Research On The Impact Of EWOM On Sporting Goods Consumers’ Purchase Intention

The rapid development and wide application of Internet technology have changed the concept and ways of people’s sports consumption.Online shopping has gradually become one of the mainstream consumption channels for sporting goods consumers.The purchasing intention of sporting goods consumers is an antecedent factor and a potential reflection of demand,and it is essential to analyze and evaluate the consumption behavior of sporting goods consumers.In the Internet shopping environment,"online" sporting goods consumption largely relies on eWOM.The two major Internet platforms,e-commerce platforms and social media,on which the eWOM of sporting goods is spread,also have differences in platform functions,eWOM content and eWOM forms.And the impact of these differences on sporting goods consumers’purchase intention will also vary.Then,what is the impact of eWOM on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention,and what is the mechanism?What is its degree of impact and its impact path on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention?These are the key issues that need to be solved urgently and are worthy of in-depth discussion both theoretically and empirically.Combining the actual "online" sporting goods consumption in China and based on platform differences,this study analyzes the content and form of eWOM and systematically studies the impact of eWOM on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intentions,which is of great theoretical and practical significance to the high-quality development of the sporting goods manufacturing industry.Based on S-O-R(stimulus-organism-response)theory,information adoption theory and empathy theory,and comprehensively employed statistical analysis methods such as literature analysis,questionnaire survey research,in-depth interviews and structural equation modeling,and followed the "hypothesis-conceptual frameworkquestionnaire survey(pre-research,formal survey)-scale analysis(reliability,validity analysis)-empirical test(structural equation model),the research focuses on the two platforms of e-commerce and social media,based on the platform differences,from the content and form differences of eWOM,the study analyzes the impact of eWOM on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention.Constructed a theoretical analysis framework of the impact of eWOM on sporting goods consumer’ purchase intention,and comprehensively demonstrated the mechanism of the impact of eWOM on sporting goods consumer’ purchase intention.The main research conclusions are as follows:First,the study on the impact of eWOM platform differences on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention.Based on the S-O-R theoretical model,this paper establishes a theoretical model of the mechanism of the impact of eWOM platform differences on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention and further analyzes the impact of eWOM platform differences on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention from an empirical point of view.Through the empirical analysis of 735 valid questionnaires,research results show that the differences between e-commerce platforms and social media platforms mainly include relationship strength and selfdisclosure degree;relationship strength is the difference between eWOM publishers and receivers.The depth of relationship and the degree of self-disclosure are the personal feelings,thoughts,experiences and some identity-related personal information displayed by eWOM publishers on the Internet;among them,the relationship strength and self-disclosure degree of social media platforms is higher than that of e-commerce platforms,and the relationship strength is higher than that of e-commerce platforms.The higher the degree of self-disclosure and self-disclosure,the stronger the perceived credibility of the eWOM among sporting goods consumers and the increasing willingness to purchase.The main conclusions are:(1)There are significant differences in the impact of eWOM platforms on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention;(2)Compared with e-commerce platforms,sporting goods consumers have a higher perceived credibility of eWOM on social media platforms,which in turn generates a higher purchase intention.Second,the study on the impact of eWOM content differences on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention.On the basis of the aforementioned research,this study further explores the impact of differences in eWOM content on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention.In this paper,source reliability,source professionalism and empathy are introduced to explore the impact of differences in eWOM content on consumer purchase intentions of sporting goods.Through empirical analysis of 922 valid questionnaires,it is found that the source of eWOM in social media platforms is more reliable,and the mediating effect of empathy is more significant.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)There are significant differences in the impact of eWOM content on sporting goods consumers purchase intention.(2)Sporting goods consumers believe that eWOM sources in social media platforms are more reliable,more able to arouse empathy and bring higher perceived credibility,thereby increasing the purchasing intention of sporting goods consumers.Third,the study on the impact of eWOM form differences on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention.This study combines the S-O-R model,introduces the theory of empathy,and constructs a multi-group structural equation model of the impact of eWOM on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention with empathy as the mediating effect.Based on the varied forms of eWOM,the samples were analyzed in groups.Through the empirical analysis of 546 valid questionnaires,the results show that the mediating effect of empathy is significantly different among different forms of eWOM;the mediating effect of empathy in the form of video is stronger than that of eWOM in the form of text scoring;The eWOM in the form of video has a stronger impact on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention than the eWOM in the form of text scoring.The main conclusions are:(1)There are significant differences in the impact of eWOM form differences on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention.(2)The mediating effect of empathy is significantly different among different forms of eWOM.The mediating effect of empathy in video-based eWOM is stronger than that of text-based eWOM.(3)Consumers of sporting goods believe that eWOM in the form of video is more professional in the evaluation of sporting goods,especially with rich information such as auditory and visual information,which can stimulate the empathy of sporting goods consumers and improve the perceived credibility,thereby increasing their purchase intention.The academic contributions or innovations of this study are reflected in the following aspects:(1)This paper introduces the empathy theory into the field of eWOM research on sporting goods consumption,which enriches and expands the research in this field.Based on the existing research on the impact of eWOM on purchase intention,starting from the unique functionality of sporting goods,through in-depth interviews and questionnaire analysis,this paper finds that sporting goods consumers have unique empathy when browsing eWOM.Applying S-O-R theory,information adoption theory,and empathy theory,this paper goes from the source of eWOM-platform,to the dissemination of e-WOM-content and form of e-WOM,and finally to the reception and response of eWOM-purchase intention,systematically discusses the empathy differences brought about by eWOM platform differences,content differences and form differences,as well as the impact on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention,and strive to solve the practical problems that affect the sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention during the normalization stage of the epidemic(2)The study is carried out comprehensively from three aspects:platform differences,content differences and form differences.Few scholars have systematically studied this project till now from the perspective of content and form differences.Based on the platform differences,this paper innovatively studies the impact of eWOM on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention theoretically and practically and reveals its mechanism by adopting an empirical analysis method,which will enrich the findings and its theory in this field.(3)The study is conducted with the combination of theories and empirical methods as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis methods.Theoretical problems are pointed out from the actual application of the network platform and the sporting goods consumption.Based on S-O-R theory,information adoption theory and empathy theory,and comprehensively employed statistical analysis methods such as literature analysis,questionnaire survey research,in-depth interviews and structural equation modeling,and followed the "hypothesis-conceptual framework-questionnaire survey-scale analysis-structural equation model";the study builds a more scientific and systematic structure model and analysis paradigm of the impact of eWOM on sporting goods consumers’ purchase intention,which enriches and improves the methodology system related to this study.In addition,it provides a scientific basis and useful reference for the business decisions of e-commerce operators and sporting goods enterprises.