eWOM, eReferral and gender in the virtual community

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of electronic referral (eReferral) marketing and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on brand image and purchase intention, coupled with the moderating effect of gender in the relationship. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the interplay between the proposed variables, using a random sample of 308 respondents in Cyprus. Findings – The empirical results suggest the following: eReferral does influence brand image, and the impact is significant with women only; eWOM influences brand image, and the impact is more significant with women than men; eWOM influences purchase intention, and the impact is the same for both genders; brand image influences purchase intention, and the impact is more significant with women than men. Research limitations/implications – Marketing managers can benefit from these competitive advantage tools. Brand image, awareness and sales volume can be increased by utilizing eWOM or eReferral, depending on the product and/or service functionality as well as gender. Originality/value – While there is a substantial research stream on eWOM, to the best of the authors’ knowledge no research has differentiated eReferral from eWOM. This paper provides useful insights regarding the two concepts.

eWOM, revisit intention, destination trust and gender

“…eWOM Park and Lee (2009) suggested that eWOM has higher effect when a good is consumed than when it is searched, fundamentally suggesting that the impact of eWOM becomes stronger after service encounter, this position was shared by Gruen, Osmonbekov, & Czaplewski, (2006) as they suggested that eWOM leads to post-purchase customer loyalty. As against the traditional WOM communication, eWOM eliminate the negativity associated with bias information dissemination among friends, relatives and family because the identity of the reviewer cannot be identified (Abubakar, Ilkan, & Sahin, 2016). Different motivations has been found to be responsible for generating eWOM, pre-purchase expectations, customer delight, satisfaction or dissatisfaction and general consumer behaviors.…”

“…We adapted 6-item scale used by prior studies (Jalilvand & Samiei, 2012a;Abubakar, Ilkan, & Sahin, 2016). A sample item for eWOM was: "If I don't read tourists' online travel reviews when I travel to a medical destination, I worry about my decision".…”

Influence Marketing in the Fashion and Beauty Industry

“…Additionally, it is considered very persuasive, which can be partially explained by its perceived credibility and trustworthiness (Chatterjee, 2001). As such, the brands are particularly motivated to understand the eWOM, because the conventional forms of communication appear to be losing its effectiveness (Abubakar et al, 2016).…”

“…Influence marketing therefore does not only involve getting the largest number of followers or the highest level of interaction but also in making the consumer an influencer, identifying the context that leads to their purchasing decisions. Thus, according to Abubakar et al (2016), purchase intention is influenced not only by the product value and benefits, but also by testimonies from other consumers.…”

“…Consequently, the fact of consumers constantly generating and sharing opinions about products on the Internet has meant that eWOM proves substantially faster and wider reaching than traditional word-of-mouth (Han et al, , 2009). eWOM can be defined as any positive or negative opinion made by the current or previous clients about a product, service or company, which is made available to large audiences through the internet (Abubakar et al, 2016;. eWOM is capable of influencing consumers' attitudes as well as their purchase decisions.…”