Understand the Influence of Online Word-of-Mouth on Consumer Purchase Intention: The Moderating Effect of Conformity

Wenchang Fang ； Chian-Son Yu

《創新與管理》 13卷1期 (2017/01) Pp. 1-31

摘要

Advances in mobile Internet and web-based social networking have converged to infiltrate every aspect of people's daily lives. Therefore, marketers are very interested in using online word-of-mouth (WOM) to enhance product or service sales. Consequently, online WOM research has received an increasing amount of attention. However, compared with vast offline WOM studies conducted from various aspects during the past 60 years, online WOM research begins with Internet era and is relatively limited. Therefore, this study endeavors to advance current knowledge regarding the effect of online WOM on consumer purchase intention by separating online WOM into four types, and considering conformity as a moderator. Through a 3-stage 2 x 2 experimental design, this empirical study discovered that online WOM considerably affects consumer purchase intention, and positive online WOM has a higher effect on consumer purchase intention than does negative online WOM. No significant difference was observed between expert online WOM and non-expert online WOM influencing a receiver's purchase intention. Moreover, the generated results showed that conformity considerably moderates the relationship between online WOM and consumer purchase intention.

關鍵字

conformity ； online word-of-mouth ； consumer purchase intention