The notion of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication has received considerable attention in both business and academic communities. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the ...effectiveness of eWOM communication. The scope of published studies on the impact of eWOM communication is large and fragmented and little effort has been made to integrate the findings of prior studies and evaluate the status of the research in this area. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of eWOM research. Building upon our literature analysis, we used the social communication framework to summarize and classify prior eWOM studies. We further identified key factors related to the major elements of the social communication literature and built an integrative framework explaining the impact of eWOM communication on consumer behavior. We believe that the framework will provide an important foundation for future eWOM research work.
► We conducted a systematic review in the domain of eWOM communication research. ► 47 articles were identified and 25 of them were used in our literature analysis. ► We used the social communication framework to summarize and classify prior eWOM studies. ► We then developed and proposed an integrative framework for the impact of eWOM communication.
Along with the growth of Internet and electronic commerce, online consumer reviews have become an important source of information that assists consumers to make purchase decision. However, ...theoretical development and empirical testing in this area of research are still limited, which greatly hinder us from understanding the influence of online reviews. Drawing upon the heuristic–systematic model from the literature of dual-process theories, we develop a research model to identify factors that are important to consumers' purchase decision-making. The model is empirically tested with 191 users of an existing online review site. We find that argument quality of online reviews (systematic factor), which is characterized by perceived informativeness and perceived persuasiveness, has a significant effect on consumers' purchase intention. In addition, we find that source credibility and perceived quantity of reviews (heuristic factors) have direct impacts on purchase intention. The two heuristic factors further demonstrate positive influences on argument strength. This result is consistent with the proposition of bias effect in the heuristic–systematic model, which elucidates the interrelationship between heuristic and systematic factors. Based on the findings, we discuss implications for both researchers and practitioners.
•We develop a heuristic–systematic model to examine the influence of online reviews.•Three systematic and heuristic factors are proposed to affect behavioral intention.•Argument quality is defined with informativeness and persuasiveness dimensions.•Source credibility and perceived quantity of reviews are the two heuristic factors.•The two heuristic factors produce significant bias effects on argument quality.
•People engage in self-disclosure on social media to stay connected with others during the pandemic.•We observe a shift in which disclosures serve the public good and which are considered socially ...inappropriate.•We propose using the self-focus and other-focus perspectives to explain pandemic-related self-disclosure on social media.•We present a research agenda and discuss practical insights.
As social distancing and lockdown orders grew more pervasive, individuals increasingly turned to social media for support, entertainment, and connection to others. We posit that global health emergencies - specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic - change how and what individuals self-disclose on social media. We argue that IS research needs to consider how privacy (self-focused) and social (other-focused) calculus have moved some issues outside in (caused by a shift in what is considered socially appropriate) and others inside out (caused by a shift in what information should be shared for the public good). We identify a series of directions for future research that hold potential for furthering our understanding of online self-disclosure and its factors during health emergencies.
The advance of the Internet facilitates consumers to share and exchange consumption-related advice through online consumer reviews. This relatively new form of word-of-mouth communication, electronic ...word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication, has only recently received significant managerial and academic attention. Many academic studies have looked at the effectiveness of positive eWOM communication, examining the process by which eWOM influences consumer purchasing decisions. eWOM behavior is primarily explained from the individual rational perspective that emphasizes a cost and benefit analysis. However, we felt there was a need for an extensive study that examines consumers' motives for eWOM. In this paper, we focus on the factors that drive consumers to spread positive eWOM in online consumer-opinion platforms. Building on the social psychology literature, we identified a number of key motives of consumers' eWOM intention and developed an associated model. We empirically tested the research model with a sample of 203 members of a consumer review community, OpenRice.com. The model explains 69% of the variance, with reputation, sense of belonging and enjoyment of helping other consumers significantly related to consumers' eWOM intention. The results of this study provide important implications for research and practice.
► In this study, we developed a model examining motives of consumers’ eWOM intention. ► We tested the model with a sample of 203 members of a consumer review community. ► The model explains 69 percent of the variance. ► Reputation, sense of belonging, and enjoyment of helping are significant factors.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of user engagement in the context of online brand communities. A research model is proposed to explain how brand loyalty is developed ...through user engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
– The research model was empirically tested with an online survey study of 185 current Facebook users.
Findings
– Results revealed that user engagement influenced brand loyalty both directly and indirectly through online community commitment. Users tend to focus on the benefits (rather than the costs) derived from the usage when they engage in an online brand community.
Research limitations/implications
– The selection of respondents is bound to the Hong Kong area, while Facebook members are globally distributed. In addition, this study involved a cross-sectional design instead of investigating the development of brand loyalty from a long-term perspective.
Practical implications
– The results inform e-marketers the importance of user engagement behaviors for building brand loyalty through online communities. Strategies that encourage members to engage in online brand communities on social networking sites such as Facebook are also provided.
Originality/value
– The concept of user engagement in online brand communities is still poorly understood, underscoring the need for theoretically based research of user engagement. This paper enriches the knowledge in the area of brand engagement by presenting a research model that introduces the concept of user engagement in social media research and empirically examines its role in building brand loyalty in online brand communities.
Our research model expanded the Bhattacherjee's IS continuance model by adding a moderating effect (IS habit) to IS continuance intention and IS continued usage, postulating direct links between ...satisfaction and IS continued usage, as well as between prior behavior and IS continued usage. The model was tested with an Internet-based learning technology in a longitudinal setting. Data collected from 505 students were examined using partial least squares analysis. The results presented strong support for the theoretical links of IS continuance model, and for the new moderating effect. Both satisfaction and prior behavior were found to have significant impact on IS continuance. In addition, our findings confirmed the theoretical argument that the strength of intention to predict continuance was weakened by a high level of IS habit.
As competing technological choices emerge in the marketplace, an inevitable consequence is user switching from one IT product or service to another. However, we know very little of this phenomenon or ...the key drivers of user switching. We examined the reasons for IT switching by proposing a model that synthesized and extended current theories of IT acceptance and customer satisfaction. We believed that IT switching was driven by user dissatisfaction with an incumbent product or service and the fact that the customer was aware of the availability of a potentially superior product or service. Further, to explain differential switching patterns across an adopter population, we posited personal innovativeness as an individual difference variable that moderated the effect of user dissatisfaction and relative advantage of a new IT on users’ switching intention. Our model was empirically validated using a longitudinal survey of web browser switching among student subjects. We hope that our study will generate researchers’ interest in an understudied area of research and that the model will serve as a starting point for furthering our understanding of IT switching.
With the prevalence of social media, a great deal of research has examined consumer engagement in social media brand communities. However, we lack a holistic understanding of the phenomena. Given the ...importance and relevance of this topic to Information Systems researchers, this study aims to summarise the current state of research on the topic and identify research gaps. Following the descriptive search approach, this study identifies and analyses 134 articles. Our analysis shows that prior studies adopted various research approaches and methods to study consumer engagement in social media brand communities. In addition, researchers adopted varied definitions and studied consumer engagement using the attitudinal, behavioural, and motivational dimensions. Our analysis also shows that Uses and Gratifications Theory and Social Identification Theory were the most referred theories in prior studies. Finally, we conclude our study by proposing an integrative framework and suggesting research opportunities and future research directions.
•Research on consumer engagement in brand communities was reviewed and analysed.•Six groups of variables were identified.•An integrated framework with propositions was proposed.•Future research directions of consumer engagement were discussed.
Detailing the opportunities and challenges of omnichannel business, this paper serves as an editorial note to the corresponding special issue. We advance a framework that delineates extant literature ...on omnichannel business into four predominant research streams according to their perspective (i.e., consumer versus retailer) and research orientation (i.e., diagnostic versus prescriptive). For each of the four research streams, we articulate its current state of research and describe how select articles assembled in this special issue enhance the stream.
While much of the current literature tends to focus on the direct effect of social influence on consumer online shopping behavior, our study drew heavily on social influence theory and argued for an ...alternative theory focusing on the moderating role of social influence. In particular, we explored how positive messages in online discussion forums may affect consumers’ decisions to shop online. We used a laboratory experiment in which the treatment group was required to read positive messages about online shopping experience in an online discussion forum. Positive social influence was found to reinforce the relationship between beliefs about and attitude toward online shopping, as well as the relationship between attitude and intention to shop. We believe our alternative theory provides new insight into the complex processes through which social influence is brought to bear on consumers’ online shopping decisions. Implications of our work are discussed.
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