POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE E-WOM INFLUENCE ON CONSUMER ETHNOCENTRISM

Yang Sun,Hector Gonzalez-Jimenez,Shenghui Wang 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2018 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2018 No.07

E-WOM is described as all informal communications directed at consumers through Internet-based technology related to the usage or characteristics of particular goods and services, or their sellers (Litvin, Goldsmith and Pan, 2008). In contrast with conventional WOM, e-WOM has unique characteristics. For instance, it often occurs in strangers or fellow consumers, and can be and can be anonymous (Goldsmith & Horowitz 2006; Sen & Lerman 2007). In this regard, people feel free to express opinions without identity disclosure (Goldsmith & Horowitz 2006). INTRODUCTION In a word dominated by social media, the diffusion of e-WOM is undoubtedly speeding up. Plus the international trade prevailing, people can experience products from all over the world at home, and they typically collect both positive and negative e-WOM for domestic and foreign brands with the aim of comprehensively evaluating the brands and their products. It is worth mentioning that in reality consumers often adheres to consumer ethnocentrism (CE) to counter the significant effects of imports on domestic economies and defend against foreign products in local markets. So far, there has been relatively little research on the effect of e-WOM on CE. In our study, we employ social media to discover the impacts of e-WOM on CE with respect to domestic and foreign smart phone brands from the Chinese e-WOM receiver’s perspective. Simultaneously, we test consumer pride and prejudice toward mature industries in the home country. Drawing on survey data from 302 consumers, our study reveals several significant findings. First, positive e-WOM regarding local brands may enhance CE, whereas positive e-WOM regarding foreign brands may reduce CE. Second, Negative e-WOM may break the advantage of CE for domestic brand, which result in the dominance of foreign brand. Third, positive e-WOM may enhance brand equity for both domestic and foreign brands. By contrast, negative e-WOM has no significant influence on Chinese consumers’ attitude toward brand equity. Finally, CE has positive influence on brand equity for domestic brand but not effect on foreign brand. To our best of knowledge, our paper is the first to study the effect of e-WOM on CE, which enriches the relevant theory with regard to CE.

A Study on e-WOM about Product Information Diffusion

Kim, Hye-Ran 한국상품학회 2017 商品學硏究 Vol.35 No.4

The growth of the Internet and industry has led to more interest in online marketing communication and electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM). Opinions transmitted via the texts in virtual social networks become more persuasive to consumers than promotion information provided by firms and thus importance of e-WOM is growing in marketing research. This research examines factors which have a significant impact on e-WOM information diffusion and consider both characteristics of e-WOM senders and receivers, and perceived credibility of e-WOM as moderating variable. An online survey collected 543 usable responses. Both characteristics are found to significantly influence e-WOM information diffusion. They are associated with the perceived credibility of e-WOM information. The perceived credibility of e-WOM has an impact on e-WOM information diffusion. This research will contribute to the e-WOM research field by considering both roles of e-WOM participants and their effects. Practitioners can gain a better perspective of an advertising strategy by encouraging influential individuals as promoters and providing various communication tools.

ANTECEDENTS OF E-WOM INFORMATION DIFFUSION

Hayran Kim,Byeong-Joon Moon 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2016 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2016 No.7

The rapid development of the internet has enlarged the scale and scope of marketing communication and supported a base for electronic word–of-mouth (e-WOM). According to Bickart and Schindler (2001), e-WOM usually includes personal experiences and opinions transmitted via the written words in virtual social networks. Studies on e-WOM in virtual communities suggest that e-WOM strongly influences attitudes and behaviors of consumers and thus importance of e-WOM is growing in marketing communication and advertising. Accordingly, a lot of researchers have investigated to identify factors influencing e-WOM activity. Noticeably, characteristics of e-WOM receivers (e.g. Awad & Ragowsky, 2008; Godes & Mayzlin, 2004) and usage experiences of e-WOM in Social Network Service (SNS) (e.g. Flanagin & Metzer, 2000; Johnson, Kaye, Bicard, & Wong, 2008) have been frequently examined. These factors are expected to contribute to a research model in the current research. Based on previous studies, this research investigates factors which have a positive impact on diffusion of e-WOM information. Specifically, three characteristics of e-WOM receivers are suggested as antecedents: perception of instrumentality of e-WOM, perception of usefulness of e-WOM, and perception of trust in e-WOM. In addition, a moderating variable is proposed: usage experiences of e-WOM. A Structured questionnaire is designed to measure the proposed factors and diffusion of e-WOM information with a five-point Likert scale. An online survey is used to collect responses of consumers who have experienced e-WOM information on a certain goods or services in SNS within the last three months. 358 usable responses are used for statistical analyses to examine the proposed research model. This study will contribute to the e-WOM research field where there is little published work to identify characteristics of e-WOM receivers and their effects on diffusion of e-WOM information, suggest the model of information processing of e-WOM, and consider both roles of e-WOM receivers and senders of consumers. It may also provide managerial implications to devise a better marketing communication strategy by harnessing e-WOM and encouraging influential individuals as considerable promoters to shape the scope of advertising and e-WOM processes.

Persuasion effect of e-WOM: The Impact of Involvement and Ambiguity Tolerance

Chih-Chien Wang,Yi-Ting Wang 한국마케팅과학회 2010 마케팅과학연구 Vol.20 No.4

Prior to purchasing a new product, consumers search external information about the product to make a well-informed purchase decision and decrease the potential risk involved in buying products. Due to the popularity of Internet, e-WOM has already become an important information source for many consumers. The current study proposed the idea that the distribution and quantity of electronic word-of-mouth would be related to consumers’ purchase intentions. In addition, consumers’ personality trait of tolerance of ambiguity and involvement would also be related to purchase intention. Tolerance of ambiguity and personal involvement were as mediators for the influence of e-WOM on purchase intentions. This article conducted three studies in order to investigate the persuasion effects of e-WOM. A restaurant was selected as the target of e-WOM in all the three studies. Authors created a simulated online community for a gourmet restaurant in order to manipulate the experimental variables for the three studies. Study 1 examined the impact of consumers’ characteristics of tolerance of ambiguity and involvement on the persuasion effects of e-WOM. This article recruited 122 voluntary participants in an online community. After deleting redundant responses and responses with missing data, a remaining 83 completed responses were accepted for data analysis. Study 1 adopted Partial Least Squares (PLS) to test the influence of involvement and ambiguity tolerance on purchase intention. The explanatory power of the construct was 19.4% for purchase intention and the path linkages from consumers’ tolerance of ambiguity and involvement to purchase intention were all significant. This study results displayed that a positive relationship between involvement and purchase intention and a negative relationship between ambiguity tolerance and purchase intention. Study 2 utilized a three factorial design to test the relationship between the quantity of e-WOM and purchase intention. Three web pages containing one, five, or fifteen customer reviews were created as experimental scenarios. Study 2 recruited 150 participants in total. After deleting redundant responses and responses with missing data, the remaining 98 completed responses were accepted for data analysis. An ANOVA analysis revealed significant differences in consumers’ purchase intention among three groups of e-WOM quantity (F(2,95)=3.55, p<.05). The e-WOMs with five and 15 customer reviews influenced respondents to visit the restaurant, while the e-WOM with one customer review did not. Study 2 also used a t-test analysis to examine the differences in purchase intention between groups of one and 15 customer reviews. The results revealed that high involvement consumers reported higher purchase intentions in the 15 customer review group than in the one customer review (t=2.35, p<.05). Study 3 utilized a three factorial design to test the influence of distribution of e-WOMs on purchase intention. It included three e-WOM rating score distributions: J-shape, U-shape, and inverted U-shape (normal distribution). Study 3 recruited a total of 329 participants. After deleting redundant responses and responses with missing data, the remaining 215 completed responses were accepted for data analysis. ANOVA analysis showed a significant difference in purchase intentions among groups with different e-WOM rating score distributions (F(2, 212)=3.59, p<.05). Participants reported higher intention to dine at the restaurant when the rating score distribution was J-shape. The ANOVA results also found that the impact of e-WOM distribution on persuasion effect existed only in the high involvement group. For high involvement consumers, J-shape e-WOMs increase consumers purchase intention compared to other distributions. Base on the analyses of the three empirical studies, this article revealed that e-WOMs were more persuasive for individuals with high involvement and low ambiguity tolerance. Low ambiguity tol...

ATTACHMENT STYLES AND ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH (E-WOM) ADOPTION IN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Min-Sook Park,Jong-Kuk Shin,Yong Ju 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2016 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2016 No.7

Research Background Electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) is becoming an important marketing tools in social media era. Consumes are accustomed to sharing information with others in social networking sites (SNSs), such as, Facebook, Twitter, etc. e-WOM is defined as “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet” (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh, & Gremler, 2004, p. 39). As referred by Cheung and Thadani (2012), e-WOM adoption is one of the most important response variables in e-WOM research. The information adoption model is widely used in prior studies and showed that e-WOM credibility and information usefulness have a direct positive effect on e-WOM adoption (Cheung, Luo, Sia, & Chen, 2009; Liu & Zhang, 2010). e-WOM credibility is related to the communicator’s expertise and trustworthiness, information usefulness is related to the contents-related characteristics (such as positive or negative view and volume, etc.). Moreover, receiver’s prior knowledge and involvement to the product/service are proved to have a moderate effect on the e-WOM adoption (Doh & Hwang, 2009; Park & Kim, 2009). Existing e-WOM adoption researches are overly depend on information adoption model and only focusing on the communicator and contents role but neglect the receiver’s role. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between receiver’s attachment styles and e-WOM adoption response. We assumed that receiver’s psychology characteristics will have an important effect on their e-WOM adoption in SNSs, it is the precondition for consider the communicator and content. Thus, attachment theory is used in this study to examine what kind of individuals will adopt the e-WOM information in SNSs. Relevant Theory Attachment theory is used in this study. Attachment theory attempts to explain the affectionate bonds formed between infants and their primary caregivers (Bowlby, 1969) and transfers to other interpersonal relationships later in life (Ainswworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). The early relationship between infants and caregivers can help a child develop an internal working model, which can guide the child’s thoughts, behaviors, and affect other relationships (Weimer, Kerns, & Oldenburg, 2004). These relationships not only include romantic relationships and friendships (Bowlby, 1969) but also include the attachment to possessions, brands, sports teams, and business partners (Grinstein & Nisan, 2009; Kleine, Kleine III, & Allen, 1995). Attachment styles can be formed from two dimensions: attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998). The avoidance dimension refers to the degree that an individual’s view of others is positive or negative, whereas the anxiety dimension refers to the degree that an individual’s view of self is positive or negative. Avoidance dimension is related to the degree that individuals have a need for self-reliance, fear depending on others, distrust partners, and tend to keep emotional and cognitive distance away from partners (Brennan et al., 1998; Collins & Read, 1990).

연구논문 : 관광지에 대한 온라인 구전 특성이 구전수용 및 관광지 방문의도에 미치는 영향

신동식 ( Dong Shik Shin ) 대한관광경영학회 2012 觀光硏究 Vol.27 No.2

본 연구는 관광지와 관련된 웹사이트를 방문한 방문자들을 대상으로 관광지에 대한 온라인 구전 정보의 수용에 영향을 미치는 요인에 대해 검정하고자하는 연구이다. 이를위해 Sussman & Seigal(2003), 임종원·이은영(2007), 오종철(2011)에 의해 제시된 구전정보채택모형을 근거로 관광지에 대한 구전 정보의 수용에 미치는 요인들을 선행요인 도출하고 이를 바탕으로 구전정보 수용과 관광지방문의도에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 탐색적 실증방법을 통해 검정한다. 또한 관광지에 대한 관여도 및 구전정보의 최신성 정도에 따라 구전정보에 대한 개인적 지각이 어떻게 달라지는지를 실증분석을 통해 검정하고자 한다. 가설의 검정을 중심으로 본 연구의 실증분석 결과를 정리하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 관광지에 대한 구전정보의 품질, 구전정보의 신뢰, 구전정보의 유용은 모두 구전정보 수용의 유의한 영향을 미치는 선행요인으로 나타났다. 특히 구전정보의 유용함 지각은 구전정보의 수용에 가장 큰 영향을 미치는 요인임을 알 수 있었다. 둘째, 관광지에 대한 구전정보의 수용을 통해 소비자들은 관광지에대한 방문의도 및 관광상품에 대한 인터넷상에서의 구매의도를 갖게 되는 것으로 나타났다. 끝으로 구전정보는 관광지에 대한 관여도가 높으며 보다 최신의 정보에 의해 높게 평가되는 것으로 나타났다. 이를 통해 온라인을 통한 여행상품 판매 촉진 및 관광지 홍보에 대한 전략적 시사점 및 학문적 시사점을 제안하고자 한다. It is generally perceived that word-of mouth(WOM) communications have stronger persuasiveness and effectiveness compared to other marketing channels because of their informal and non-commercial features. In particular, in the case of tourism products, it is impossible to evaluate them prior to actual consumption taking place due to their built in intangiblility, and the level of risk perception is high, and as a result, reference group evaluation most likely has material influence over purchase intent decision among customers. Therefore, this study aimed at empirically evaluate how e-WOM attributes( WOM Quality, WOM credibility and WOM Usefulness) influence acceptance of WOM information and WOM effects with the intent to seek out perceptions, responses, and behavior intention with regard to tourism WOM information in the online context. A preliminary analysis to identify appropriate measurement dimensions including factor analysis, correlation analysis, and reliability and validity analysis was conducted and then Structural Equation Modeling and indefendant sampling t-test were performed to test the hypotheses under consideration. The contents and results of this study are summarized as follows. First, e-WOM Quality, e-WOM Credibility and e-WOM Usefulness were related positively to e-WOM acceptance, Second, e-WOM acceptance were related positively to intention to visit. Third, the e-WOM information of the up-to-date showed higher scores the e-WOM information of time-honored. Finally, the e-WOM information of highly involved consumers showed higher scores the e-WOM information of lowly involved consumers.

WHY DO NEGATIVE E-WOM MESSAGES SOMETIMES POSITIVELY INFLUENCE CONSUMER ATTITUDE?

Mai Kikumori,Akinori Ono 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2016 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2016 No.7

With the advent of the Internet in the United States, Japan, and other developed countries, electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) consumer reviews have come into vogue. While most studies have shown that negative e-WOM has negative effects on consumer attitude, some recent studies implied that the existence of negative e-WOM on a single website can enhance consumer attitude toward the website. However, no research has not identified the conditions for the positive effects of negative e-WOM. Thus, we investigate the moderating effects of the types of receivers, reviews, and products. Also, we investigate the moderating effects of the order of positive and negative e-WOM reviews posted in a single website. The effects of four factors are investigated —product characteristic (utilitarian vs. hedonic), review characteristic (attribute- vs. benefit-centric), receiver characteristic (expert vs. novice), and the orders of negative e-WOM (top vs. bottom) when the ratios of positive to negative e-WOM reviews are 10:0, 8:2, and 6:4. A laboratory experiment with virtual e-WOM sites is utilized. Four hundred twenty students participate in the experiment. All hypotheses are supported in at least 5% levels. The results of ANOVA show that negative e-WOM has positive effects on consumer attitudes towards products in the case of hedonic products and expert consumers reading attribute-centric review. Moreover, negative e-WOM has a greater positive effect when it is at the top of the website as opposed to at the bottom. This study contributes to our current understanding of e-WOM effects on consumer behavior.

외식업체의 비대면서비스 사용성, 고객만족, e-Wom, 브랜드몰입 간의 구조관계 - 비대면서비스 유형의 조절효과를 중심으로 -

박지원,이형룡 한국관광학회 2021 관광학연구 Vol.45 No.4

The trend of contact-free consumption is expected to continue into the future along with the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the food service industry. This paper aims to find the structural relationship among restaurant self-service usability, customer satisfaction, e-Wom, and brand commitment. The samples mainly targeted consumers who have experienced kiosk and mobile food ordering apps within the latest month in Korea. Hypotheses were tested through Confirmatory factor analysis, Structural equation modeling, and Multi-group analysis to investigate the effect of self-service usability, its contribution to customer satisfaction and e-Wom. The results are summarized as follows: The four factors of self-service usability (ease of use, accessibility, learnability, and scalability) had a significantly positive effect on customer satisfaction. However, only two factors (accessibility and scalability) had a significantly positive effect on e-Wom. Additional findings from this study demonstrate the role of moderating variables. The result implies that not only kiosk user’s satisfaction, but also mobile app user’s e-Wom is practically important and it has to be preceded by in order to expect customer’s brand commitment. Overall, results of this study suggest that different marketing strategies will be needed for customers’ self-service adoption and successful experience with usability. This study draws scholarly interest by providing useful information about which of self-service usability’s factor should be preceded by strengthening high levels of customer satisfaction and e-Wom. Based on the analysis results, this study proposes practical implications on how to carry the customer’s brand commitment out effectively by using self-service, and suggests operational decision making tips for considering self-service marketing strategies especially in food service industry. 코로나19 팬데믹과 더불어 외식업의 비대면서비스 문화는 일상의 문화로 자리매김할 것이 예상된다. 비대면서비스에 대한 전반적인 인식과 이후 나타나는 고객의 반응은 비대면서비스를 사용할 때의 경험으로부터 시작되므로 비대면서비스 사용성을 통해 고객의 태도를 검증하는 것은 중요한 과제이다. 이에 이 연구는 최근 1개월 이내 외식업체의 비대면서비스(예: 키오스크, 모바일 어플리케이션 등)를 이용하여 주문과 결제를 직접 진행한 경험이 있는 일반 소비자를 대상으로 비대면서비스 사용성, 고객만족, e-Wom, 그리고 브랜드몰입에 간의 구조관계를 확인하였다. 가설검증을 위해 빈도분석, 확인적요인분석, 구조모형분석, 다중집단분석 등을 진행하였으며, 고객만족과 e-Wom에 영향을 미치는 비대면서비스 사용성 요인을 밝히고 각 요인의 상대적 중요도를 확인하였다. 그 결과, 비대면서비스 사용성의 모든 요인(사용용이성, 접근성, 학습성, 확장성)은 고객만족에 기여하는 것으로 나타났으며, 비대면서비스 사용성의 두 개 요인(접근성, 확장성)만이 e-Wom에 기여하는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 추가로 비대면서비스 유형에 따른 조절효과를 검증한 결과, 키오스크 사용자 집단일수록 고객만족을 통한 브랜드몰입의 형성이 중요했고, 모바일 어플 사용자 집단일수록 e-Wom을 통한 브랜드몰입의 형성이 중요하였다. 종합하면 이 연구의 결과는 외식업체 비대면서비스 사용성 요인 중 어떤 요인을 강화하였을 때 고객만족과 e-Wom의 높은 수준을 기대할 수 있는지 확인함으로써 고객의 태도 및 행동과 관련된 학문적 관심을 제고하였으며, 외식기업이 고객만족과 e-Wom을 위한 전략을 수립할 때 실무적으로 살펴야 하는 요인이 다를 수 있음을 밝혔다. 분석 결과를 기반으로 비대면서비스 유형의 특성을 고려한 효율적인 의사결정 및 마케팅을 위한 실무적 시사점을 제안하였다.

SNS에서 e-WOM의 선행변수와 e-애호도에 관한 연구 : 한국과 몽골 이용자를 중심으로

김성호,강보경 한국무역통상학회 2018 무역통상학회지 Vol.18 No.2

This study aims to investigate the relationship between relational antecedents of SNS, e-WOM (e-Word of Mouth) and e-loyalty of SNS users in Korea and Mongolia. In order to achieve this goal, this study has reviewed literature on e-WOM definition and previous research. This study posits that relational antecedents of SNS(tie strength, homophily, trust) are positively related to e-WOM (opinion seeking, giving, passing) and e-WOM has a positive relationship with e-loyalty. The survey questionnaire was prepared by reviewing existing literature and expert opinions. The data used in this study were collected from university and graduate students in Korea and Mongolia. The results are as follows. First, it shows that the relational antecedents of SNS is positively related to e-WOM in Korean SNS. Mongolian users are slightly different from the empirical research results in Korea. Only Thai strength and trust affect the e-WOM of Mongolian SNS users. Second, e-WOM has a positive effect on e-loyalty of SNS users in Korea and Mongolia.

온라인 구매에서 e-WOM 커뮤니케이션의 수용

오종철(Oh, Jong-Chul) 대한경영학회 2011 大韓經營學會誌 Vol.24 No.6