The Impact Of Electronic Word Of Mouth (E-WOM) On Consumer's Purchase Intention (an Empirical Study In Indonesia)

The concept of Electronic Word-of-Mouth(E-WOM)communication has gained valuable attention in both business as well as academic field.People are now discussing about products and services of brands with their friends and other people.E-WOM has the ability to attract more online customer than regular commercial advertisement.Indonesia is undoubtedly one of the most attractive markets in Southeast Asia.Aim of this study is to examine social media marketing activities influence on different dimensions of brand equity and consumer's behaviour towards a brand.For this purpose,a conceptual model was derived from S-O-R consumer response model [27].Total of 351 data sets consist of consumers in Indonesia who use online app Zomato.com for restaurant reservation were generated through a standardized online survey.Using S-O-R model,E-WOM was treated as stimulus,brand awareness/association,brand loyalty,brand perceived quality,brand attitude as organism(cognitive and emotional response)and customer purchase intention treated as response.Structural equation modelling technique was used for data analysis and validation of S-O-R model.The results of the empirical study showed that E-WOM(stimulus)positively activates both consumer emotional and cognitive responses i.e.brand awareness,brand loyalty and brand perceived quality.Emotional and cognitive responses have positive significant influence on behavioural responses.Finally positive E-WOM exerted a significant and positive influences on consumer response i.e.purchase intention.The research is pioneer in describing the impact of E-WOM on consumer behaviour in online restaurants industry in Indonesia.This is the topic of increasing interest to the marketers and firms in the era of Facebook,Twitter and We Chat but still largely not investigated.The findings of the study provide practical implication for practitioners of social media marketing.E-WOM is gaining importance as marketers and companies want to transform their brand marketing power to the consumer through social media platforms.As E-WOM impacts behavioral outcomes,it is important for brands to monitor what consumers are saying,whatever they say anything at all about them.Monitoring E-WOM provides several opportunities for brand manager's example;what consumers are saying about that brand,how they compare it with the competitor's brand.These aspects provide marketing managers to focus on the customer-brand based relationships building and management,possible product/service development opportunities and important areas to focus on for reputation management.Social media websites are very important for marketers to own the large numbers of users.These websites are considered to be appropriate platforms for E-WOM.It allows the marketers to understand the different aspects of E-WOM on social media,and then to develop better marketing strategies.It is clear that,consumers have the power to shape the behaviors and opinions of associated consumers in the market.Brand managers cannot control the content of E-WOM on Zomato.com,but they can use it and respond to formulate the overall strategy of brand management.It offers valuable insights to marketing practitioners and academics in increasing firm financial performance and brand relationship building.This research will help managers to input E-WOM for their promotional methods.