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As fake information has become the norm on the internet, it is important to investigate how skepticism impacts an individual’s attitude toward word-of-mouth (eWOM). This study examines eWOM skepticism via three dimensions: suspicion of motivation, suspicion of truthfulness and suspicion of identity. It investigates not only which of the three dimensions is more influential in eWOM situations but also the variations and relationships among these three. Furthermore, this study evaluates how an individual’s dispositional trust and perceptions regarding structural assurance can impact each dimension, which in turn affects the assessment of the eWOM messages’ credibility.

Using an online scenario-based survey, data were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk from 195 participants in the U.S. PLS and cluster analysis were used to analyze the data.

The results reveal that the suspicion of identity play a major role in message credibility assessment and that people who are naturally less likely to trust others also hold higher suspicion of motivation and truthfulness. Further, structural assurance has significant negative effects on all three dimensions.

The findings highlight the importance of enhancing the protective measures on eWOM platforms and call for stricter regulations to prevent organizations from adopting deceptive eWOM propagandas.

This research contributes to the literature by exploring the impact of skepticism on eWOM message credibility assessment and helping to validate this newly created construct by considering eWOM skepticism as a formative construct.

Corporate-NGO partnerships are gaining increasing importance as part of a company's CSR effort. This study aims to understand which communication tactics (CSR motive, CSR message frame, CSR fit) lead to more positive consumer outcomes in the context of corporate-NGO partnerships, and whether consumer skepticism and consumer trust mediate the proposed relationships.

An online experiment was conducted (N = 298) to examine the theoretical predictions, involving a 2 (CSR motive: firm-serving/public-serving) x 2 (CSR message frame: narrative/expositive) x 2 (CSR fit: high/low) between-subjects design.

The results confirmed that consumer attitudes and electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) can be affected by CSR motives and CSR fit. Also, CSR skepticism and consumer trust both mediate the relationship of CSR motives and consumer outcomes.

The results of this study make a strong case for expressing public-serving CSR motives and refraining from firm-serving CSR motives when communicating about a corporate-NGO partnership to consumers.

Focusing on the communication tactics of corporate-NGO partnerships extends existing literature by uncovering whether and how the factors driving effective communication in other CSR activities can be applied to the context of corporate-NGO partnerships.

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 paper is to provide a comprehensive review on electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) credibility. Further, the authors propose a comprehensive and integrated model on eWOM credibility.

The authors conducted a systematic review of the extant literature on marketing, sociology and psychology to identify the factors that affect eWOM credibility. Further, the authors developed themes and identified factors which lead to eWOM credibility.

Four factors were identified, i.e. content, communicator, context and consumer, which affect eWOM credibility. Several variables associated with these four factors were identified, which result in eWOM credibility. Further, the authors developed 22 propositions to explain the causal relationship between these variables and eWOM credibility.

The conceptual model needs empirical validation across various eWOM platforms, i.e. social networking websites, e-commerce websites, etc.

Managers and e-commerce vendors can use these inputs to develop specific design elements and assessment tools which can help consumers to identify credible eWOM messages. Credible eWOM messages, in turn, will increase the “trust” and “loyalty” of the customers on e-commerce vendors.

This paper provides a conclusive takeaway of eWOM credibility literature by integrating multiple perspectives and arguments from the extant literature. This study also presents an integrated model, which provides a theoretical framework for researchers to further examine the interaction effect of various variables, which results in eWOM credibility.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-06-2020-0263

Considering the transition of communicational channels from physical to digital spaces, this study aims to provide a theoretical foundation for understanding engagement in electronic word of mouth (eWoM) among managers and customers in the hospitality and tourism industry.

This study uses the four aggregate dimensions, namely, performance expectancy, efforts expectancy, social influence and facilitations condition. Further, this paper uses the 14 second-order themes of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology with a data set that represents elements that can trigger eWoM, both from managers’ and customers’ perspectives. The process of data structuration follows thematic analysis and axial coding techniques.

The results of this study show that performance expectancy, facilitation conditions, social influence and effort expectancy all trigger positive eWoM generation in the hospitality and tourism industry indicating customers’ and managers’ perspectives.

This novel study provides a theoretical foundation and novel propositions for future research work on the role of novel antecedents that can trigger eWoM in the hospitality and tourism industry. This paper also provides a benchmark for practitioners and policymakers in their strategic decisions-making towards improving business performance through positive eWoM.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effect of homophily between trust in social media influencers (SMIs) and credibility of the post in influencer marketing by incorporating the similarity attraction theory (SAT) and analysing the effect of trust in SMIs on online purchase intention and credibility of the post. This study also explored the mediating role of influencers’ credibility of the post between trust in SMIs and online purchase intention.

The data were collected from 417 respondents in Jaipur, India, using an online questionnaire via Google Forms. A convenience sampling technique was employed to collect the data. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses with the help of SmartPLS version 4.

The results exhibit a positive and significant influence of trust in SMIs on credibility of the post and online purchase intention. Also, this study found a positive and significant relationship between credibility of the post and online purchase intention. Additionally, credibility of the post had a positive and significant mediation role in the relationship between trust in SMIs and online purchase intention. In addition, homophily positively moderated the relationship between trust in SMIs and credibility of the post.

The findings of this study can be used by marketing professionals working in the e-commerce industry to ensure their continued in success using the right influencers for their specific target audiences and help them create and implement more effective promotional strategies, increasing brand awareness, announcing sales, using them for creative content and so on.

Until now, there has been no study in the Indian context that has tested the moderation effect of homophily between the trust in SMIs and credibility of the post by incorporating the SAT, according to the researchers’ knowledge. Furthermore, this novel piece of research explored the relationship between trust in SMIs and online purchase intention with credibility of the post as a mediator.

The purpose of this study is to understand how perceived micro-celebrity-product image congruency and product type affect native advertising effectiveness on Instagram. Additionally, the study aims to understand how advertising skepticism and persuasion knowledge affect the effectiveness of native advertising featuring micro-celebrity.

This study was administered online using a 2 (product type: high self-expressive vs low self-expressive) × 2 (micro-celebrity and product congruity: congruent vs incongruent) between-subjects factorial design to test the hypotheses. A total of 186 participants, all Instagram users living in the USA, were recruited using an Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). After screening out 14 respondents who were not Instagram users or did not fully answer the questions, a total sample of 172 valid and complete responses were included for hypotheses testing.

The results revealed that when native advertising featured highly self-expressive products and micro-celebrities with good product image fit, consumers had a more positive attitude toward the ad and the brand, higher source credibility and higher electronic word-of-mouth intention. In addition, advertising skepticism was found to moderate the effect of micro-celebrity-product fit on source credibility.

This study is the first to examine the effect of micro-celebrity and product congruence on native advertising effectiveness. Moreover, the study provides a better understanding of the advertising skepticism and its influence on source credibility. It discusses why a micro-celebrity’s image is a critical factor in shaping attitudes toward native advertising. This study contributes to both the native adverting and influencer marketing literature.

This study examines the impact of social media activities on consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price (WTPp) in the banking industry, and investigates the role of consumer-brand identification (CBI) on this relationship. For the first time, the effect of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is considered separately from other social media marketing efforts (SMME).

Data from a sample of 145 banking customers that follow bank social networks was analysed using structural equation modelling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to test a proposed structural model.

Findings indicate that the effect of eWOM and SMME on WTPp is fully mediated by CBI. The results uncover a viable path to achieve WTPp in the banking industry, which includes the joint presence of SMME, eWOM and CBI.

The study was conducted on the banking sector of Portugal. It is advocated that further research would investigate the results in other service sectors, across different countries.

Findings highlight the importance of social media marketing in banking. Results reveal opportunities for managers in the banking sector to enhance CBI and ultimately WTPp, through SMME and eWOM.

The study is the first to consider the influence of SMME and eWOM as separate antecedents of WTPp. The findings indicate that the effect of eWOM and SMME on WTPp is fully mediated by CBI. In particular, the results of the fsQCA indicate that the combined presence of SMME, eWOM and CBI, is sufficient to obtain WTPp.

Despite the extensive academic interest in electronic word of mouth (eWOM) communication, consumer attitudes toward eWOM communication have been neglected. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for attitudes toward eWOM communication across digital channels.

Data were collected through a web-based survey on seven major digital communication channels. ANOVA was applied in order to analyze their differences. In addition, structural equation modeling was used to test the eWOM attitude model, using a sample of 864 participants who have had prior experience with the channels under study.

Findings indicate that both attitude toward eWOM and its antecedents significantly differ across channels. Additionally, a path analysis model reveals that the original integrated model applies to eWOM communications. Yet, in the case of eWOM, irritating messages may be positively related to attitude toward the channel, and credibility serves as a mediator of message value.

This paper supports the notion that attitude toward eWOM communication significantly differs across media channels. Future research should examine additional implications of attitude toward eWOM, and explore new and evolving channels.

Practitioners should adjust their eWOM media strategy to their objectives; blogs and social networks are more effective for brand attitude formation, whereas web forums enhance message credibility.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research study that tests attitudinal differences toward eWOM across digital channels. As such, it contributes to the understanding of people’s perception of these platforms.

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.