Conceptualising E-Wom Activity

Marketing Intelligence & Planning
Conceptualising electronic word of mouth activity: An input-process-output perspective

Yolanda Y.Y. Chan E.W.T. Ngai
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MIP
29,5
Conceptualising electronic word

of mouth activity
An input-process-output perspective
488
Yolanda Y.Y. Chan and E.W.T. Ngai

Department of Management and Marketing,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon,
Hong Kong, Peoples Republic of China
Received 16 July 2010

Reviced 17 November 2010,
23 March 2011
Accepted 6 May 2011
Abstract
Purpose In light of the growth of internet usage and its important role in the field of e-commerce,
electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has been changing peoples behavior and decisions. People count on
other users opinions and information; they sometimes even make offline decisions based on
information acquired online. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise eWOM activity from an
input-process-output (IPO) perspective; propose a classification framework based on the identified
academic literature; analyze eWOM literature in terms of quantitative development and qualitative
issues that are useful to both academics and researchers; and provide directions and guidelines for
future research studies in eWOM.
Design/methodology/approach The authors performed a systematic literature review of
peer-reviewed published journal articles and examined the current state of knowledge on eWOM
literature based on a comprehensive search of several leading databases. In total, 94 articles were
identified that comprised contributions from different strands of eWOM research. The scope of this
investigation was limited to the timeframe of 2000-2009.
Findings The present study finds that research in eWOM is relatively new and has evolved only
during the last ten years. This ten-year study is deemed to be representative of the available eWOM
literature. It is also shown that many scholars have incorporated established theories to explain
eWOM communication phenomena. The current study not only fills the current gap in eWOM research
but also provides a roadmap in analyzing eWOM communications.
Practical implications This study serves as a consolidated database that may be used to guide
future research. It provides a structured approach to analyzing the literature and identifying trends
and gaps in order to map out an appropriate agenda for eWOM research. The proposed integrated
classification framework can serve as a roadmap for academic research.
Originality/value This paper systematically reviews the current state of eWOM research. To
contribute to the development of a more comprehensive database for eWOM research, a classification
framework of the eWOM literature is presented, building on the IPO model, by summarizing and
organizing prior research into three areas covering antecedents, processes, and consequences of
eWOM. The authors further summarize the theories and models that previous scholars have applied to
their studies.
Keywords Electronic commerce, Classification, Consumer behaviour, Non-verbal communications
Paper type Literature review
Marketing Intelligence & Planning

Vol. 29 No. 5, 2011
pp. 488-516
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-4503
DOI 10.1108/02634501111153692
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Editors and reviewers constructive comments on an
earlier version of the paper. This research was supported in part by The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University under grant number U658.
Introduction
In December 2009, World Population Statistics reported that close to 27 per cent of the
world population, or about 1.8 billion people, are internet users (Internet World
Statistics, 2009). Of this total, Asian internet users, numbering 764 million in all,
account for over 40 per cent of the world internet-user population. As a result, the
importance of the internet as a marketing and communications tool cannot be
underestimated (Internet World Statistics, 2009). Many internet users are believed to
participate in one or more online communities either directly or indirectly (Albors et al.,
2008). As such, the internet has brought forth a relatively new and increasingly crucial
form of global networked electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) (Hennig-Thurau and
Walsh, 2003).
The internet and information technology, in general, not only provide new
opportunities for consumers to share their opinions about products and services (Chen
and Xie, 2008; Avery et al., 1999) but are also key marketing tools and channels. In 2007,
total online retail sales in the USA amounted to more than $130 billion, showing a
year-on-year increase of about 19 per cent (Cheema and Purushottam, 2009; Scheleur and
Carol, 2007).
There has been tremendous growth in the word of mouth (WOM) industry since 2004,
so much so that the WOM Marketing Association has expanded from three to around
300 corporate members (WOMMA, 2010). Online and social networking media have
experienced the most significant growth (Brown et al., 2007). Because of advances in
e-commerce, eWOM began to attract attention from both researchers and practitioners
(Bickart and Schindler, 2001; Brown et al., 2007; Dwyer, 2007; Xia and Bechwati, 2008).
Research has found that consumer shopping behaviors in internet channels are
influenced by eWOM (Bickart and Schindler, 2001; Xia and Bechwati, 2008), while other
studies have found that people may use eWOM to search for heuristic information
(Smith et al., 2005).
eWOM is defined as:
[. . .] 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, p. 39).
Harrison-Walker (2001, p. 63) defined eWOM as an informal, person-to-person

communication between a perceived noncommercial communicator and a receiver
regarding a brand, a product, an organization, or a service.
Dellarocas (2003) pointed out that, in virtual communities, consumers build their
social networks with people they have never met in person and exchange their opinions
about products and services with other people. This process occurs in either virtual
communities where people have established relationships or in public forums in which
people do not have established relationships but connect through common interests or
topics (Cheong and Morrison, 2008; Fong and Burton, 2006).
In light of the growth of internet usage and its important role in the field of
e-commerce, the eWOM phenomenon has been changing peoples behavior and
decisions (Lee et al., 2008). People count on other users opinions and information;
they sometimes even make offline decisions based on information acquired online
(Lee et al., 2008).
eWOM activity
489
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From WOM to electronic word of mouth

There are several definitions of WOM. Early scholars defined it as an oral, person to
person communication between a receiver and a communicator whom the receiver
perceives as non-commercial, concerning a brand, a product or a service. (Arndt, 1967,
p. 3). Westbrook (1987, p. 261) described WOM as all informal communications directed
at other consumers about the ownership, usage, or characteristics of particular goods
and services or their sellers. Harrison-Walker (2001, p. 63) defined it as an informal,
person-to-person communication between a perceived noncommercial communicator
and a receiver regarding a brand, a product, an organization, or a service.
Historically, WOM has been recognized as one of the most influential resources of
information transmission (Breazeale, 2008; Godes and Mayzlin, 2004; Maxham and
Netemeyer, 2002). The influence of power of WOM on consumer decision making is
well established in academic literature (Steffes and Burgee, 2009). Referring to past
literature, WOM is more effective than other marketing tools and conventional
advertising media (Cheung et al., 2008; Engel et al., 1969; Katz and Lazarfeld, 1955).
Therefore, it is an important area for marketing research. However, traditional WOM
communications are limited by boundaries and are only effective within the network
boundaries (Bhatnagar and Ghose, 2004).
The concept of eWOM has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years due to the
growth of the internet and the popularity of the e-commerce. eWOM can also be considered
as the extension of traditional interpersonal communications in the new age. It has
attracted numerous marketing and consumer research studies, particularly regarding the
motives behind exchanging eWOM and the impact of eWOM on consumption
(Cheung et al., 2008). Many researchers are interested in investigating the motives behind
posting (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004; Hennig-Thurau and Walsh, 2003; Lee et al., 2006) and
seeking eWOM (Goldsmith and Horowitz, 2006; Goldsmith, 2006). How channels, such as
discussion boards and online communities, which facilitate eWOM, influence products or
service adoption has also been studied (Subramani and Rajagopalan, 2003). There is
research that discusses threats and opportunities brought about by the rise in online
information exchanges (Stauss, 1997, 2000). Based on experiments, Senecal and Nantel
(2004) examined the impact of eWOM influences on product choices.
With the advent of information technology, online social network sites have
significantly altered information transmission and exchange, and such improvement
has leapfrogged conventional WOM communications. WOM is now no longer conveyed
to the few people you know; through the internet it can be transmitted to anyone in the
world without limits. As a result, eWOM plays a key role in todays consumer purchase
decisions.
Varadarajan and Yadav (2002) pointed out four important changes that have
occurred in the buying environment, as a result of the emergence of eWOM
(Varadarajan and Yadav, 2002):
(1) Access to price and non-price product attributes.
(2) Alternative comparisons and evaluations based on buyers considerations.
(3) Improved quality of information.
(4) Organized and structured information.
Meanwhile, eWOM is a type of communication which involves three key components:
the sender, the message, and the receiver. Yales model posited that these three major
factors influence participants attention, comprehension, and acceptance of a message

that could ultimately affect their opinions, perceptions, and actions (Cheung et al., 2009,
p. 13). To conceptualise eWOM activity, we analyze it from an input-process-output
(IPO) perspective similar to the communication theory. The components input,
process, and output refer to the sender, message, and receiver, respectively.
eWOM activity
Value and contribution

eWOM has been a subject of discussion since NCSA Mosaic, the first user-friendly
browser introduced in 1993 (Zwass, 1996). According to Breazeale (2008), the topic of
eWOM has only been addressed by top-level marketing journals in the last ten years or
so. The topic of eWOM is still relatively new in the research world. Therefore, the
existing literature on eWOM appears scattered, with neither a classification framework
nor a thorough review of articles. Given this, the development of a systematic taxonomy
is necessary for classifying eWOM research. eWOM conceptualization has also tended
to be simple and incomprehensive. With its recognized importance in the internet world,
there is certainly a need for a detailed examination of eWOM activity. Thus, the current
study sheds some light on this by attempting to build a classification framework for
eWOM literature, including antecedents, processes, and the consequences of eWOM.
Efforts are also exerted toward summarizing the theories and models that previous
scholars have applied to their studies.
491
Objectives
The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively review and classify the literature on
eWOM and to aid the creation and accumulation of knowledge related to eWOM by
summarizing what we know about it. Specifically, the objectives of this study are as
follows:
(1) conceptualise eWOM activity from an IPO perspective;
(2) propose a classification framework for classifying the identified academic
literature based on IPO framework;
(3) review the eWOM literature by using the classification method and analyze the
distribution of the literature with the framework;
(4) analyze eWOM literature with respect to both the quantitative developments
and qualitative issues that are useful to both academics and researchers; and
(5) provide direction and guidelines for future research in different areas of eWOM.
The paper is structured as follows: first the paper explains the review process. Second
it conceptualises eWOM activity based on related studies on eWOM in the literature
from an IPO perspective. Third it portrays and explains the proposed conceptual
framework. The classification methods and findings are depicted in the following
section. Fifth it concludes the paper, provides implications to marketers and confirms
the value of this review study. Finally, it discusses the limitations of this study.
Systematic review process
The current study is based on academic journals. We excluded textbooks, doctoral
dissertations, conference proceedings, and masters theses from the study.
Previous scholars believe that journals represent the highest level of research
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(Nord and Nord, 1995) through which academics and practitioners acquire information
and disseminate new findings (Ngai and Wat, 2002). With reference to Webster and
Watson (2002), to write a sound literature review, a systematic and structured approach
to searching and reviewing is strongly recommended (Breazeale, 2008). Therefore, we
incorporated a systematic and structured approach in this study. We conducted an
extensive, exhaustive, and systematic search using keywords including electronic word
of mouth, eWOM, internet word of mouth, online customer review, online word of
mouth, online recommendations, internet recommendation, electronic referral,
and online rating. The following online databases were searched to provide a
comprehensive reference list of eWOM articles:
.
ABI/INFORM database.
.
Academic Search Premier.
.
Business Source Premier.
.
Emerald Fulltext.
.
Ingenta Journals.
.
Science Direct.
The electronic copies of most articles were downloaded via online databases and the
digital library, while some articles were obtained as hardcopies from interlibrary
sources. Each article was reviewed and screened to remove those which were not
pertinent to the current study. In all, 94 papers were identified as pertinent to the study.
Figure 1 shows the research methodology.
Conceptual classification framework of eWOM
eWOM conceptualizations: from an IPO perspective
The current study attempts to conceptualise the three streams of eWOM activity
leading to the IPO conceptual framework (Figure 2). Many scholars have adopted the
IPO framework in organizational behavior research (Bushnell, 1990). Previous scholars
such as Steiner (1972), McGrath (1984), and Hackman (1987) explained the nature of
team performance using classic system model, including the IPO one (Bushnell, 1990).
The term of IPO is defined as inputs that lead to processes that in turn lead to
outcomes (Ilgen et al., 2005, p. 519). As shown in Figure 2, this framework describes
eWOM as having input, process, and output. These three steps serve as the
building blocks of the integrated framework (Turner, 2005), portraying the
antecedents, process, and consequences of eWOM communications.
An IPO framework is used as the basis of the model which posits that eWOM inputs,
lead to processes that influence the outcomes of eWOM in terms of approach/consumer
behaviors. These processes be grouped into three areas covering the antecedents,
processes, and consequences of eWOM (Litvin et al., 2008; Sweeney et al., 2008).
The proposed conceptual framework, which is intended to help explain the current state
of knowledge in eWOM research, is shown in Figure 2.
Inputs
In this context, inputs, which refer to the antecedents of eWOM or the motives and
drivers of posting and reading eWOM, include the motivations of writers and readers.
eWOM activity
Database selection criteria:
ABI/INFORM database;
Academic search premier;
Business source premier;
Emerald fulltext;
Ingenta journals; and
Science direct
Online
databases
Yes
493
No
Database
selection
Exclude
Yes
No
Journal
articles
Yes
Related to
eWOM
No
Yes
Keyword search criteria:
electronic word of mouth,eWOM,
Internet word of mouth,online
customer review,online word of
mouth,online recommendations,
Internet recommendation,electronic
referral,andonline rating.
Analysis*
Inconsistency of classification
result between the two authors
Discussion on
classification
results
Consistency of classification
result between the two authors
Final decision based on
consistency between two authors
Final classification
results of articles
Source: Ngai et al. (2009)
Figure 1.
Journal articles selection
framework
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Input
Posting or reading eWOM
1 Writer's motivations
494
Processing eWOM
Output
Outcome after
processing eWOM
1 eWOM platform
1 Purchase decision/
product sales
a. Social tie
2 eWOM System
b. Opinion leader
3 eWOM interface/site
design
4 Message characteristics
2 Customer
behavior/attitude
3 Customer loyalty
c. Information giving
c. Credibility
Process
d. Experience/expertise/
involvement
e. Knowledge/education
2 Reader's motivations
a. Social tie
a. Valence
(+ve eWOM/ve eWOM)
b. Volume
c. Content/quality
d. Usefulness
e. Credibility
f. Accuracy
4 Product judgment/
acceptance/adoption
5 Reduced risk
6 Marketing implication
7 eWOM metric
5 eWOM information
interpretation/processing
b. Opinion seeker
c. Information need
d. Prior knowledge/
experience/involvement
Figure 2.
Conceptual framework
for eWOM
e. Cost/risk/
uncertainty of buying
3 Marketer's motivations
What makes eWOM exist? Writers or readers are motivated to post or seek eWOM due
to social ties. Tie strength refers to the level of intensity of the social relationships
between consumers or the degree of overlap of two individuals friendship varies
greatly across a consumers social network (Steffes and Burgee, 2009, p. 45) Desire
and social intention influence participation in eWOM at both the individual- and
group-level drivers (Okazaki, 2009). Previous scholars have found that consumers
desire for social interaction, desire for economic incentives, their concern for other
consumers, and the potential to enhance their own self-worth are the primary factors
that lead to eWOM behavior. Further, eWOM providers can be grouped based on
what motivates their behavior, suggesting that firms may need to develop different
strategies for encouraging eWOM behavior among their users (Hennig-Thurau et al.,
2004).
On many occasions, writers post eWOM simply because they would like to share
their opinions and experiences. Readers seek eWOM because they need information
due, for example, to the uncertainty of buying, costs, and risks associated with their
purchase choice. The internet has the impressive ability to influence the consumer
information search process across many levels, including the amount and type of
information sought, as well as the relative importance of the information acquired
(Bakos and Brynjolfsson, 2000; Kulviwat et al., 2004; Steffes and Burgee, 2009).
Biz Rate conducted a survey with 5,500 web consumers, finding that 44 per cent of the
respondents said that they had consulted opinion sites before making a purchase
decision, and 59 per cent regarded consumer-generated reviews as more valuable than
expert reviews (Piller, 1999).
The players own experience and knowledge also serve as a driver in eWOM
communications, in which seekers read eWOM to learn about others opinions and
experiences while writers post eWOM to share experiences and knowledge. It is
expected that these web experiences will increase the likelihood of internet users
searching for information on the internet and their total time spent on internet
information search (Klein and Ford, 2003). People with less internet experience tend to
search for information via traditional channels.
Gilly et al. (1998, p. 85) pointed out that:
[. . .] opinion leaders appear to receive more information via non-personal sources of
information and are more product involved on an enduring basis; that is, they maintain a
higher continuous level of interest in the product area in which they are opinion leaders.
Research has found that opinion leadership tends to disseminate information to other
information seekers (Okazaki, 2009). Viewing eWOM as a powerful marketing tool, and
due to the anonymity of the internet environment, marketers may manipulate eWOM
in order to influence customers buying behaviors and attitudes (Dellarocas, 2006).
Process
Process in this model refers to the platform, system, or interface/site where eWOM is
processed. Platform refers to an eWOM channel, which is the location of the eWOM,
such as web-based opinion platforms, discussion forums, boycott web sites, and news
groups (Hennig-Thurau and Walsh, 2003). System, interface, and site refer to the
technical mechanisms of eWOM, such as recommendation systems and search agents.
The eWOM message itself is the heart in the process. It includes message valence
(positive and or negative), volume, content/quality, usefulness, credibility, and
accuracy. During the process, eWOM is interpreted and processed. Similar to WOM,
research has shown that eWOM may have higher credibility, empathy, and relevance
to customers than marketer-created sources of information on the internet (Bickart and
Schindler, 2001).
Previous studies that focused on positive customer reviews versus negative ones
showed that positive customer reviews positively affect consumers product choices
(Huang and Chen, 2006). In addition, product purchasing intentions can be influenced
by both the quality and the quantity of online consumer reviews (Park et al., 2007).
There are different conclusions among researchers regarding the number of reviews
and the average ratings included in the reviews. Some find that the quantity of reviews
has as impact (Liu, 2006), while others find that the average ratings of the reviews are
significant (Dellarocas et al., 2007). As buyers and sellers on the internet generally have
no personal relationship or ongoing interaction, trust and credibility play crucial roles
(Zhou et al., 2009).
Output
A large proportion of the literature is about eWOMs impact, and its influence on
purchase decisions and sales (Hu et al., 2008; Trusov et al., 2009; Dellarocas, 2006;
Dellarocas et al., 2007).
eWOM activity
495
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According to Park et al. (2007, p. 128), eWOM message content or quality is defined
as the quality of a reviews contents from the perspective of information
characteristics (i.e. relevance, understandability, sufficiency, and objectivity). They
also found that the quantity and quality of online consumer reviews are important
characteristics that affect consumer information-processing, such that there is positive
relationship between quality of eWOM message and a customers intent to purchase.
They further show a significant relationship between online consumer reviews and
purchase intentions (Park et al., 2007). If online reviews are logical and persuasive, with
sufficient reasons based on specific facts about the product, they are likely to have a
positive impact on consumers purchase intention. Also, the quantity of online reviews
has a positive relationship with customers intention to purchase. The rationale behind
this may be that online reviews imply the popularity of a product, the larger the
number of reviews, the higher the increase in a intention to buy.
As eWOM communications has become an important source of information for many
consumers, marketers believe that a web site must provide enough content to build
brand loyalty. These marketers look for marketing implications (Gelb and Sundaram,
2002; Chen and Xie, 2008) from eWOM and they are now faced with the challenge of
measuring eWOM effectiveness. eWOM measurement has attracted attention from
some researchers, such as Godes and Mayzlin (2004), Dwyer (2007) and Ferguson (2008).
Others
Some articles that have been identified from other eWOM researches are not covered
by the framework. We grouped them under the category of others in this study.
These articles focus on eWOM research related to cultures, gender, product and the
environment.
Classification methods
Descriptive findings
We analyzed the identified articles by year of publication, research methodology,
source of journals, research topic, theories/models, country of study, products/services
under study, and eWOM channels. This particular analysis should provide guidelines
for the pursuit of future research on eWOM and its applications by explaining the
growth of eWOM over the years, and the theories and models used in eWOM research.
Publication year
The distribution of articles by year from 2000 to 2009 is shown in Figure 3. As shown in
Figure 3, research on eWOM has grown exponentially during this period. In the last
two years, on average, there were more than 20 eWOM articles published every year.
Source of articles
As shown in Table I, the articles about eWOM come from diverse sources, and most
dominate areas, including marketing, business research, and information technology
publications.
Research methods
Table II shows the distribution of identified articles in the IPO framework by
research methods. In the 84 studies found, the two most common methods are
experiments/simulations (24 articles) and surveys (20 articles), which account for
52 per cent of the empirical studies. The factorial design is the most prevalent design,
whereas the remaining empirical approaches include case studies, focus groups,
interviews, observations, and numerical studies.
We further analyze the distribution of data collection methods in terms of the input,
process, and output stages. We found that among the identified papers related to input,
experiment/simulation and survey are the two most popular methods used, whereas
content analysis is rarely applied. For the identified articles related to the process
stage, experiment/simulation and content analysis are the two most popular research
methods used, yet numerical analysis replaces survey as the third most popular
research method. For identified papers related to output, we found that
experiment/simulation, survey, and content analysis are the most prevalent research
methods.
As seen from Table II, the eWOM research methods used in the papers are
relatively unbalanced, with a mixture of both quantitative (especially survey and
experiment/simulation) and qualitative (particularly case study methodologies)
approaches. As evidenced by the three most common methods, quantitative
approaches are more popular among eWOM researchers. Three-quarters above
70 per cent of the contribution to the 84 empirical articles is attributed to quantitative
methods, including surveys, numerical analyses, and experiments and simulations.
Qualitative data analyses, including content analyses, focus groups, case studies, and
interviews, account for about 30 per cent of the empirical studies. In this regard, eWOM
research may not be ready for the application of integrative methodologies, such as
quantitative case surveys that examine patterns of findings across case studies
(Larsson, 1993).
Regarding sampling, many of the empirical studies employ college students as
samples. As aside from being convenient samples, some researchers also argue that it
is logical to use college students as samples for eWOM studies because undergraduate
students are among the most wired and more likely than average consumers to spend
time online (Bailey, 2004, p. 20). A survey showed that college students are virtually
100 per cent connected to the internet, in comparison to the general publics 2:3 ratio
on internet usage. With their connections, college students represent a very good group
from which researchers can obtain information regarding eWOM. The majority of
surveys are done via the internet as this medium is where eWOM is particularly
popular.
eWOM activity
497
30
25
25
23
20
14
15
11
10
5
5
2
6
3
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Figure 3.
Publications of eWOM
research articles from
years 2000 to 2009
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Table I.
Source of articles
Publication year
Advances in Consumer Research
American Journal of Business
Association for Computing Machinery Communications of the ACM
Business Horizons
Decision Support Systems
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
Electronic Markets
Information and Management
Information Systems Research
Information Technology and Management
Information Technology Tourism
Interactive Advertising
International Journal of Advertising
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
International Journal of Electronic Commerce
International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing
International Journal of Hospitality Management
International Journal of Market Research
International Journal of Research in Marketing
International Journal of Web Based Communities
Internet Research
Journal of Advertising
Journal of Advertising Research
Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge
Journal of Business Research
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising
Journal of Electronic Commerce
Journal of Global Information Technology Management
Journal of Interactive Advertising
Journal of Interactive Marketing
Journal of Internet Commerce
Journal of Management Information Systems
Journal of Marketing
Journal of Marketing Communications
Journal of Marketing Management
Journal of Marketing Research
Journal of Retailing
Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing
Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology
Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing
Management Science
Managing Service Quality
Marketing Science
Social Behavior and Personality
The Business Review, Cambridge
The International Journal of Bank Marketing
The Journal of Consumer Marketing
Tourism Management
Grand total
Number of articles
2
1
1
1
3
4
2
2
3
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
6
3
1
2
1
5
9
1
2
2
1
2
3
3
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
94
Types of research
Case study
Content analysis
Content analysis and interview
Experiment and survey
Experiment/simulation
Focus group, content analysis and interview
Interview
Interview and case study
Literature review
Numerical analysis
Observation and survey
Survey
Grand total
Input
Process
Output
Grand total
0
0
0
0
4
1
0
1
1
1
1
8
17
2
5
0
1
11
0
1
0
0
4
0
3
27
1
8
1
1
9
0
0
0
3
8
0
9
40
3
13
1
2
24
1
1
1
4
13
1
20
84
Theories or models of applications

Many previous literature samples have applied established theories, such as the
elaboration likelihood model (ELM), heuristic-systematic model (HSM), attribution
theory and social effects-related theories.
Dual processing theories
The ELM and HSM look at how different levels/depths of processing influence
persuasive communication (Cheung et al., 2009).
Elaboration likelihood model
Among the theories, the ELM sets sound theoretical perspectives on the
consumer-information process with regard to online consumer reviews (Petty and
Cacioppo, 1986). Based on ELM, there are two types of information processing: the
central route and the peripheral route. People taking the central route think critically
and carefully scrutinize all relevant information before forming an attitude. On the
other hand, people who go by the peripheral route take mental shortcuts with less
cognitive effort when forming an attitude (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986).
ELM posits that individuals who want to process a message (i.e. who have
motivation) and individuals who are able to process the message (i.e. who have the
ability) are more likely to attend to the persuasive arguments and generate their own
thoughts in relation to the arguments (Park et al., 2007). However, individuals who lack
motivation or ability are more likely to process information by making shortcuts and
relying on non-content cues (Park et al., 2007).
Heuristic-systematic model
According to the HSM, people use two information processing modes when evaluating a
message: systematic processing and heuristic processing. Heuristic processing is
defined as a limited mode of information processing that requires less cognitive effort
and fewer cognitive resources (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993, p. 327). Systematic processing
refers to a mode that involves a much more comprehensive effort to analyze and
understand information (Griffin et al., 2002, p. 85). Attitudes based on systematic
processing are more likely to be permanent, whereas attitudes based on heuristic
eWOM activity
499
Table II.
Research methods
in eWOM
MIP
29,5
500
processing are likely to be volatile (Griffin et al., 2002). During heuristic processing,
people incorporate heuristics (that is, simple decision rules) and reasons for such,
including lack of motivation, time, opportunity, and knowledge (Chaiken et al., 1989).
ELM versus HSM
ELM and HSM are both described as dual-process approaches (Harris and Gupta, 2008)
as they both posit two information processing modes, in which the central route in
ELM and the systematic processing mode in HSM are similar while the peripheral
route in ELM echoes the heuristic processing mode in HSM. Both theories are based on
the amount of thought devoted to an argument, proposing a continuum of
elaboration (Gupta and Harris, 2009, p. 2) which ranges from the considerable
cognitive effort of assessing all relevant information (the central/systematic route of
persuasion) to the less cognitive effort of assessing peripheral/heuristic cues (Gupta
and Harris, 2009). The main difference between the two theories lies in the timing of
occurrence. The two processing modes in HSM operate independently and may occur
simultaneously while the two modes in ELM are inversely related, that is, as one
increases, the other decreases (Larson, 2010).
Attribution theory
According to the attribution theory paradigm, in terms of whether or not to adopt
eWOM communication, readers will base their decisions on the causal inferences they
make regarding the reviewers motivation in posting eWOM communication (Sen and
Lerman, 2007). According to Folkes (1988):
[. . .] consumer attitudes and behavior are frequently based on the making of causal
inferences, and many, if not most, products and services are purchased because consumers
infer a causal relationship between consuming the product and deriving the benefit sought.
Other researches also use the attribution theory to explain the causal inferences
consumers make when they recommend products to other consumers and when they
complain about problems (Hunt et al., 1981; Kamins and Assael, 1987).
Social effects-related theories
Social capital (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 376) refers to the resources embedded within,
available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an
individual or social unit (Nahafiet and Ghoshal, 1998, p. 243) that provide the basis
for trust, cooperation, and collective action in social aggregates such as an
organization (Hung and Li, 2007, p. 486). The two elements of social relationship, tie
strength and homophily (the degree to which actors in the social networks regard
each other as close and similar, respectively) depend on social and contextual cues, will
lead to different online behaviors (Brown et al., 2007).
Referring to the social identity theory, which has stronger social ties among people
in a group, the members within a group will be more likely to perceive that they are
distinguishable from people outside (Sohn, 2009). Strong ties are more likely to lead to
active information seeking behaviors than weak ones (Brown and Reingen, 1987).
Besides, information from homophilic sources is more likely to be used, but such
sources of information are not seen as necessarily more credible (Steffes and Burgee,
2009). The social influence model posits that people exchange eWOM due to desires at
the individual level and social intentions at the group level. Wetzer et al. (2007)
suggested that one motive for negative WOM is the desire to warn others and
strengthen social bonds.
The sociolinguistic theory suggests that gender plays a key role in social networks,
in which there are different underlying social objectives for men and women to post
eWOM. Men want to protect and increase their social standing through sharing the
information they know on the internet, whereas women post online messages to build
rapport by providing and gaining social support (Awad and Ragowsky, 2008) Table III.
eWOM activity
501
Country of study
As in Table IV, country of study in this paper refers to the country location of the
samples and or web sites.
Theories/model based on
Accessibility-diagnosticity model
Adapted page rank metric
Attribution theory
Cognitive personalization
Conjoint-based inference and self-explicated ratings methods
Customer preference model
Decision heuristics/HSMs
Diffusion model
Dual-process theory
Econometric analysis
Economic theory of customer information search
ELM
ELM and cognitive fit theory
ELM and HSM
Expectancy effects
Game theory
Genre theory
Hedonic model
Hyperdifferentiation and resonance marketing
Information source utility
Markov chain Monte Carlo methods
Motivation, opportunity and ability theory
Netnography
Network structure
Objectivity-subjectivity dichotomy and customer purchase intention model
Opinion leader theory, cognitive dissonance
Paradigm funnel
Semantic expansion approach
Social capital theory
Social identity theory
Social influence model
Social network theory
Sociolinguistic theory
Structuration theory
Third-person effect theory
Transaction cost economics and uncertainty reduction theories
Utility typology
Vector autoregressive modeling
Grand total
Number of articles
1
1
4
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
5
1
2
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
54
Table III.
Theories/models used
in eWOM research
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29,5
502
Table IV.
Country of eWOM study
Country of study
China
Finland
Germany
Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Taiwan and China
Israel
Japan
Korea
Spain
Taiwan
USA
USA and China
USA and Korea
USA and China
Canada
Grand total
Number of articles
3
1
2
1
1
1
1
7
1
2
29
1
1
1
1
53
While 41 of the 94 articles either do not indicate the location of samples or do not have a
specific web site, 29 articles (31 per cent of the articles) are based on the data from the
USA. Among the Asian countries, Koreans are most keen in doing eWOM research.
We note that the most studied country in eWOM research is the USA. Focus on such
type of research is not as intensive in less developed and transitional economies, such
as China and India.
Product/service of study
Out of 94 articles 36 do not indicate a product or service, although 16 (17 per cent)
mention electronic products, such as digital cameras, laptop computers, portable
multimedia player (PMPs), and MP3 players. Why are electronic gadgets the most
frequently chosen products? The reasons are explained by Park and Kim (2008):
.
Electronic products are frequently purchased via retailers.
.
Since electronic products are usually complicated in use, consumers tend to rely
on comments from previous users.
.
Most electronic products release new versions frequently, and customers need to
constantly search for updated information.
.
Other products, such as books, hospitality materials, movies, and music, are also
popular products for studying eWOM Table V.
eWOM channels
An eWOM channel is the location or platform where an eWOM is seated. Litvin et al.
(2008) developed a two-dimensional model (interactivity and communication scope) to
classify eWOM channels. In this paper, we adopted a simpler classification by
grouping the two levels of interactivity (asynchronous and synchronous) into one and
dividing the channels by communication groups. As shown in Figure 4, eWOM can be
viewed through three scopes in terms of communication, namely one-to-one,
one-to-many, and many-to-many on one dimension.
Product/service in study
Number of articles
Automobile
Banking/finance
Beauty product
Book
Book, music, movie
Book, music, movie, computer hardware, or software
Book, software, cell phone, digital camera, PDAs, computer monitors, and printers
Calculator and wine
Cell phone
Digital camera
Digital camera and airline ticket
DVDs/videos and books
Education
Hospitality/tourism
Laptop computer
Legislation
Library
Movie
Movie/videos
MP3 player
Music
PMP
Property
Refrigerator
Restaurant
Software product
Software product and movie
Toy, household appliances, agriculture
TV shows
Craft beer
Grand total
1
2
1
5
1
1
1
1
1
6
1
1
2
6
3
2
1
4
3
1
2
3
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
58
eWOM activity
503
Table V.
Product/service of study
One-to-one, 2 (2%)
Nil, 27 (29%)
Others, 6 (6%)
Many-tomany,
21 (22%)
One-to-many,
38 (41%)
Figure 4.
eWOM communication
type
MIP
29,5
504
Most researchers have incorporated the one-to-many (Forman et al., 2008; Harris and
Gupta, 2008; Casalo et al., 2008) and many-to-many communication scopes
(Willemijn et al., 2007; Chen and Xie, 2008; Cheung et al., 2008; Trusov et al., 2009)
more often than one-to-one. Examples of one-to-one communication include email and
instant messaging. One-to-many channels, which account for 41 per cent of all articles
obtained, are the mostly widely used channel. Examples of such include web sites,
product reviews, and even hate sites. Many-to-many communications are made up of
blogs, virtual communities, discussion forums, and newsgroups.
From Figure 5, web sites are the most common eWOM channels used, followed by
discussion forums. They fall under one-to-many and many-to-many communcation
scopes, respectively. For some articles that include studies of more than one channel,
we have indicated all covered channels in Figure 5.
Constructs in the IPO framework
While working on the classification of articles, it was found that some papers cover
more than one attribute; in such cases, only one focus will be counted. The focus
selected is that which accounts for the majority of the article focus. This analysis
classifies the articles (see Table VI) from the IPO perspective. It was found that
relatively more scholars are interested in investigating the outcomes of eWOM. Out of
84 articles (see Table VII), 40 accounting for 48 per cent of the total articles, focus on
outcome investigations. Product sales and purchase decisions are the most studied
areas in terms of eWOM outcomes. A total of 27 (32 per cent) articles related to the
process of eWOM were found, while only 17 (20 per cent) articles were related to
studying inputs in eWOM research.
Input
Among 94 articles, 17 (18 per cent) were related to inputs. All 17 articles are related to
the research of the topics of motivation of writer, reader, or marketer of eWOM
research. Marketers motivations have received little attention from researchers.
Process
A total of 27 articles (32 per cent) are related to process, which is related to the
relationship between inputs and message characteristics or output and message
characteristics (e.g. negative eWOM and volume and quality of eWOM) Among them,
Website
39
Virtual community
Newsgroup
Email
Discussion forum
Figure 5.
eWOM communication
channels
13
Consumer review
Chatroom
Blog
4
0
10
20
30
40
50
IPO attributes
References
I Input
1. Writers motivation
Social Tie
Sohn (2009), Hennig-Thrau et al. (2004)
2. Readers motivation
Information need
Klein and Ford (2003), Kulviwat et al. (2004)
Prior knowledge/ experience/involvement Park and Kim (2008), Jones et al. (2009), Cheema and
Purushottam (2009)
Cost/risk/uncertainty of buying
Goldsmith (2006), Hennig-Thurau and Walsh (2003)
3. Reader/writers motivation
Social tie
Phelps et al. (2004), Thorson and Rodgers (2006), Brown
et al. (2007), Okazaki (2009), Steffes and Burgee (2009)
Information giving/seeking
Fong and Burton (2006)
Opinion leader/seeker
Sun et al. (2006)
4. Marketers motivation
Dellarocas (2006)
P Process
1. eWOM platform
Cheong and Morrison (2008), Sussan et al. (2006), Zhang
et al. (2009), Zhang and Daugherty (2009)
2. eWOM system
Aggarwal and Vaidyanathan (2003), Ansari et al.
(2000), Dellarocas (2003), Kim et al. (2002), Liang et al.
(2007), Mild and Natter (2002), Weinberg and Davis
(2005), Yang et al. (2007)
3. eWOM message characteristics
Content
Pollach (2008), Andreassen and Streukens (2009),
Jansen et al. (2009)
Credibility
Cheung et al. (2009)
Helpfulness/usefulness
Sen (2008), Black and Kelley (2009)
Valance
Bailey (2004), Lee et al. (2008), Sen and Lerman (2007),
Zhou et al. (2009)
4. eWOM information processing
Li and Hitt (2008), Harris and Gupta (2008), Gupta and
Harris (2009), Sher and Lee (2009), Ying et al. (2009)
O Output
1. Purchase decision/product sales
Chatterjee (2001), Chevalier and Mayzlin (2006), Davis
and Khazanchi (2008), Duan et al. (2008a, b), Forman
et al. (2008), Harris and Gupta (2008), Hu et al. (2008),
Lee and Lee (2009), Litvin et al. (2008), Liu (2006),
Park and Lee (2008), Park et al. (2007), Riegner (2007),
Senecal and Nantel (2004), Smith et al. (2005), Ye et al.
(2009)
2. Customer behavior/attitude
Bickart and Schindler (2001), Bruyn and Lilien (2008),
Edward et al. (2009), Hung and Li (2007), Lee et al.
(2009), Willemijn et al. (2007)
3. Customer loyalty
Casalo et al. (2008), Gauri et al. (2008), Gruen et al. (2006)
4. Product judgement/ acceptance/adoption Awad and Ragowsky (2008), Cheung et al. (2008),
Vilpponen et al. (2006), Lee and Youn (2009)
5. Marketing implications
Chen and Xie (2008), Gelb and Sundaram (2002), Helm
(2000), Mayzlin (2006), Poria and Oppewal (2003),
Trusov et al. (2009)
6. eWOM metric
Dellarocas et al. (2007), Dwyer (2007), Ferguson (2008),
Godes and Mayzlin (2004), Ying et al. (2006)
eWOM activity
505
Table VI.
Summary of eWOM
articles in the conceptual
framework
MIP
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506
Table VII.
Distribution of eWOM
articles in the conceptual
framework
Input-process-output attributes
I Input
1. Writers motivation (social tie)
2. Readers motivation
Information need
Prior knowledge/experience/
involvement
Cost/risk/uncertainty of buying
3. Reader/writers motivation
Social tie
Information giving/seeking
Opinion leader/seeker
4. Marketers motivation
Total
P Process
1. eWOM platform
2. eWOM recommendation
system
3. eWOM message characteristics
4. eWOM information processing
Total
O Output
1. Purchase decision/product sales
2. Customer behavior/attitude
3. Customer loyalty
4. Product judgement/acceptance/
adoption
5. Marketing implications
6. eWOM metric
Total
Grand total
Number of
articles
Percentage by IPO
categories
Percentage by all
attributes
2
7
2
12
41
12
2
8
2
3
2
7
5
1
1
1
17
18
12
41
29
6
6
6
100
4
2
8
6
1
1
1
20
15
8
10
5
27
30
37
19
100
10
12
6
32
16
6
3
40
15
8
19
7
4
4
6
5
40
84
10
15
13
100
5
7
6
48
recommendation systems received the most attention. Also, relatively little work has
been done on quality of eWOM.
Output
A total of 40 articles, accounting for 48 per cent of all identified articles, were related to
output. These articles mostly focused on investigating the impacts of eWOM on
purchase decisions/product sales, followed by implications to marketers and impacts
on customer behaviors/attitudes. Studies are also well underway for eWOM metrics,
product judgment/acceptance/adoption, and customer loyalty.
Others
From Table VII, input, process, and output add up to 84 articles. The ten remaining
articles (11 per cent) are classified as others within the framework, as they focus on
eWOM research related to cultures, gender, product, and the environment that are not
shown in Table VII.
Conclusion and future research works

While WOM has long been a very popular topic in marketing research, eWOM is
relatively fresh in the current research stream. In this study, we identified 94 articles
related to eWOM research from 2000 to 2009, and synthesized and systematically
analyzed the prior literature on eWOM research based on these articles. The
classification framework builds on the I-O-P perspective, and is used to understand
eWOM research. This systematic and comprehensive review can consolidate current
eWOM research and serve as a roadmap for future researchers and practitioners. The
results presented in this paper have several significant implications:
(1) The results from this study show that there is an increasing emphasis on
eWOM research. With the prevalence of the internet and social networking
activities, there is no doubt that eWOM will become one of the hottest research
topics in the years to come. Based on our findings, we believe that eWOM is
likely to receive increased academic and managerial attention.
(2) Although Netnography is useful in classifying and grouping internet messaging
content, it lacks objectivity and has less predictability in comparison to
quantitative approaches. In contrast, unlike the qualitative approach, the
quantitative approach cannot provide detailed descriptive information. Future
studies are recommended to incorporate a mixed methodology that involves both
qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to strike a balance among
objectivity, details, and predictability of the studies.
(3) We note that the most studied country in eWOM research is the USA, which is a
highly developed country. Focus on such type of research is not as intensive in
less developed and transitional economies, such as China and India. Therefore,
an urgent need to widen the geographic and cultural scope of eWOM research
exists.
(4) Based on the 94 articles we found, 48 per cent of the available eWOM research
focuses on the outcomes of eWOM, while 20 per cent of the material relates to
the input aspect of the I-O-P model of eWOM, a model that has remained
relatively under-developed. On the output side of the model, there is limited
academic work that deals with the impacts of branding. Determining how
eWOM affects customers perceptions and preferences may also be an avenue
for future study. There are some interesting questions to explore, as well. For
example, does eWOM increase brand awareness? How does eWOM help brand
positioning? Does eWOM strengthen or weaken a brand image?
(5) eWOM may accelerate marketing efforts but it may also destroy established
reputations and brand images when such an activity becomes unfavorable to
the organization. While reviewing the published literature, it seemed that most
studies have focused on the opportunities eWOM brings, and little attention has
been paid to the threats or challenges of eWOM to practitioners. The following
areas deserve future study:
.
unfavorable impacts of eWOM on discussed products and brands;
.
cannibalization to similar product types or other product lines within the
same company; and
.
unfavorable contagion effects to the consumer population.
eWOM activity
507
MIP
29,5
508
(6) There is room for future research in this conceptual framework, especially from
the perspectives of input and process. Future research studies may focus on
the motivations of writers, such as the relationship between writers motivation
and the process and readers and writers motivations. Regarding the process
component, there has been little previous work on the quality of eWOM, and
future studies may focus on how readers evaluate and measure the quality of
eWOM system or determine the relationship between writers motivations and
the quality of eWOM systems.
(7) eWOM can be located in many different channels, such as blogs, Facebook,
discussion forums, and web sites. Depending on the objectives and target
segments, practitioners can leverage these channels for results. Additional
research can be performed to explore the moderating effect of eWOM channels
on the relationship between input and output components (e.g. the moderating
effects of eWOM on the social tie effect between writers and readers of eWOM).
Riegners (2007) study exhibited that the top three content creation activities of
customers are:
(1) Review a product.
(2) Post in forums.
(3) Express opinions.
Marketers should realize the growing popularity of eWOM among customers and
devise marketing strategies to cater to their needs, thus fostering a satisfying
experience for customers. In leveraging this new marketing platform, failure to act
appropriately may result in loss of customers and, ultimately, loss of business.
Moreover, the ability to measure the value of eWOM is crucial to marketers who face
great challenges in proving that marketing activities are of value to the company.
eWOM is a powerful marketing tool that allows researchers to reach, listen to,
or even talk with customers to better understand and serve their needs. To the best of
our knowledge, this is the first study that applies the IPO model to investigate the
articles related to the antecedents and consequences of eWOM. The conceptual
framework can serve as a foundation for future research. We provide not only a
comprehensive list of references that may be a good source of information for anyone
who is interested in eWOM research, but also useful insights into the anatomy of
eWOM literature. We also propose avenues of future research endeavors. In conclusion,
the conceptual framework represents the first step in conceptualizing eWOM research.
This study provides a structured approach to analyzing the literature and identifying
trends and gaps in order to map out an appropriate agenda for eWOM research.
Limitations
There are some limitations regarding the methodology. First, the literature review is
based primarily on academic journals, and textbooks, doctoral dissertations, conference
proceedings, and masters theses have been excluded. Second, the journals covered in this
research are limited to the particular databases that are included in this study. Third, the
keywords search may not be sufficiently exhaustive to cover every possible paper related
to eWOM. Finally, although the selected articles were reviewed by two authors,
the determination of which articles to include in the study was not fully objective.
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Corresponding author
E.W.T. Ngai can be contacted at: mswtngai@polyu.edu.hk
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Conceptualising E-Wom Activity

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Marketing Intelligence & Planning

Conceptualising electronic word of mouth activity: An input-process-output perspective

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About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com

Conceptualising electronic word

Yolanda Y.Y. Chan and E.W.T. Ngai

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Received 16 July 2010

Marketing Intelligence & Planning

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Harrison-Walker (2001, p. 63) defined eWOM as an informal, person-to-person

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From WOM to electronic word of mouth

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factors influence participants attention, comprehension, and acceptance of a message

Value and contribution

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Theories or models of applications

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Conclusion and future research works

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