factors.

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.

With the ever-expanding online shopping, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become a significant factor affecting the consumer decision-making behaviour. This is specially the case when considering Generation Y (Millennials), who are old enough to be independent buyers and young to be almost immersed in online living. This article aims to assess the impact of eWOM on purchase intention by developing a conceptual model of hypotheses encompassing a multitude of factors that may be associated with this relationship.

The researcher investigates what factors impact eWOM credibility and make the consumer may adopt it when making a purchase. To examine our research model, a quantitative approach is employed for this purpose using a sample through online survey from Thailand – where there is a large number portion Generation Y consumer base.

It was found that source style as a visual attribute information is the most significant factor that may impact eWOM credibility in addition to source credibility, argument quality and source homophily, respectively.

From a practical point of view, it helps firms to understand what needs to be taken into consideration when building their marketing strategy.

This is believed to add significant insights into the eWOM literature by identifying its route of impact toward the purchase intention on Generation Y.

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is a digital marketing method that has been considered by some companies as an effective and efficient approach to enhance social learning and the environment for the customers. A social media user could benefit from gaining information from other users to aid their decision-making process. Instagram is an example of a social media platform that could be utilized for the application of eWOM. It could serve as a source of quality, credible and detailed information, and a channel to increase customer interactions and trust. This study aims to determine the effects of eWOM information generated through Instagram on patients’ intention to join the in vitro fertilization (IVF) programs. By adopting the information acceptance model (IACM) theory, several parameters were evaluated: information quality, credibility, usefulness, adoption, attitude toward information, and purchase intention. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze as many as 200 respondents of Morula IVF Jakarta and were active Instagram users. The results showed that the adoption of information and attitude toward information had considerably influenced patients’ intentions to join the IVF programs. Such circumstances might have occurred as a result of the increase in information exchange about IVF, through the discussions and sharing of experiences by patients on Instagram. Furthermore, information usefulness was demonstrated to affect information adoption and was influenced by the credibility of information and attitudes toward information. Nonetheless, one variable which did not display any effects on the usefulness of information was the quality of information. In summary, the characteristics of eWOM information that were conveyed on Instagram could affect the intention of patients in joining the IVF program.

E-recruiting has been a powerful tool for reaching the majority of job applicants around the world. Even though, previous literature has scarcely shed light on the factors responsible for the adoption of e-recruitment among job candidates. Originated from the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study aims to empirically examine the influence of online word-of-mouth in shaping job-seekers’ intentions for using e-recruitment websites.

A Google Docs-based online questionnaire was distributed via social media, LinkedIn and email to 740 participants, out of which 397 final responses were received. The partial least squares structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 3 was applied for evaluating the theoretical model.

This study empirically indicated that electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has a significant impact on perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU) and attitude. Whereas, PU and attitude fully mediate the relationship between eWOM and behavioral intentions (BI) of job-seekers towards e-recruitment.

This research contributes to the understanding of the relevance of eWOM in e-recruitment adoption. eWOM provides job-related information that plays a significant role in the usage of online recruitment systems such as LinkedIn, job portals and company websites. This study offered a valuable contribution to the existing body of literature on e-recruitment, developers and Web-based hiring service providers.

This investigation was the first attempt in the e-recruitment literature to explore the influence of eWOM on job-seekers’ intentions to adopt online recruitment platforms, including the mediating role of PU, PEOU and attitude in the association between eWOM and BI.

This paper aims to investigate customers' motives to engage with electronic word of mouth (eWOM), as well as the effect of eWOM on customer behavior, both at the purchase and post-purchase stages.

A qualitative approach was adopted, consisting of 30 semi-structured interviews with Thai consumers. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

Information validation, product evaluation, purchase and post-purchase validation are key motives for consumers to search for eWOM. Furthermore, eWOM quantity, eWOM credibility and attitudes toward eWOM play a critical role in evaluation of information usefulness and adoption. Moreover, five different types of shoppers were identified according to their purchase behavior after adapting eWOM: prompt shoppers, in-store shoppers, promotion shoppers, conservative shoppers and remedy shoppers.

While the implications of the adoption of eWOM have been explored in previous research, there is limited understanding in terms of the impacts of eWOM on the customer journey. This study addresses this research gap by investigating not only customers' motives to engage with eWOM but also its effect on their behavior at the purchase and post-purchase stages.