RESEARCH PAPER ON WORD OF MOUTH AND

ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH : IMPLICATIONS FOR

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
KIRUTHIKA. N
MBA 1ST YEAR
P201825
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF TAMIL NADU

Abstract
Word-of-mouth (WOM) has been recognised as one of the most influential resources
of information transmission. However, conventional WOM communication is only
effective within limited social contact boundaries. The advances of information
technology and the emergence of online social network sites have changed the way
information is transmitted and have transcended the traditional limitations of WOM.
This paper describes online interpersonal influence or electronic word of mouth
(eWOM) because it plays a significant role in consumer purchase decisions.

1. Introduction
Since the development of the World Wide Web (WWW) on the Internet in the early
1990s, an increasing number of companies have been trying to carry out electronic
commerce (EC) . Through EC, a close customer relationship can be formed, and
much of the operating overhead including time and money can be saved. Recently,
the WWW is used as a new marketing channel to show recommendations from
previous consumers . The Internet's global nature has created a medium for electronic
word-of-mouth (eWOM) between consumers who have never met . This paper first
reviews related studies on interpersonal influence and WOM and how it works. It
then provides a discussion of eWOM characteristics and how eWOM differs from the
traditional WOM. The paper then outlines challenges and opportunities related to use
of current communication technologies.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Word of Mouth

Word of mouth has been considered one of the major influential sources of
information for the consumers . Because consumers are willing to share and discuss
about their products / services, brands with each other . The significance of word of
mouth is revealed on a study based on effects of word of mouth on consumer
purchasing decisions .Word of mouth is like an informal communications among the
consumers regarding the character of a product or service . On the other hand,
Mangold Et Al, 1999 established that the consumers needed the information and they
searched of that which had active impact of word of mouth in purchasing decisions.
Word of mouth can be both positive and negative impact in consumer mind. Positive
word of mouth occurs when consumers give favourable respond towards the product
or service and when they unfavourable respond then it becomes negative word of
mouth . Word of mouth has better influence that’s way marketers give more
emphasise on word of mouth than traditional marketing communication tools because
traditional marketing communication tools trailing its efficiency .Word of mouth is
one of the key components in buying decision .

2.2 Consumer Buying Behaviour

Understanding consumers is the first step of marketing management . Consumer

buying behaviour is depending on the approaches of an individual choose of buying,
uses of goods and services for satisfying needs and wants . Consumer behaviour
depends on how consumers make decisions for spending their resources for the
consumption . Consumer buying behaviour is a concept that try to find out the
answers of 5W’s i.e. what, when, why, who & where a consumer buys a product or
service. Before purchasing a product or service what a consumer thinks, feels about
the product or service is known as consumer buying behaviour. Consumer buying
behaviour has encouraging influence by word of mouth to satisfy consumer.
Consumer buying behaviour also depends on some internal and external factors.

2.3 Interpersonal Influence and word-of-mouth

Consumers imitate each other following a social or vicarious learning paradigm, but
perhaps more importantly, they also talk to each other. Described as WOM
communication (WOM), the process allows consumers to share information and
opinions that direct buyers towards and away from specific products, brands, and
services . There are a few general questions that should be answered: Why do
consumers spread WOM? The research reports that factors such as extreme
satisfaction or dissatisfaction , commitment to the firm , length of the relationship
with the firm , and novelty of the product drive such behaviours. Other authors noted
that a consumer’s affective elements of satisfaction, pleasure, and sadness all
motivated consumers to wish to share experiences with others . (2) Where does
WOM originate? The key WOM player is opinion leader. Opinion. Leaders are
interested in particular product fields, make an effort to expose themselves to mass
media sources, and are trusted by opinion seekers to provide knowledgeable advice .
(3) What are some variables that mediate WOM? Researchers have identified factors
such as source expertise , tie strength , demographic similarity , and perceptual
affinity as important antecedents of WOM influence. (4) What are the expected
outcomes from the dissemination of WOM? Reference found that WOM could
influence product evaluations. Reference [3] determined that online WOM impacted
not only the receiver’s perceived value of a company’s products, but also their loyalty
intentions, ultimately resulting in an acceleration or deceleration of product
acceptance Reference .

2.4 How word-of-mouth (WOM) works

Researchers have demonstrated that personal conversations and informal exchange of

information among acquaintances not only influence consumers' choices and
purchase decisions, but also shape consumer expectations , pre-usage attitudes , and
even post-usage perceptions of a product or service . A unique aspect of the WOM
effect that distinguishes it from more traditional marketing effects is the positive
feedback mechanism between WOM and product sales. That is, WOM leads to more
product sales, which in turn generate more WOM and then more product sales .

2.5 Effectiveness of eWOM and its activities

Since customers cannot always experience the true features of a product purchased
via the Internet, there are difficulties in making the correct purchasing decision. A
number of studies of eWOM-related effectiveness have been conducted. These may
be classified into two research types: market- and individual-level. The difference
between these two lies in how the information is viewed. EWOM research stems
from complicated customer activities in the eWOM systems. As illustrated in Fig. 1,
there are three major parts needed in explaining eWOM activities. From this model,
prior eWOM research efforts fell into either: 1) Market-level, identifying the product
information process by viewing eWOM as accumulated customer opinion, and its
relationship with other market- level signals, or, 2)Individual-level, identifying the
customer’s decision-making process by viewing the eWOM as informational,
focusing on how the information affects a customer’s decision-making process

2.6 Challenges and opportunities of eWOM

The web has created both challenges and opportunities for electronic word-of-mouth
(eWOM) communication . eWOM allows consumers to not only obtain information
related to goods and services from the few people they know, but also from a vast,
geographically dispersed group of people, who have experience with relevant
products or services. A recent survey found that most consumers perceive online
opinions to be as trustworthy as brand web sites . These studies indicate how great of
a potential impact eWOM can have on the consumer decision process. WOM
provides an alternative source of information to consumers, thus reducing companies’
ability to influence these consumers through traditional marketing and advertising
channels.

eWOM provides a new venue for companies to reach consumers and to influence
consumer opinions. Per reference : (1) with the low cost of access and information
exchange, eWOM can appear in an unprecedented large scale, potentially creating
new dynamics in the market; (2) new problems may arise given the anonymity of
communicators, potentially leading to intentionally misleading and out-of-context
messages. In addition, the digitalisation of WOM challenges the existence of
geographical markets, and hence the ability to conduct local marketing strategies. In
light of the media’s low cost, broader scope, and increased anonymity, it seems
likely, as time progresses, that consumers in increasingly larger numbers will either
seek or simply be exposed to the advice of online opinion leaders .

2.7 Gaps in eWOM Credibility Study

So far, some works have been done on credibility of eWOM in general which focuses
mostly text-based reviews like how travellers perceive review credibility based on
reviewer identity and review valence, how system and self- generated cues are used
to evaluate review credibility , impact of social influence on eWOM usefulness , how
profile characteristics of reviewer has impact on eWOM credibility . Based on the
literature review, most of the studies regarding eWOM credibility focuses on text-
based eWOM or eWOM in general. However, there are lack of studies focusing
solely on the assessment of credibility of visual eWOM. One of the findings from
King et al. (2014) highlighted that the issue of credibility has never been researched
in context of visual reviews. The impact of platform difference in assessing eWOM
credibility is another less explored area. eWOM takes place in online environment
and there are several platforms where eWOM can be created and disseminated (King
et al. 2014). According to prior studies the influence of online reviews is associated
with variety of platforms

Since internet is a continuously evolving, the platforms are expected to become a

very important factor in adopting eWOM . Considering the lack of work in the field
of platform comparison, the importance of platform comparison was outlined by
researchers previously. As per Constantinides & Fountain (2008) five categories of
platforms exist in online environment which are blogs, social networking sites ,
forums , content communities and content aggregators (e.g. google, yahoo). Since
these online platforms differ based on their fundamental platform nature, it is
expected that different platforms may have different effect on the credibility
perception of eWOM. For example: in social networking sites people have the ability
to communicate within existing network of people (friends and associates) which
reduce the anonymity level of eWOM and increases the trustworthiness, reliability
and credibility . On the other hand, eWOM on other platforms occur mostly among
anonymous people which might impact credibility assessment of eWOM differently.
One of the key areas that needs attention of the researchers in eWOM credibility
study is the diverse format of eWOM. As stated earlier, majority of research on
eWOM are focused on text-based format. This is also true for eWOM credibility
study where majority of the studies highlighted text-based reviews so far. However,
there are other forms of eWOM format available and credibility should also be
ensured for those other type of eWOM as well. Moreover, study of different formats
of eWOM should be extended beyond the scope of credibility to enrich the overall
eWOM literature.

3. Statement of Research Problem

Research Objective

The objectives of this study are to investigate the direct impact of WOM on consumer
purchase intention. And to study the important factors of WOM that contribute to the
impact on purchase intention.The purpose of this study is to analyse how consumers
are affected by e-WOM through SNS.

Problem statement

Research Motive: e-WOM is an important topic to investigate on. Also it’s a new
trend in the Egyptian market. Few studies have been made in this area so further
research will be needed.
The research is made to understand how e-WOM through social networking sites
affects customer intention thus affects their decision.

Research Problem: “To gain a better understanding how e-WOM affects the
customer ́s purchasing

Intention Research Question: How does e-WOM affect customer’s purchasing

Intention through Trust, information usefulness, and Source similarity?

4. Methodological Approach
Studies on WOM are vast and fragmented . Researchers conducted different types of
studies to add meaning to eWOM literature.

Experimental studies were conducted by several researchers to study eWOM. Julia

and Pan (2007) studied eWOM and found it to be less credible than traditional WOM
in travel context. Lee, Park and Han (2007) studied consumer reviews to see effects
of negative online consumer reviews on consumer’s product attitude using Estimation
Likelihood Model. Cognitive Fit theory and ELM was used by Park and Kim (2008)
to analyse that type of reviews can act as moderating variable to explain the
inconsistent relationship between consumer expertise and WOM. Other researchers to
conduct experimental studies on eWOM were Purnaviran et al. (2015) , Vermuleaun
and Seagers (2008).

Several conceptual studies have contributed in analysing and giving directions to the
study of eWOM. Lopes et al.(2014) studied importance of eWOM in travel context
using Dual Process Theory to study when , where and why tourists write reviews. Lit
vin et al. (2008) presented eWOM as a cost effective method for marketing
hospitality and tourism.

Empirical studies have contributed largely to eWOM literature. Customer word of

mouth is found to affect consumer purchasing behaviour .

Zhang et al. (2010) conducted Laboratory studies using Regulatory Focus Theory to
find why consumers consider eWOM in their purchase decision. Sen and Lerman
(2007) studied impact of eWOM on utilitarian and hedonic products separately.

Econometric Analysis was done by Chevalier and Mayzlin (2006) and significant
effect of consumer reviews was found on consumer behaviour.

System dynamics modelling approach was used to study the dynamics of complex
system of WOM by Wong and Sheng (2012). They emphasised that word of mouth is
not just a communication between sender and receiver; rather there exists a recursive
relationship between consumers’ buying decisions and their word-of-mouth activity
decisions.

4. 1 Need of the Study

Internet has completely changed the way consumer shop. The digital form of WOM
or eWOM has obtained a great importance and is considered to be a relative new area
of research . The number of potential users opting for reading consumer reviews
before buying any product or service is increasing . Thus, there arises the importance
of understanding the behaviour of a consumer in online platforms. India is becoming
an attractive market for purchase of online travel . India is a country with high
diversity, so it was interesting to see how consumers will behave in this changing
context of eWOM.

Marketers are now recognising the power of WOM. Companies are deliberately
trying to initiate certain WOM activities and to control their contents as far as
possible to recognise and harness the power of word of mouth, Word of Mouth
Association(WOMMA) was founded in 2004 which is dedicated to WOM marketing
through education, professional development and knowledge sharing with top
industry marketers. More than 120 innovative global brands all over world including
IBM, Philips, Coca Cola, and Colgate are its members. Therefore, WOM has
achieved a significance importance in today’s world more than ever imagined.

4.2 Area of study

For the purpose of study we have selected online travel booking which is a service
based industry. The services do not have the ‘try before you buy’ or ‘return in case
quality is below expectations’ option, therefore more and more consumers are relying
heavily on online reviews to evaluate services prior to purchase . Travel industry
deals with intangible which cannot be evaluated before consumption thus, elevating
the importance of interpersonal influence (Lewis & Chamber, 2000). Also it has been
found that consumers prefer online purchase over offline purchase when it comes to
booking an airline, train, bus and hotel accommodation.

The data collected by Static Brain Research Institute shows that there were 148.3
million number of online travel booking in 2012. Out of these bookings 57% of total
reservations were made using internet. In terms of revenue, the largest share
amounting to 39% of travel booking was constituted by hotel bookings. The table
represents that 81% of travellers find user reviews important and there are 49 %
travellers who don’t book a hotel without reading the reviews.

5. Objectives of Study
The proposed study has following objectives:

Objective 1: To evaluate the impact of consumer review characteristics on review

credibility.

Here we propose to evaluate the impact of consumer review characteristics namely,

review valence, visual information, review length and argument quality on review
credibility.

Objective 2: To evaluate the impact of consumer reviews on consumer behaviour.

Here we propose to evaluate the impact of consumer reviews on consumer behaviour

towards online booking of hotels.

Objective 3: To evaluate the moderating effect of consumer’s cognitive behaviour on

relationship of consumer reviews and consumer behaviour.

We propose to explore how the cognitive behaviour of consumer (Trust and

Perceived risk) will affect the relationship of consumer reviews and consumer
behaviour.
Objective 4: To evaluate the overall impact of consumer reviews on consumer
decision making.

Here we propose to examine consumer’s characteristics and relate our analysis to

understand how it affects consumer buying behaviour while considering online travel
purchase based on consumer reviews.

6. Conceptual Framework and

Methodology

The conceptual framework is based on Stimulus-Organism-Response model .

Woolworth introduced O (organism) to the traditional Stimulus-Response (S-R)
model as he believed that the stimulus elicits a different response depending on the
state of the organism. The organism affects the relationship between the stimulus and
the response. In this study consumer reviews posted on eTravel websites are
considered to be the stimulus eliciting response on consumer behaviour. Consumer
review credibility is affected by the review characteristics, namely, Review Valence,
Review Length, Visual Information and Argument Quality. Consumer behaviour is
measured here in term of Intention to purchase online and Purchase. The consumer’s
cognitive behaviour (trust and perceived risk) will be tested for moderation effect on
relationship of consumer reviews and consumer behaviour.

Recent studies focused on perceived risk influence in the online shopping sphere as
the canvas of internet purchasing is expanding extensively . Due to considerable
online buying, the internet has become an effective platform for merchandisers.
Hence, determination of perceived risk due to eWOM remains a critical aspect to be
explored . Trustworthiness is argued to be an important facet in terms of
understanding the eWOM context. Individuals tend to rely on that information which
is provided by a trustworthy source. Considering the aforementioned theoretical
notions, the relationship was hypothesised as follows:

Objectivity in terms of providing the requisite information on the eWOM platforms is

of considerable importance and significance. Posts on social media are sometimes
subjective and vague which does not provide any objective stance. However,
objective and precise information is argued to reduce the risk factor . Therefore, the
following relationship of eWOM source credibility antecedent (i.e., objectivity with
perceived risk) is hypothesised:

Homophily is defined as the association among people with same backgrounds and
having non-negative ties with each other . In the eWOM context, it is discussed that
individuals tend to associate themselves quickly with the posts shared by the people
with same backgrounds. Meanwhile, it remains essential to configure whether the
element of risk would be mitigated through homophily. Henceforth, the following
hypothesis is developed:

7. HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis 1 (H1). (a). eWOM expertness positively impacts upon perceived risk.
(b). eWOM trustworthiness positively impacts upon perceived risk. (c). eWOM
objectivity positively impacts upon perceived risk. (d). eWOM homophily positively
impacts upon perceived risk.

Sussman and Siegal expanded the developed phenomenon and extended the
prevailing field of knowledge with the integration of dual process theories. Davis
proposed that an information adoption model (IAM) emerged with the integration of
technology acceptance model (TAM) along with elaboration likelihood model
(ELM). The model proposed that central and peripheral are the two routes through
which people can be affected by messages . Argument quality is stated as the aptitude
to argue with a message. The studies of Prantl & Micik and Khwaja et al.
highlighted the association among message senders and message characteristics of
eWOM components. Information usefulness is regarded as a perception of the user
concerned with the reliability of information. The reviews or comments on the
internet are deemed to be of importance are not are defined in this respective factor .
Perceived risk is considered to be subjective and it varies from individual to
individual, and consumers behaviours are in fact risk taking . Therefore, inspection of
perceived risk on information usefulness and argument quality was hypothesised as
the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 2 (H2). Perceived risk positively influences on information usefulness.

Hypothesis 3 (H3). Perceived risk positively influences on argument quality.

The adoption of information is often conceded as a notion which would eventually

make the decision in favour or against something . The underlying doctrine of
information adoption process clarifies that information cannot be attained without the
absence of certain core metrics (i.e., argument quality, source credibility and
information usefulness) . The systematic deployment of all these three components
would eventually lead to the information adoption protocols. The information
adoption model (IAM) has been broadly used in different contexts; in particular, its
application in the eWOM research studies has been quite lucrative. In the acceptance
of technology, there are numerous factors that have an impact on technology’s usage.
Saleem & Ellahi elucidated that a seller’s information is less credible for individuals
as they seek consumers reviews. The reviews of consumers are considered to be of
credible nature as they provide product insights without any bias. From the
company’s end, there is always positive portrayal of the product and services; hence
an element of perceived risk remains in the minds of potential customers . Due to
these factors, it is important to coin the following theoretical association in the
hypothesised form:

Hypothesis 4 (H4). Argument quality positively impacts upon trust.

Hypothesis 5 (H5). Information quality positively impacts upon trust.

At the same time, complete information of the product and service being shared by
the seller is highly appreciated by the customers. The customers cross-check the
credibility of the information by reviewing users’ comments. The adoption of
information by the individuals becomes easier when there is synergy between the
information being provided by the seller and online users . Trust inclination is
henceforth considered significant to be measured upon information adoption as it is
the final construct before the adoption of information takes place.

Hypothesis 6 (H6). Trust inclination positively influences on information

adoption.

The initial six hypotheses measure the direct effects upon each other while remaining
in the sequential path. However, it remains important to understand how eWOM as a
composite construct would impact information adoption while other mediators
remain intact . The theoretical associations also indicate strong positive causality
among eWOM and information adoption. Therefore, the following hypothesis is
constructed:

Hypothesis 7 (H7). Perceived risk, argument quality, information usefulness and

trust inclination have a positive sequential mediation role among eWOM and
information adoption.
8. Scope and Significance of Study
The study focuses on consumers who are internet users (above 18 years of age). It
covers all those consumers, who search on internet before making a purchase or at
least have an intention to do so and consider eWOM in their decision making.

8.1 Sampling design

As the sample frame is wide and consists of heterogeneous population, the sample
will be selected by two methods to minimise the possibility of bias- Purposive
sampling and Snowball sampling.

1. Purposive Sampling: Purposive sampling will be used at the first stage to target the
respondents using online questionnaire distribution, as the respondents so chosen will
be able to provide specific knowledge about topic of study.

2. Snowball sampling: At the second stage, snowball sampling will be used to reach
the population which is not readily accessible and hard to find.

The method of online questionnaire distribution (Amaro & Duarte, 2015) for
collecting random samples and snowball sampling using electronic mail has already
been tested for e-services context.

8.2 Sample frame

The sample units for the given study will comprise of adults who have purchased
travel using eTravel websites or read reviews before making a travel decision.
Howsoever no such list of travellers or online users is available; it is not possible to
select sample elements from the population directly. Still to facilitate the process of
research, the sample frame will be drawn from Facebook pages of eTravel websites
like Go Ibibo, Yatra.com, Trip advisor etc; users of websites like Trip advisor,
Holiday IQ etc will be selected.

8.3 Sample size

The population from which sample needs to be drawn is infinite in nature. Therefore,
sample size has been calculated using sample size formula for infinite population
through precision rate and confidence level approach to arrive at a representative
number of respondents .
Where, SS= Sample size for infinite population (more than 50,000) Z= Z value

p= Population proportion

C = Margin of Error at 5% (0.05)

In order to minimise the bias and obtain realistic sample size, three scenarios are
evaluated-

Scenario I Estimating 10% of population with 6% Margin of Error Scenario II

Estimating 30% of population with 5% Margin of Error Scenario III Estimating 50%
of population with 4% Margin of Error

8.4 . Path Analysis Outcomes

After the attainment of precise statistical outcomes of the data cleansing, EFA and CFA;
the foremost aspect remained to configure hypotheses testing. For this purpose, path
modelling was conducted for the determination of causality. The hypotheses results are
depicted in Table 5. H1(a–d) stated about eWOM source credibility antecedents on
perceived risk. The beta values/path coefficients outcomes emerged to be constructive as
expertness, trustworthiness, objectivity and homophily effects on perceived risk were
0.127, 0.355, 0.234 and 0.236, respectively. The t-values of these hypothesised
relationships were 2.638, 7.598, 4.807 and 5.006, respectively. H2 & H3 argued about
perceived risk impact on information usefulness and argument quality. The beta values
of these relationships were 0.164 and 0.440, respectively, along with t-values of 3.086
and 3.974 which reveal strong positive relationship. H4 stated about argument quality
impact on trust inclination; and H5 argued about information usefulness impact on trust
inclination. The beta values emerged to be 0.478 and 0.315, hence indicating strong
relationship. H6 hypothesised trust inclination impact on information adoption and the
beta value outcome was 0.592. Lastly, for H7, sequential path model was tested in which
composite effect of eWOM on information adoption was tested with the mediation role
of perceived risk, argument quality, information usefulness and trust inclination. The
beta value turned out to be 0.588 and t-value of 10.621, indicating strong positive
sequential path.

Table Results of hypotheses (direct and indirect effects).

Hypotheses

H1(a) H1(b) H1(c) H1(d) H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7

Relationships

Exp ! PR TW ! PR Obj ! PR Homo ! PR PR ! InUse PR ! AQ AQ ! TRT InUse ! TRT

TRT ! InAdp eWOM ! InAdp
Path Coefficients 0.127 **

0.355 ** 0.234 ** 0.236 ** 0.164 ** 0.440 ** 0.478 ** 0.315 ** 0.592 ** 0.588 **

Notes: ** p < 0.05.

T-Statistics p-Values 2.638 <0.01

7.598 <0.01 4.807 <0.01 5.006 <0.01 3.086 <0.01 3.974 <0.01 9.101 <0.01 7.521
<0.01

13.626 <0.01 10.621 <0.01

Outcomes

Accepted Accepted Accepted Accepted Accepted Accepted Accepted Accepted

Accepted Accepted

9. Research Methodology
9.1 Sources of Data Collection

Both primary and secondary methods of data collection will be used.

9.2 Primary Data

To collect first hand data from consumers of online travel purchase, primary data will
be collected using self administered questionnaire. The questionnaire will be
designed using electronic platform and will be distributed online via Social
networking websites, Electronic mail, LinkedIn and Whats App etc. Social media
will be used to propagate questionnaire among relevant target population using
purposive sampling and further data will be collected using snowball sampling.
Consumers who purchase travel online are diversely spread so it is difficult to track
them personally. Therefore online survey is used as by this method the researcher is
sure to reach target (sample control) and that respondents are quicker to respond than
traditional surveys like mall intercepts or in-home interviews. Online sample survey
is also cheaper than other methods of data collection (Malhotra, 2010). Since the
study focuses on online travel shopping, it was not necessary to address the concerns
of individuals that do not have access to internet.

9. 3 Secondary Data
With respect to the dynamic nature of the research, the researcher will be using
Websites, Market Research Reports, Books, Magazines, Journals, Blogs, Other
published and unpublished sources for collection of secondary data.

9.4 Statistical Tools

To test the given hypotheses and survey findings scientifically, researcher will
analyse the data by using appropriate statistical tools. As the model is based on
assumed theory, the testing will be done using PLS SEM. The assessment of model
fit will be done by evaluating Indicator reliability, Internal consistency, Convergent
validity and Discriminant validity. The evaluation of Hypothesis will be done by
measuring Standardised Beta Coefficients, p- values and t- values. The
demographical analysis will be done by using descriptive statistics in appropriate
statistical software. Before preparing questionnaire a focus group study will be
conducted to facilitate the process of designing questionnaire. A structured
questionnaire will be prepared which will be surveyed using pilot study to check its
reliability and any amendment which would be felt necessary will be made in the
final questionnaire before administering it to respondents.

9. 5 Implications of the Study

This study provides both practical and theoretical implication. The role of eWOM has
been recognised by several researchers and is also very popular now-a-days among
marketers. From Business and Management perspective, the study will have
implications for both marketers and designers of e-commerce websites in terms of
how to manage online consumer reviews. It will also help them understand how
message contained in consumer reviews affects the consumer buying behaviour.
Study will conclude the results in a meaningful way and suggestions will be proposed
that can help marketers in deriving quality reviews from users and moderating the
reviews to give a balance to the reviews.

9. 5 The Area Of Study

The literature area of eWOM can be broadly summarised into three areas. Studies in
the field of eWOM, studies related to the Travel and studies considering both.

Buttle (1998) presented a comprehensive literature review and did a comparative

study of traditional WOM and eWOM while literature was summarised into
antecedents and consequences to senders and receivers by King, Racherla, and Bush
(2014). Henning-Thurau et al. (2004) pioneered the research in eWOM by studying
web based consumer opinion platforms and analysed the motives behind spreading
eWOM. Impact of eWOM was studied by Cheung et al. (2008) to analyse to what
extent the consumers are willing to accept and adopt online consumer reviews.

The researchers have also identified WOM to play important role in buying process.
eWOM provides product information from user perspective in each stage (Park &
Kim, 2008). Impact of Blogs in tourism was found to be less credible than traditional
WOM , but WOM on microblogging site Twitter was found to significantly impact
the brand choice . Davis and Khazanchi (2008) conducted emperical studies and
developed a model on attributes of online WOM that can be used to predict e-
commerce sales.

Previous researches have shown that there is a high level of consumer acceptance and
reliance on online WOM (Henning-Thurau & Walsh, 2004) and that online WOM
can increase product sales (Chen et al., 2004; Chevalier & Mayzlin, 2006; Davis &
Khazanchi, 2007; Liu, 2006). The researchers have found that a traveler will write a
review on the same website where the hotel reservation was made (Lopes, Jose Luis,
& Elisabeth, 2014) thereby increasing the value of consumer reviews.

Few gaps were identified based on the extensive literature review. Despite enormous
amount of literature available on eWOM, research is needed to understand how
moderators like reviewer characteristics, type of website may influence the impact of
online reviews on evaluations . The marketers provide an option of posting
photo/video in the consumer review but this area is found to be understudied .
Relationship between intentions to purchase travel online and actual behaviour has
never been examined in the travel context .
10. Discussion
A few negative messages can be helpful in promoting positive attitude toward Web
site and credibility of eWOM messages. This might be fairly reasonable, because
some consumers may suspect the credibility of the Web site or the set of multiple
eWOM messages if they find hardly any negative messages. A single negative
message itself can be harmful for product evaluation; however, one negative message
in a 10-message set is not much harmful and even can be beneficial in the eWOM
context. The moderating roles of involvement and prior knowledge were also
supported in some situations.

This study can contribute to the eWOM research field in some respects. Previous
studies simply confirmed that negative messages were more influential than positive
ones. However, this finding should be further investigated with multiple messages.
Moreover, the credibility of individual messages should be considered in future
research. Evaluation of eWOM source credibility can differ from evaluation of
traditional word-of-mouth contexts. Because this study limits its scope to within the
online shopping mall, future re- search needs to explore somewhat different contexts
of eWOM. Although the intimacy and source credibility are not critical in the context
of online shopping malls, they should play important roles in other types of Web
sites, such as on- line brand communities.

10.1 Results

Of the sample, 96.5% had made online purchases of one or more items and did so, on
average, nine times per year. We found that participants frequently rely on eWOM
messages with high credibility. Specifically, 97.9% of them usually referred to
customer reviews (eWOM) prior to making online purchases. They read an average
of 13.9 reviews per purchase. They also gave relatively high credibility to the
customer reviews (m 4.94 in the 7-point scale). In order to examine the proposed
hypotheses, statistical analyses including analysis of variance (ANOVA) and general
linear model (GLM) were conducted. Following are the findings for each hypothesis.

More often than not, shoppers buy choices are subject to online evaluations and client
remarks . Reliably, the informal exchange can have vital impact in influencing
buyers' buy exercises. Understanding the impact of eWOM on shopper buy goals will
highlight the significance of correspondence and productivity of the online
networking apparatuses utilised in cutting edge promoting correspondence in
Bangladesh. This study was improving the comprehension of purchaser buy aim in
associations inside creating nations as prove by Bangladesh.

This study broadens the writing by surveying the impact of eWOM on buyer buy
goals. Predictable with the prior scrutinises , this study assesses the impact of eWOM
on customer buy aims to address this hole in the writing. Indeed, obviously eWOM
reasons for expanding customer buy goals.

In spite of the fact that eWOM speaks to a little partition of general spending on
WOMM (PQ Media, 2009), a contention can be made that the Internet is changing
the way shoppers get and offer data that can be exceedingly persuasive in obtaining
choices.

To benefit from the potential eWOM speaks to, promoting experts should form
systems that tap into the practices of online shoppers. By understanding what propels
people to take part in eWOM, how eWOM is translated, and how both positive and
negative remarks impact acquiring choices, promoting experts will probably be
effective in utilising customer's remarks to drive expanded productivity in their
associations.

10.2 Future Research Directions

There are some limitations of the study which should be taken into consideration with
regards to generalisability of the study. The study was conducted in Pakistan, which
is an emerging market . The outcomes manifestly indicated strong association of
eWOM antecedents with perceived risk. Future research studies must be of
longitudinal nature as attaining of data in different time periods may provide a
different outcome. Future studies may also use gender as a control variable and
examine how gender influences information adoption. The study should be further
extended from information adoption as an outcome to purchase intentions and
consumer decision making. In that sphere, the underpinning theory of the study
would be also changed to theory of planned behaviour. The inclusion of e-service
quality as one of the variables would be interesting to examine. Moreover, taking age,
gender and socio-economic backgrounds as control variables would further refine the
theoretical model. Future studies can also make use of multi-level modelling in which
data would be collected from companies and customers.

11. Conclusion
This paper has provided a theoretical framework of eWOM. Companies should
actively get involved in some online consumer communities and provide all the
relevant and complete information about the companies. Getting the most relevant
and comprehensive information to customers will result in higher information
adoption. Marketers must understand that their customers are going online in
increasing numbers and that in their electronic universe these consumers are exposed
to and are likely influenced by the many sites devoted to the selling or discussion of
product or service. The new breed of electronic intermediaries does not provide the
face-to-face contact of old, and as such have little power as opinion leaders. Perhaps
to compensate for the inherent weakness of a lack of personal relationship, virtually
all electronic company sites now offer web pages that feature customer reviews of the
products they distribute. It would seem that eWOM sources play an important role in
the consumer decision-making process.

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