Virtual communities have become more and more popular in the Internet world. Members of a virtual community can disseminate information rapidly to create word- of-mouth (WOM) effect in marketing. Therefore, in-depth studies of the increase use of word-of-mouth marketing in the electronic world become more important. The object of this study is to use "the virtual book club¡¨, as the subject to investigate the factors that may affect member attitudes by the word-of-mouth. Four main factors were included in the research framework as independent variables, which are the knowledge of the message sender, knowledge of the receiver, quality of the message, and relationship strength between the sender and the receiver. Trust between the sender and the receiver is treated as a mediating factor. The dependent variable is the receiver¡¦s attitude. A quasi-experimental design was conducted and the findings include the following: 1. The knowledge level of the send can significantly affect the trust of the receiver. 2. The strength of the relationship can significantly affect the trust. 3. The quality of the message content can significantly influence the receiver¡¦s attitude.

Background: The digital world of today alters the way consumers search, communicate, and perceive information significantly. Specifically, the traditional word-of-mouth, which refers to the exchange of information between consumers about products and brand, has become digitalized. This transforms word-of-mouth into electronic wordof-mouth, which serves as a user-generated information resource and can be accessed through various social media platforms. Problem: The ubiquitous presence of social media platform usage increases consumer’s exposure to electronic word-of-mouth reviews of goods and services. Previous studies primarily emphasized the effect of eWoM review quality and credibility, but neglected the reviewers that create the content of these reviews. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the influence that eWoM reviewers exert on Millennials’ purchasing behaviors. Method: A positivist approach was utilized together with a deductive approach in this quantitative study. A self-completion questionnaire which was distributed online, and the data collected from the respondents of it served as the primary data with academic literature serving as secondary data. The analysis of the data was processed in SPSS. Conclusion: The findings of this study show eWoM reviewers and their social currency affect the purchasing behaviors of Millennials. Furthermore, the study showed that the nature of the influence of eWoM reviewers was directed at entertaining, educating, and persuading Millennials rather than acquainting them with new products.

Word-of-mouth (WOM) är ett begrepp som länge varit känt inom företagsvärlden och syftar till fenomenet där kunder delar med sig muntligt av sina erfarenheter gällande produkter eller tjänster som de köpt eller på annat vis tagit del av. Detta begrepp har uppmärksammats inom forskning på grund av den inverkan den har hos potentiella kunder och på ryktet av den produkt, tjänst eller märke som kunderna pratar om. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), som liknas till WOM men är distribuerat över internet, har uppkommit i och med utvecklingen av Web 2.0 och förekommer i diverse olika skepnader, så som recensionswebbplatser, bloggar och inte minst sociala medier. Att skriva WOM på internet ger många nya möjligheter för användarna, bland annat större spridning av det budskap som framförs. Det finns olika studier som fokuserar på eWOM i förhållande till marknadsföring men få som utforskar eWOM i sociala medier från ett designperspektiv. Denna studie syftar därför till att analysera vilka möjligheter till eWOM som erbjuds i sociala medier. Detta har gjorts via en internetbaserad etnografisk studie där inlägg från Instagram observerats och analyserats utefter ett affordance perspektiv. Uppsatsen visar hur eWOM affordance kan ta sig uttryck och kontextualiseras. eWOM affordance ger förståelse för vilka verktyg som sociala medier erbjuder användaren. Denna förståelse kan nyttjas av såväl gränssnittsdesigners och interaktionsdesigners vid utveckling av webbplatser samt att det ger större förståelse för begreppet eWOM inom marknadsföring. / Word-of-Mouth (WOM) is a phenomenon which describes how individuals orally tell each other about their experiences of products and services and has long been known in the corporate world because of its vast impact on sales. The phenomenon has also been subject to different studies because of the effect it has of the potential customer’s buying incentive and the impact it has on the reputation of the product or service that the WOM is about. The development of Web 2.0 has afforded individuals to spread their opinions of products and services even further with electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). eWOM has a lot in common with WOM but is instead expressed through text over the internet and can be found in websites such as review websites, blogs and social media. This opens up new opportunities for the users such as greater dissemination of their opinions. There are several studies that explore eWOM in conjunction with marketing but not as many that study eWOM from a design perspective. This study therefor aims to analyze what social media affords regarding expressing eWOM. This has been done through an internet-based ethnographic study where posts form the social networking site Instagram have been observed and analyzed from an affordance perspective. The results of the study show how eWOM affordance can manifest itself and how it can be contextualized in social media. eWOM affordance creates an understanding about what tools social media afford the user. This understanding can be used by interface designers and interaction designers during development of websites as well as give better understanding of eWOM for marketers.

Past studies suggest that market mavenism refers to the degree to which a consumer is likely to become a market maven. High market mavenism consumers are characterized to possess information across many kinds of product categories and initiate word-of-mouth communication (WOM). High market mavenism consumers are influential consumers and key participants in WOM communication. Due to the explosion of online communication platforms, electronic word-of-mouth communication (eWOM) comes to attention. Understanding the virtual version of market mavenism becomes a salient topic. eMavenism is the extent to which consumers are involved in finding and disseminating marketing or advertising information online. Consumers who are relatively high on eMavenism are conventionally considered eMavens. eMavenism should be regarded as a unique type of market mavenism. This dissertation study aims to examine both the antecedents and eWOM communication behavioral consequences of eMavenism. The antecedents of eMavenism are considered from scattered literature on market mavenism, while eWOM communication behavioral consequences are identified from extensive literature review on the characteristics of eWOM communication. The results suggest that psychological tendencies and technology factor are the most important antecedent groups that positively affect eMavenism. Although consumption factor is not significantly related to eMavenism, it may serve as a perspective to analyze the primary difference between eMavenism and market mavenism. The insignificant relationships between demographics and eMavenism challenge the traditional perception that high mavenism consumers are constrained to the old, the unemployed, or housewives. The findings from this dissertation study debunk that high eMavenism consumers come from a broad variety of demographic groups. The findings call for a shift from focusing on consumer demographics to focusing on consumer psychographics in analyzing eMavenism. As to eWOM communication behavioral consequences, specific anonymity types are preferred by highly eMavenist respondents. Highly eMavenist respondents stay active in different online media outlets and contribute more positive than negative eWOM in online discourse. This dissertation study enhances the theoretical understanding of eMavenism and eWOM communication. The findings are also managerially relevant. / text

In this dissertation, I examine how online conversations as electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) information via social media networks affect business outcomes. Using data from the movie industry, my goal is to show how conversation quantity and quality, defined here as volumes and valence, on social network sites affect important business outcomes such as sales. Using a dynamic simultaneous equation system, I find that social media conversations can be a precursor to and an outcome of sales. Aggregated data from multiple sources show how social media variables and other key variables—volume, valence, and other information related to movies such as YouTube views, ratings, advertising, production budget, number of screens—contribute to box-office and home video sales through eWOM via social media. Findings highlight that eWOM volume correlates with box-office performance and home video sales: the more positive and strong the conversation, the higher the box office and home video sales. The study extends prior research on WOM and offers insight into how film studios can strategically manage social media to enhance box office and home video revenue. / text

This research investigates how different types of electronic word-of-mouth affect consumer¡¦s attitude and purchase intention. Using the product types drafted by Ratchford (1987¡^as the moderating variable, this research explores the relation between different types of electronic word-of-mouth and consumers¡¦ product attitude and purchase intention. Ratchford (1987) divided the products into four categories along two dimensions, the consumer ¡§involvement¡¨ and ¡§rational vs affective¡¨ attitude. An experimental study was conducted using electronic word-of-mouth collected from Internet group discussion forums to find how different types of electronic word-of-mouth (product introduction, positive reviews and negative reviews) affected consumer¡¦s attitude and behavior. The results indicate that the nature of electronic word-of-mouth did affect consumer attitude toward the product and purchase intention. Major observations include the following: 1. Negative electronic word-of-mouth has resulted in lower attitude and purchase intention for ¡§Low involvement¡¨ product. 2. No significant difference exists between different types of electronic word-of-mouth for ¡§High involvement¡¨ product. 3. For ¡§Rational product¡¨, neutral message that only provided product description¡¨ turned out to create higher satisfaction, while positive and negative word-of-mouth had no significant effect on consumer attitude and purchase intention. 4. For ¡§Affective product¡¨, positive electronic word-of-mouth has more satisfaction on the consumer¡¦s attitude and purchase intention.

Word of mouth has been playing an essential role while consumers make their purchase decision since ever, and its diffusion is becoming much faster via the internet nowadays. Surfing the internet gathering information before making the purchase, the so-called ¡uWisdom of Crowds¡vshopping pattern is taking its shape and possibly going to become the main trend in the future. Thus, electronic word of mouth does play an important part during the process of consumers¡¦ decision making, and more and more consumers start to ponder what to believe on the internet. As a result, trust is becoming the key factor if the consumers can take electronic word of mouth into their consideration or not. This research discusses how message sideness appeal and emotion in electronic word of mouth affect consumers¡¦ trust under a positively framed message and a negative framed message. This research adopts experimental method, distributes questionnaire and analyze the data with SPSS12.0. The results present message sideness appeal and emotion have impacts on consumers¡¦ trust. Two-sided appeal can cause higher consumers¡¦ trust than one-sided appeal whether under a positively framed message or a negative framed message. Emotion also plays an important part between message sideness and consumers¡¦ trust during the process of diffusion of electronic word of mouth. The results can not only help the word-of-mouth senders to develop an appropriate writing pattern to make electronic word of mouth more credible and effective, but also provide the business a brand-new point of view and some practical suggestions to develop a new marketing strategy.

Traditionally speaking, some firms believe that great brand awareness will affect consumers¡¦ purchasing intention and bring much more profit in returns. Hence, a large number of entrepreneurs are spending a tremendous amount of capital on enhancing their brands and brand awareness but they often ignore the importance of word-of-mouth communication on internet. Recently, the internet has become much more popular and common than decades ago and such channel has changed consumers¡¦ purchasing habits. In fact, there are more consumers who share their experience on those products and services that they have used through internet. Furthermore, there are also more consumers who use internet to receive the information that they need for specific products and services. Thus, the importance and effectiveness of ¡§word-of-month of communication¡¨ on internet are much more important than the traditional ¡§word-of-mouth communication¡¨. This research study will be focused on hotels in Kenting area to discuss the effectiveness of purchasing intentions based on the brand awareness of that hotel and messages from the word-of-mouth communication on internet. More importantly, this research study will use customers¡¦ involvement as moderators to further understand the relationships between brand awareness & purchasing intentions, and word-of-mouth communication on internet & purchasing intentions. This research study has chosen two hotels in Kenting area. One hotel has high brand awareness while the other one has low brand awareness. This dissertation has also conducted on-line research based on their word-of-mouth communication on internet and the questionnaire participants are customers who have been to Kenting hotels. After collecting all data, this research has discovered that a hotel¡¦s brand awareness will affect customers¡¦ purchasing intentions. In other words, higher the brand awareness, more purchasing intentions from consumers. In addition, messages from word-of-mouth communication on internet will also affect customers¡¦ purchasing intentions. When the word-of-mouth communication on internet is negative, there will be fewer customers with lower purchasing intentions. Yet, the messages from word-of-mouth communication on internet will have higher effectiveness than the brand awareness of that specific hotel. Nevertheless, consumers¡¦ involvement will not affect the brand awareness, word-of-mouth communication on internet, and purchasing intentions. Last, the conclusion of this research study will provide some practical recommendations for hotel owners. Key words: brand awareness, word-of-mouth on internet, customers¡¦ involvement, and purchasing intentions.

Electronic commerce is the selected field to investigate for this thesis, particularly pure player apparel brands. This has been of interest as consumers struggle when shopping online for apparel since they cannot test the product before purchasing with pure players, therefore, there is information asymmetry. Moreover, when consumers lack trust, they may be more hesitant to purchase online due to the perceived risk, therefore, companies should attempt to relieve their doubts. It has been recognized in previous research that electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) could provide guidance and develop confidence during the purchasing process. The aim of this study was to develop an understanding on how consumers perceive online reviews to assure that they will be satisfied with the order. Moreover, there were several factors identified in previous research that could influence the use of online reviews, therefore, those factors were recognized and analyzed in the context of pure players for this study. In addition, the study revealed two factors that influenced the use of online reviews. A qualitative method was utilized, to gain a deeper understanding on consumers’ opinions on the topic. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to provide the opportunity for individuals to further develop their responses. The results suggested that pure player apparel brands should include online reviews. They could improve the mechanism by considering the factors that were identified in this study.

This research study involves three essays and examines CRQ-driven decision making from the points of view of the common firm, social-commerce platform provider, and social-commerce echo-system. It addresses CRQ's progression from traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) initiatives to social platform-specific antecedents and to environment-driven factors lying outside the direct control of the platform provider, yet influencing social commerce business decisions, such as user-generated content from peers (e.g. family, friends) and expert authority (e.g. specialists, experts, professional organizations). The research method used statistical, data mining and computer science techniques. The results suggest that social platform providers should take a proactive approach to CRQ, fully leverage their online platform to improve CRQ while paying special attention to security as a potential barrier, and consider the analysis of elements of the echo-system such as the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) to further drive CRQ and determine the level of alignment between customers and experts, suppliers and products featured, that may lead to value-added managerial insights such as the prioritization, promotion and optimization of such relationships.