ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF MARKETING AND RETAIL MANAGEMENT

ISSN 2349-2317 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJMRM/issn. 2349-2317/2015; Volume 9 Issue 1 (2018)

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CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT IN ELECTRONIC WORD-OF-MOUTH ON SOCIAL

NETWORKING SITES

SHWETA BANSAL DR. IPSHITA BANSAL

Research Scholar, Department of Professor, Department of Management
Management Studies, B.P.S. Mahila Studies, B.P.S. Mahila Vishwa
Vishwa Vidyalaya, Khanpur Kalan, Vidyalaya, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat,
Sonepat, Haryana, India Haryana, India
shwetabansal.30@gmail.com ibansalindia@yahoo.co.in

ABSTRACT

The role of social networking sites in our lives is increasing day by day. It is an effective tool to keep in touch and
get regular updates about our family and friends. Now the uses of these sites have increased and marketers have
started tapping it as an effective promotional tool. Traditional word-of-mouth has always been considered as non-
biased and most trusted form of promotion. Same applies now to eWOM but with additional benefits and
importance. Social networking sites have magnified the effect of eWOM over traditional word-of-mouth, whether it
is positive or negative. The present paper deals with the factors driving consumers to engage in electronic word-of-
mouth communication through social networking sites. The impact of these factors has also been analyzed that
whether these factors will generate either positive or negative eWOM. For this study, secondary sources have been
used. Finally, fifteen factors have been found and their impact also. eWOM has been found to be a great motivator
for the consumers to engage in brand communication, thus, providing a unique platform to the marketers to enhance
and increase their brand communication practices.
Keywords: Brand Communication, eWOM, Social Networking Sites, Word-of-mouth.

1. Introduction Instagram & LinkedIn, etc have changed the

way people interact. These sites have
Social networking sites have become a
increased the richness (quality of
major part of our lives especially the
information) and reach (number of people
younger generation. If they are not found
they can communicate with). Networking
anywhere, they can be found on social
with the friends, sharing photos and videos,
networking sites. Facebook, Twitter,
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posting comments, etc became a part of their
daily lives. It also helped in finding their
long lost friends in this huge world and
reconnecting with them through social
networking sites became easy. So, these
sites were initially used as a source of
interaction with the family and friends but as
its usage grew, its applications also grew.
Marketers started tapping it and it became
an effective promotional tool for them.
Effective because it helped in two-way
communication which no other traditional
media can provide (Parsons, 2013).
1.1 Word-of-mouth
Word-of-mouth marketing has always been
an important ingredient of promotional
strategies of the marketers. It is an unpaid
form of promotion in which a satisfied
consumer tells others how much they like or
dislike a product or a brand. It is considered
as the most credible and valuable form of
marketing as consumers gets no monetary
benefit from it, they either get appreciation
or blame from the people who are listening
to them.
WOM is defined as an “oral person to
person communication between a receiver
and a communicator whom the receiver
perceives as non-commercial, regarding a
brand, a product or a service” (Arndt,
1967).
1.2 Electronic word-of-mouth
With the advent of Web 2.0, word-of-mouth
has taken the form of electronic word-of-
mouth, commonly referred as eWOM. The
reasons and the motives of the marketers
used in traditional word-of-mouth are same
as in eWOM. The effect it has on customers
is also the same but there are certain
modifications in usage and motives of the
consumer that drive them to engage in
eWOM communications.
Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)
communication refers to any positive or
negative statement made by potential,
actual, or former customers about a product
or company, which is made available to a
multitude of people and institutions via the
internet (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004).
1.3 Moving from WOM to eWOM
Before the internet era ruled us, consumers
used to share their experiences privately on
one-to-one basis (traditional WOM). With
the emergence of internet, eWOM gained
more prominence due to its larger scope and
it overcame the weaknesses of traditional
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WOM. eWOM i.e. the online user generated
content has not only allowed consumers to
share the information with others but to
produce the information too. Now, it is no
longer only about B2C communication but it
has become C2C communication. The reach
of eWOM is more than the WOM. This is
because WOM used to take place in
personal conversations, thus allowing only
one-to-one communication, but now with
eWOM it can be one-to-many and many-to-
many. Analysis of traditional WOM is also
difficult because marketers can’t keep track
of what consumers are telling to other
consumers. But with eWOM it is possible
due to advancements in technology. Table 1
shows how traditional WOM is different
from eWOM and why consumers prefer
eWOM. Through eWOM scope has
increased and consumers are able to get
more information which was previously not
available.
1.4 eWOM & Social Networking Sites
Use of social networking sites is increasing
day by day. Previously it was the youth who
was found on these sites but with time every
generation is there on these sites. Marketers
are also using it as an effective promotional
tool. Consumers today are talking about
products on social networking sites. If they
want any information about anything, they
first of all search it online. The most used
online media is today social networking sites
because there we are connected with our
friends and family whose opinion we believe
in and as the scope of communication
extends, we also get to know the experiences
of anonymous people which diversify the
WOM. Thus, due to tremendous interest of
people in social networking sites, marketers
are finding it an effective way to engage
consumers in eWOM due to the connectivity
with the world by sitting at one place
(Kozinets et al., 2010 & Jalilvand et al.,
2011).
1.5 Consumer Engagement, eWOM &
Social Networking Sites
Consumer engagement is an outcome of
repeated interactions that strengthen the
emotional, psychological or physical
investment a consumer has in a brand
(Mollen & Wilson, 2010). It is the growing
involvement of the consumers with the
product/ brand that marketers are developing
different techniques and making use of
different medias so that there can be more
participation of consumers. One such
technique is eWOM and media is social
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networking sites. Thus, to promote their 2.1 Traditional WOM

products, marketers are engaging consumers
in generation of eWOM through social
networking sites. They are using consumer
engagement to differentiate themselves from
the competition, thus, achieving competitive
advantage and building their brands. This
has become possible due to active presence
of consumers on social networking sites
(Jakste and Kuvykaite, 2012).
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Before the emergence of web 2.0, traditional
WOM held an important place in both
marketers as well as consumers lives.
Marketers considered it as the most effective
source of communication and consumers
considered it as the non-biased source from
which they can get a fair point of view about
the product. Same is the situation in case of
eWOM but now its role and scope has
increased due to the reach of internet. The
motives with which consumers spread the
word now are more defined and specific
than previously. The review has been
divided in to two parts. Four studies given
are related with traditional WOM and rest of
the studies are concerned with eWOM.
Dichter, E. (1966) studied how word-of-
mouth advertising works. He studied three
aspects related with it and they are why
people talk, why people listen and why
people act on word-of-mouth conversations.
People like to talk about a product when
they have experienced the product
themselves, they want to gain attention or
show off, they want to express their
emotions and they are so influenced by the
advertising of the product that they talk
about it. He also analyzed that people listen
to other people if they feel that the other
person is genuinely interested in other’s
well-being and they have expertise or
knowledge about the product. He also found
that more sales happen due to word-of-
mouth rather than the traditional advertising
as marketers will only say good about the
product but the consumers using it will
provide the real information and genuine
advice.
Richins & Shaffer (1988) highlighted the
importance of WOM in consumer decision
making process and the credit for WOM
goes to opinion leaders. Opinion leaders
engage in this form of interpersonal
communication if they have personal
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experience, have product related news and
are involved in advice-giving. They stated
this by giving an “Opinion Leadership
Model with three WOM factors”.
While making a purchase decision,
consumers are affected by their
environment. In pre-purchase stage, they
look out for people who have already had an
experience with the product or know
something about the product. Engel,
Blackwell & Miniard (1993) identified
certain motives for consumers’ engagement
in WOM. From the five motives they gave,
four have been indentified in previous
studies i.e. involvement, self-enhancement,
concern for others and message intrigue.
They extended the motives by giving the
fifth motive, which is a reason for
generation of negative WOM and that is,
dissonance reduction. All the other motives
result in positive WOM.
A very important and prominent study was
done by Sundaram, Mitra & Webster (1998)
and they identified both positive (altruism,
product involvement, self enhancement and
helping the company) and negative motives
(altruism, anxiety reduction, vengeance and
advice seeking) of why consumers engage in
traditional WOM.
2.2 eWOM
Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004) conducted an
online study on 2000 consumers and found
that the primary factors leading to eWOM
behaviour are concern for others, developing
their own self-worth, social interaction and
desire for economic incentives. They
divided the factors in to five motives
namely; focus related utility, consumption
utility, approval utility, moderator-related
utility and homeostase utility.
East et al. (2005) founded that out of all the
sources of promotion, recommendations i.e.
word-of-mouth contributed on an average
31% in choosing a product. However, this
percentage varied across different categories
of product. They also highlighted that
consumers give more importance to sought
WOM (1.6 times more effective) rather than
unsought WOM.
Word of mouth is an advantage that every
company should take benefit of. Several
factors were found which were positively or
negatively related with eWOM. If not used
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wisely, other companies can use it as an contextual factor is the reason which
opportunity. Also companies should balance differentiates traditional WOM with the
positive and negative word of mouth. Word eWOM. Contextual factor i.e. the platform
of mouth helps in taking company and its is the most important factor that has made
products in consumer’s everyday life changes in the way communication is taking
(Alexandru, 2010). place between the communicators and the
receivers and with the advancement in
When consumers engage in eWOM through technology eWOM communication plays a
social networking sites, they can engage in major role in influencing the consumers.
varying degrees (Chu & Choi, 2011; Chu &
Kim, 2011; Men & Sunny Tsai, 2013). The Jannsson & Zakharkina (2013) identified
lowest level of engagement is when various motives for positive eWOM. These
consumers are just viewing or reading the motives are product involvement, self
posts made by other people on social enhancement, concern for others, message
networking sites. The moderate level of intrigue, social benefits, economic
engagement is when they are contributing or incentives and helping the company.
participating in the conversations taking Amongst all the factors, social benefits and
place online. When consumers are creating expressing positive emotion was found to
and sharing the user generated content i.e. have a significant impact on brand
photos, videos or recommendations online communication through social networking
then it is the highest level of engagement. sites. They also advised marketers that they
should develop such marketing strategies
Cheung & Thadani (2012) identified the which would encourage eWOM
elements of eWOM communication. communication.
According to them, there are five elements
which are communicators, stimuli, receivers, Social networking sites have become
responses and contextual factor. Under the consumer opinion platform and thus,
first four elements, they identified a wide generate eWOM. It helps consumers and
range of factors which provoke users to marketers in knowing the different
engage in eWOM communication and dimensions of a product, for example –
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product reviews, discovering new trends and networking sites. They identified that for
improving marketing campaigns, etc. Also, generating eWOM engagement through
word of mouth helps in increasing the social networking sites, three social
interest of consumers and providing them relational factors are used. They are trust,
customized information. Other consumers reciprocity and sense of community. They
also act as influencer which becomes an also found that an individual’s personality
important promotional tool for the company traits act as moderating factor in this model.
(Arenas-Marquez et al., 2014).
Wang et al. (2016) through Self-determinant
Seifert & Kwon (2015) found that eWOM theory and Social capital theory explained
plays an important role in brand value co- the factors that influence eWOM. Self
creation and brand trust. Consumers help determinant theory has two factors namely
marketers in contributing to their brand innovativeness and voluntary self-
value by sharing and posting brand stories disclosure. Innovativeness influenced the
with other consumers. This way brand trust consumers most as the innovative people are
is also built among the consumers thus, always hungry for information and they are
influencing their purchase intention. constantly on look-out for new information
and technology. Social capital theory
Customers’ engagement in spreading comprises of tie strength, trust and shared
eWOM is like walking on a tight rope for language. Tie strength is positively related
marketers, if they lose their balance, they with eWOM as people engage in
might fall. Because the content that is communication with those they are related,
generated may not be positive (increased thus proving to be most influential factor.
brand awareness, rapid and wider Other two does not have significant
promotion, value creation, purchase influence.
intention, etc.) only, it can be negative (loss
in market share, poor brand image, etc) too Moran & Muzellec, 2017 focussed on just
(Fu, Ju & Hsu, 2015). two factors which are responsible for
Majali & Bohari (2016) formed a model of engagement in eWOM. These factors are
eWOM communication through social source and message credibility. They further
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identified the components of credibility and
they are community, competence, content
and consensus. Consumers consider eWOM
as the more reliable source, thus, marketers
should leverage eWOM to the best of their
ability and endorse their brands with the
help of consumers.
Mikalef et al. (2017) highlighted that WOM
plays a role in generating purchase intention
among the consumers and also helping the
firms in creating value for them. In this
whole process, trust acts as a mediator
because if trust will not be there, WOM will
result in negative results. Thus, their study
focussed on the importance of social
platforms for promotion and when
consumers co-create the value with
marketers then obviously they themselves
would consume the product and influence
others too, to do the same.
3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are: -
 To know the factors those are driving
consumers to engage in eWOM
communication on social networking sites.
 To examine the impact (positive or
negative) of above factors on the brand/
product.
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This is a conceptual paper and the data has
been collected from secondary sources. The
various sources used are journals and
conference proceedings. This research work
presents the factors motivating the
consumers to engage in eWOM on social
networking sites. Many authors have given
various factors but they mainly focussed on
specific aspects. In this paper, an effort has
been made to combine the findings of all the
researchers and present a comprehensive
view of all the factors given by them. Table
I presents the difference between WOM and
eWOM. Summarized description of factors
with their impact on the product has been
presented in Table II. Contribution of four
researchers in traditional WOM has been
presented in Table III in brief specifying the
factors only. Table IV presents the
contribution of previous researchers about
factors driving consumers’ engagement in
eWOM through social networking sites.
Along with the contribution, findings of the
researchers have also been given. Figure I
state all the factors due to which consumers
engage in eWOM on social networking
sites.
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5. FACTORS DRIVING CONSUMERS
TO ENGAGE IN eWOM
COMMUNICATION ON SOCIAL
NETWORKING SITES
There are several factors which drive
consumers to engage in eWOM
communication on social networking sites.
These factors may have positive or negative
impact on the brand/ product depending
upon the experiences of the consumers.
Various factors which motivate/ drive
consumers are depicted in Figure 1.
5.1 Trust: - Trust is one of an important
factor in a communication. Trust is defined
as “willingness to rely on an exchange
partner in whom one has confidence”
(Moorman et al., 1993). In accordance with
the past literature, trust has been found as a
starting point on which beliefs and attitudes
are formed. This is because trust enhances
sharing of knowledge among others whether
it be face-to-face or in online environments.
People engage in online communication or
online social interaction only when they
trust each other and this trust develops
among them when they can view or go
through each other profiles or with whom
they have social ties. Trust also reduces
uncertainty from the users’ mind which is a
major cause of concern for the online
participation. Higher the level of trust,
higher will be the sharing of information
(Brown et al., 2007; Alexandru, 2010; Chu
& Kim, 2011; Choi & Scott, 2013; Hansen
& Lee, 2013; Hashim & Ariffin, 2016;
Majali & Bohari, 2016; Wang et al., 2016;
Mikalef et al., 2017). The factor trust has
been named as Credibility by Moran &
Muzellec, 2017. For eWOM communication
to be reliable both source and message
credibility is necessary. They identified four
components of source and message
credibility which are community,
competence (Park & Kim, 2008); (Cheung
& Lee, 2012 named this factor Knowledge
self-efficacy), content and consensus. If all
these four factors are present then the
communication will be considered as more
credible.
5.2 Interpersonal Influence:- Interpersonal
influence is a factor which determines the
effect of one person on another in
influencing consumer decision making. Chu
& Kim, 2011; Hsu & Tran, 2013 identified
two dimensions of interpersonal influence
and they are:
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5.2.1 Informational Interpersonal things about the product but when we

Influence:- These are the kind of people interact with other consumers we get to
who are on look out for the information and know about the real facts whether be
they ask from their family and friends about positive or negative. However, the
the product/ brand. When they get the traditional word-of-mouth also provided us
information, they consider it credible. This information but with eWOM we have a
factor has been found to be positively chance to get more information and both the
related with eWOM as they have a higher positive and negative opinions about the
need to acquire information so that they can product which can help us in taking a final
take purchase decision. decision (Mikalef et al., 2013). This factor
5.2.2 Normative Interpersonal can further be detailed in two ways and i.e.
Influence: - These are the kind of people seeking advice and resolving problems.
who like to follow what everybody is doing Seeking advice is when one is in the process
to get acceptability or to fulfil the of purchase they want to gather as much as
expectations of others. This is because they information possible so as to take right
want social approval. This factor is also decision. When one faces a problem either
positively related with eWOM (Hansen & with a product or anything personal, they
Lee, 2013). find solace in talking to others and it also
Cheung et al., 2007 also recognized the helps in getting the solution to the problem
positive relation of eWOM with and this is known as resolving problems
informational influence and normative (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004; Berger, 2014).
influence; however, they explained it as a
determinant of credibility. 5.4 Sense of Community: - When we have
something common with others whether it is
5.3 Information Availability: - When in our personal lives or interaction in virtual
consumers go through the traditional process environment, we develop a sense of
of buying a product, generally the belongingness with them. The sense of
information available is through the community can develop through shared
salesman selling the product and it is language, shared culture, shared beliefs and
obvious that they will only tell the positive demographic similarities etc. Shared
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language and demographic similarities were
found to be negatively related with eWOM
(Alexandru, 2010 & Wang et al., 2016)
whereas shared culture and shared beliefs
(perceptual affinity) was found to be
positively related (Alexandru, 2010). If the
consumer belongs to a collectivist culture,
he basically belongs to the receiving end i.e.
he is looking for the information. While if
consumer belongs to individualistic culture,
he acts as information provider. Cheung &
Lee, 2012; Choi & Scott, 2013; Majali &
Bohari, 2016 identified a positive relation of
this factor with eWOM engagement. They
simply defined it as emotional involvement
with others where the goals of different
people match, they have something in
common with others or they can identify
themselves with others and thus, they
consider those people as their friends and
share their experiences with others. This
factor also increases the loyalty within the
group. Chu & Kim, 2011; Hansen & Lee,
2013 identified this factor as Homophily and
found it to be negatively associated with
eWOM engagement.
5.5 Concern for Others: - Some people are
altruistic in nature. They have selfless
concern for the well-being of others. These
kinds of people want to help others in any
which way they can. Thus, such people in
online environment tend to share their
product experiences or knowledge with
others so that they can help them in taking
better product decisions. These people don’t
expect anything in return. They just want to
provide benefit to others and prevent them
from taking any wrong or negative decision.
This factor was found to be a primary
motivator for engagement in eWOM
(Henning-Thurau et al., 2004; Cheung &
Lee, 2012; Hansen & Lee, 2013).
5.6 Involvement: - People don’t get
attached with people only. They develop
feelings for things or products also which
are materialistic and these feelings are so
strong that there is an urge to share it with
others. These feelings can be positive or
negative. Thus, talking about the products
gives them peace of mind and eases their
anxiety. Consumers’ get so much committed
to a product that they want to share it with
others. When consumers are anxious to find
about a product, they do so by searching
information about it and thus, get more
involved and spend more of their energy and
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time on social networking sites (Alhidari et
al., 2015; Hashim & Ariffin, 2016).
5.7 Self Enhancement: - Self enhancement
is a self esteem need. It is a common
tendency among people to take all the credit
for their successes while giving no credit to
other individuals or factors. This is a very
common phenomenon in social cognition.
They just want an affirmation from others
that they are the intelligent ones who have
took the right decision either by buying or
not buying a product which will result in
recognition and increase in their status
(Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004; Alexandru,
2010; Choi & Scott, 2013; Mikalef et al.,
2013). Cheung & Lee, 2012 named this
factor as Reputation and Berger, 2014 called
it Impression Management.
5.8 Risk-taking: - Social networking sites
are not only about involvement with known
but it is also about getting to know
unknown. This is only possible when one is
open and willing to take chances and try out
something new who in other terms are
known as risk-takers. Three types of risk-
takers can be identified from the literature
and they are innovators (Wang et al., 2016),
opinion leaders and market mavens. These
all the three are the ones who will respond to
the messages whether received from
unknown sources. They will always be
ready to take risk and freely express their
opinions. For marketers, they are the kind of
persons who will be willing to share
information and will be the first in the lot to
try something new (Alhidari et al., 2015).
5.9 Social Benefits: - By social benefits here
we mean, the social needs of an individual,
the need to interact socially with other
people and this need is very well fulfilled by
the social networking sites. So, consumers
engage in eWOM communication to get
social benefits i.e. they feel connected with a
large group of people which satisfies their
affiliation needs. By engaging in eWOM
communication or in other words, by
sharing their knowledge and product
information they tend to create bond with
others and socialize with them. Also,
through this they can easily blend and
integrate with them (Hennig-Thurau et al.,
2004 & Mikalef et al., 2013). Berger, 2014
named this factor as Social Bonding in
which he highlighted that it helps in
reinforcing the shared views (creating strong
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bonds with someone who has same opinion
as the other) and reducing the loneliness or
the boredom people often face in their life.
5.10 Tie Strength: - Tie strength means
building strong relationships with the people
we already know. In our busy lives, we
seldom lose contact with the people we
know. Giving, passing and sharing
information helps in getting and maintaining
bond with them. Tie strength has been
explained as strong ties and weak ties.
Strong ties are with families and close
friends whereas weak ties are
acquaintances and colleagues with whom we
are not in close touch. At micro level,
stronger ties have significant influence in
eWOM communication (Hsu & Tran, 2013)
and at macro level; weak ties act as a bridge
between the people and allow information
sharing amongst a vast number of people
(Alexandru, 2010; Chu & Kim, 2011; Wang
et al., 2016). The only study which
negatively related tie strength
consumer engagement in eWOM is of
Hansen & Lee, 2013 which can also be
possible due to its being tested only in case
of game playing on social networking sites.
5.11 Economic Incentives: - Users of
social networking sites not only get social
benefits but they sometimes get certain
economic incentives too. These economic
incentives are only possible in case of
virtual networks. With a hope to get
economic incentives for example, discounts
on spreading positive eWOM, rebates or
wining contests, etc motivates consumers to
participate in eWOM communications. This
was found to be the second important
motivator (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004;
Hansen & Lee, 2013).
with
5.12 Perceived Usefulness: - Perceived
usefulness also motivates consumers to
engage in eWOM communication. If a
consumer finds any product to be useful and
can make their lives easy, then they feel
everybody should know about it. In online
environment, it is easy to let others know
about such kinds of products. The motive
behind doing so is collectivism i.e.
with everybody should derive benefit from what
is good (Alexandru, 2010; Mikalef et al.,
2013; Hashim & Ariffin, 2016).
5.13 Value Co-creation:- It is a well-
known fact that consumers believe what
other consumers say about a product rather
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than what marketers say. So, in order to help
the company especially when the consumers
are satisfied with the product experience,
they engage in eWOM communication.
They also do so because they want to get the
same benefits over the coming years. This
will only happen if the company is
profitable. They also tell companies that
what is expected out of them by the
consumers. Thus, value co-creation or in
other words, helping the company is the
motive for the consumers to engage in
eWOM communication. Slowly, these
consumers become partners and help
company in creating value (Cheung & Lee,
2012; Mikalef et al., 2017).
5.14 Customer Empowerment: - eWOM
is a user-generated content and to feel
empowered, consumers use their knowledge
and skills to give insight and provide
feedback about the products. This is mostly
used in case of negative comments because
consumers vent their negative feelings
through this. Dell Hell is an example of this,
when a dissatisfied customer posted his
aggression in a blog post and all the
dissatisfied customers joined by him and
shared their not good experiences. Berger,
2014 explained this factor in his study under
Emotion Regulation in which he further
explained that customers regulate their
emotions in six different ways and two out
of them are apt here and they are venting
(sharing negative experiences to let go the
anger) and taking vengeance (punishing the
person responsible for one’s bad
experience), (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004;
Alexandru, 2010).
5.15 Reciprocity: - People engage in
eWOM communication on social
networking sites because they expect that
giving information now will result in
reciprocal behaviour from others in future.
As in our daily routine lives when we take a
favour from somebody we expect to return
it. People engaged in online communication
also feel the same obligation and thus, it
results in information exchange among them
and therefore, being related with eWOM
(Cheung & Lee, 2012; Majali & Bohari,
2016). However, reciprocity is not a strong
determinant for consumers which motivate
them to engage in eWOM communication.
This factor was considered more valid in
case of traditional WOM as their was face-
to-face interaction and thus, the people used
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to feel obligated but in case of social 6. CONCLUSION

networking sites, people feel no more
burdened because of their virtual interaction
(Wasko and Faraj, 2005; Chiu et al., 2006;
Choi & Scott, 2013).
Table II presents all the factors, with their
brief description and impact of these factors
on the brand/ product. Whether the factor
will result in positive eWOM or negative
eWOM, totally depends upon
consumers’ experience and knowledge. So,
marketers need to maintain a balance
between positive and negative eWOM. Also,
when there is a negative eWOM, then they
should treat it as an experience and learn
never to repeat those mistakes and when
there is a positive eWOM, effort should be
made to maintain it. It is not necessary that
every consumer is affected by all the above
factors stated, one factor may be more
influential for a consumer and other factor
may be influential for another. Out of all the
above factors some are used in offline media
too but mainly they are concerned with
today’s online media i.e. the
networks that has grabbed most of the
attention.
Over the years with the advancement in
technology and specifically e-commerce,
marketers are finding new ways to promote
and to sell their products. These advantages
have proved to be a boon for them if
handled with caution and care. One of such
advancement is social networking sites
which were initially for people to connect
with each other and maintain & strengthen
their social tie which was becoming difficult
the
in this busy world. Slowly, these sites
became a source of promotion too for
marketers due to its reach and richness.
eWOM is one of the benefit which internet
is providing and so we have moved from
traditional word-of-mouth to electronic
word-of-mouth. eWOM has tried to
overcome the limitations of traditional
WOM due to the fast spread and no
geographical limitation. But the question
arises why consumers would engage in
eWOM and the answer to this is the utilities
the consumers get through this. With the
utilities, certain needs are also fulfilled. By
this study, it was concluded that there are
virtual
various factors due to which consumers
engage in eWOM. These factors are trust,
interpersonal influence, availability of
information, sense of community, concern
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for others, involvement, self enhancement,
risk-taking, social benefits, tie strength,
economic incentives, perceived usefulness,
value co-creation, customer empowerment
and reciprocity. The motives which
consumers use vary from one to another.
Also, the motives for eWOM have just been
an extension to the motives of traditional
WOM which help marketers in overcoming
the limitations of traditional WOM.
Understanding the motives only, is not
sufficient. It is also to be known that what
the impact of these factors is as marketers
only want a positive motivation for the
consumers so that it results in brand equity.
Economic incentives, perceived usefulness
and value co-creation results in spread of
positive eWOM only whereas other factors
can lead to either positive or negative word-
of-mouth depending upon the experience of
the consumer and it depends upon the
marketer to take consumer towards
spreading positive vibes.
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Figure
Figure I: Factors driving consumer engagement in eWOM on Social Networking Sites

Interpersonal Information Sense of

Trust
Influence Availability Community

Concern for Self

Involvement Risk-taking
Others Enhancement

Economic Perceived
Social Benefits Tie Strength
Incentives Usefulness

Valur Co- Customer

Reciprocity
creation Empowerment

(Source: Author’s Study)

List of Tables

Table I: WOM & eWOM

Aspects WOM eWOM

Setting Offline & Physical Online & Virtual
Message Source Acquaintances Acquaintances & Anonymous
Duration Shorter Longer
Accessibility Smaller (ear to ear) Larger (no geographical limit)
Feedback Limited and short-lived Open & measurable
(Source: Wang, T. et al., 2016, Table 1, p.1036)
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Table II: Factors leading to Consumer Engagement in eWOM on Social Networking Sites
& their impacts
FACTORS DESCRIPTION IMPACT
Trust Person’s readiness to rely on someone’s Positive/ Negative
opinion
Interpersonal Involvement of others’ in influencing Positive/ Negative
Influence consumer decision-making
Information Easy and fast availability of information Positive/ Negative
Availability
Sense of Community Feeling of commonality among the consumers Positive/ Negative
Concern for Others Thinking about well-being of others without Positive/ Negative
any benefit to oneself
Involvement Strong connection with the product which Positive/ Negative
inspires them to do something about it
Self Enhancement Fulfilling their self-esteem needs by getting Positive/ Negative
recognition from others
Risk-taking Willingness to try out something new and Positive/ Negative
different by both opinions leaders and opinion
seekers
Social Benefits Building social circle Positive/ Negative
Tie Strength Getting more involved with the known Positive/ Negative
Economic Incentives Getting monetary benefits for spreading Positive
positive word-of-mouth
Perceived Usefulness Informing the consumers about the usefulness Positive
of the product/ brand
Value Co-creation Helping the firm in creating/ adding value to Positive
their product/ brand
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Customer Freedom to share information and experiences Positive/ Negative

Empowerment
Reciprocity Returning the favour Positive/ Negative
(Source: Author’s Study)

Table III: Contribution of different authors on traditional WOM

AUTHOR
Ernest Dichter, 1966
Richins & Shaffer, 1988
Engel, Blackwell & Miniard,
1993
CONTRIBUTION
Reasons why people talk
 Personal experience
 Self-confirmation
 Being nice
 Influenced by advertising
Reasons why people listen
 Industry experts
 Celebrities
 Knowledgeable passionate fans
 Closest ties
Reasons why people act on WOM conversations
 Authentic passion
 Genuine passion
 Actual proof
 Semblance of secrecy
Opinion leaders engagement in WOM
 Positive personal experience
 Advice-giving
 Product news
 Involvement
 Self-enhancement
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 Concern for others

 Message intrigue
 Dissonance reduction
Sundaram, Mitra & Motives for engagement in positive WOM
Webster, 1998  Altruism
 Product involvement
 Self-enhancement
 Helping the company
Motives for engagement in negative WOM
 Altruism
 Anxiety reduction
 Vengeance
 Advice seeking

Table IV: Contribution of different authors on Consumer engagement in eWOM

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTION FINDINGS

Hennig- Focus-related Utility Self-enhancement and expressing positive
Thurau et al.,  Concern for other emotions were named as positive self-
2004 consumers enhancement/ extraversion. Convenience
 Helping the company and problem-solving support was
 Social benefits combined and named platform assistance

 Exerting the power which acts as a moderator in the whole

Consumption Utility process as they help companies in dealing

 Post purchase advice with the motives for which consumers

engage in eWOM. Concern for others,
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seeking economic incentives, social benefits and

Approval Utility positive self-enhancement were found to be
 Self-enhancement the primary motivators for the consumers.
 Economic rewards
Moderator-related Utility
 Convenience
 Problem-solving support
Homeostase Utility
 Expressing positive
emotions
 Venting negative
feelings
Cheung et al., Informational Influence All the factors were found to be positively
2007  Argument Strength related with eWOM credibility which is a
 Source Credibility strong motivator for consumers to engage
 Confirmation with in eWOM communications on social
receiver’s prior belief networking sites.
Normative Influence
 Recommendation
Consistency
 Rating
Alexandru,  Level of expertise of the All the factors except demographic
2010 initiator similarity are positively related with
 Tie strength eWOM. eWOM will be most effective if all
 Demographic similarity these factors are used in interconnection

 Perceptual affinity with each other. Also, marketers need to

 Perceived quality or maintain a balance between PWOM and

value NWOM.
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 Trust
Chu & Kim,  Tie Strength These factors were tested on three
2011  Homophily dimensions i.e. opinion seeking, opinion
 Trust passing and opinion giving. Tie strength

 Interpersonal Influence was positively associated with opinion

(Normative influence seeking and passing. Homophily was

& Informational negatively related. Trust, normative

influence) influence and informational influence were
found to have positive association with
eWOM engagement.
Cheung & Lee,  Reputation Out of all the factors, sense of belonging,
2012  Reciprocity reputation and enjoyment of helping were
 Sense of belonging only found to be positively related with

 Moral obligation eWOM engagement.

 Enjoyment of helping
 Knowledge self-efficacy
Choi & Scott,  Trust Trust and identification were found to be
2013  Norms positively related for spreading eWOM but
 Obligations norms and obligations were negatively

 Identification related as these both work for formal or

work environments rather than in case of
social environment.
Hansen & Lee, Social Factors Normative influence and economic
2013  Social Ties incentives were found to have positive
 Homophily relation with eWOM engagement while
 Trust social ties, homophily, trust and enjoyment

 Normative Influence were negatively related. This study was

Game Factors done in relation with games played on

 Enjoyment social networking sites.

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ISSN 2349-2317 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJMRM/issn. 2349-2317/2015; Volume 9 Issue 1(2018)

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 Economic Incentive
Mikalef et al., Utilitarian Motivation
2013  Convenience
 Information Availability
 Product Selection
The convenience of using social media, the
selection of products available, trend
discovery and adventure are positively
related with product browsing which in

 Customized turn lead to spreading of WOM.

Advertisements
Hedonic Motivation
 Trend Discovery
 Socializing
 Adventure
 Authority & Status
Berger, 2014  Impression Management All the factors identified were found to be
 Emotion Regulation positively related with eWOM. It was
 Information Acquisition highlighted that all these factors are self-

 Social Bonding serving i.e. own needs are fulfilled rather

 Persuading Others than fulfilling other people’s needs.

Alhidari et al.,  Involvement Involvement and risk-taking was found to

2015  Self-reliance have a positive and significant influence in
 Risk-taking eWOM engagement of consumers. Self-
reliance was not found to be related. It was
further contended that involved and risk-
taker consumers should be indentified and
engaged in eWOM communications.
Hashim &  Consumers Involvement All the factors found to be positively
Ariffin, 2016  Perceived Usefulness related in eWOM engagement. Marketers
 Trust should leverage eWOM by involving the
three factors to get more support of more
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ISSN 2349-2317 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJMRM/issn. 2349-2317/2015; Volume 9 Issue 1(2018)

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consumers in generating positive WOM.

Majali & Social Relational factors All the social relational factors are
Bohari, 2016  Trust positively related with users’ engagement
 Reciprocity in eWOM. Personality traits act as the
 Sense of community moderator i.e. the positive relationship
Moderator between social relation factors and users

 Personality Traits engagement is enhanced by personality

traits.
Wang et al., Social Capital Factors Amongst the social capital factors, tie
2016  Tie Strength strength was found to be most significant
 Trust factor in eWOM engagement. Trust was
 Shared Language believed to be not of much influence and
Individual Factors shared language was the least significant.

 Innovativeness From individual factors, innovativeness

 Voluntary self- promoted people to get involved in eWOM

disclosure whereas voluntary self-disclosure was not
related with eWOM.
Moran & Source & Message Credibility Authors identified the factors associated
Muzellec, 2017  Community with source and message credibility. They
 Competence also highlighted that marketer if pay
 Content attention to these factors can leverage the

 Consensus impact of using social media

communication favourably.