Investigating how brand image and attitude mediate consumer susceptibility to eWOM and purchase intention: Comparing enterprise-owned vs. third-party online review websites using multigroup analysis

Sanjeev Kumar, Rajesh Rajaguru and Lin Yang

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2024, vol. 81, issue C

Abstract: Despite the well-recognized impact of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on consumer decision-making, there is still a partial understanding of the differences integral to the platforms carrying eWOM. Underpinned by attitude contagion theory and attribution theory, the study investigates how brand attitude and brand image mediate the effect of consumer susceptibility to eWOM on purchase intention comparing the effects between enterprise-owned and third-party eWOM platforms. A self-administered online survey was conducted with 364 respondents and structural equation modelling was employed to test the relationships proposed in the study. The multigroup analysis performed using SmartPLS confirmed a significant difference between platforms. The results revealed that the indirect effect of susceptibility to eWOM on purchase intention, mediated by brand image and brand attitude, was stronger for third-party online review platforms compared to enterprise-owned platforms. This study extends the existing literature on eWOM platforms by empirically testing the different effects of two platforms on purchase intention, highlighting the critical role of third-party platforms in shaping consumer product and brand decisions. It accentuates the importance for enterprises to adapt strategies across review platforms due to varying consumer responses.

Keywords: Consumer susceptibility to eWOM; eWOM platforms; Contagion theory; attribution theory; Purchase intention; Multigroup analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698924003473
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:81:y:2024:i:c:s0969698924003473

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104051

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services is currently edited by Harry Timmermans

More articles in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().