Cross-national differences in e-WOM influence

By G. Christodoulides, Nina Michaelidou, Evmorfia N. Argyriou. 2012

153 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Purpose: This paper aims to present a cross-national study that investigates changes in purchase intentions of UK versus Chinese consumers following exposure to successive e-WOM comments in the form of positive and negative user reviews for experience versus search products. Design/methodology/approach: A 2(e-WOM valence and order: negative versus positive most recent)×2(product type: experience versus search)×3(purchase intentions at t 1, t 2, t 3) repeated-measures factorial design is used to test a set of hypotheses developed from the literature. Findings: Chinese consumers are susceptible to recent e-WOM comments regardless of their valence, while UK consumers anchor on negative information regardless of the order in which it is acquired. This holds particularly for experience products. Originality/value: This cross-national study contributes to the scarce literature on the impact of e-WOM on consumer purchase decisions by comparing UK and Chinese consumers. The authors suggest that culture moderates the development of product evaluations following exposure to e-WOM.

Subfields: Information Systems and Management, Marketing, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2081dd17c953393aef90e51490d81047acbfe664

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Citations in the corpus

Online grocery shopping: the impact of shopping frequency on perceived risk (2016, background): “With total online retail sales estimated to reach €191 billion in Europe and $370 billion in the USA by 2017 (Mulpuru 2013), many retailers have moved to capitalise on the advantages this channel has to offer (Christodoulides, Michaelidou, and Argyriou 2012; Euromonitor 2012).”
Power of consumers using social media: Examining the influences of brand-related user-generated content on Facebook (2016, background): “Although previous researchers did not examine the influence of eWOM on purchase intention via cognitive response, findings on the consequences of eWOM have shown that eWOM influences purchase intention (Christodoulides et al., 2012; Yu & Natalia, 2013).”
Re-examining online customer experience to include purchase frequency and perceived risk (2015, background): “…2005; Perea y Monsuwe et al. 2004); would provide visitors with the ability to customize information to suit their needs (e.g., Ha, Janda & Muthaly, 2010; Klaus, 2013), and facilitate a sense of connectedness through sharing information with others (Christodoulides et al., 2012; Klaus, 2013).”
Factors Affecting Customer Satisfaction in Responses to Negative Online Hotel Reviews (2015, background): “Furthermore, the influence of a negative message in online complaints is more pronounced when customers purchase services as opposed to goods (Christodoulides, Michaelidou, and Argyriou 2012).”