The Effect Of Online Word-of-mouth And Observational Learning On Product Sales In Electronic Commerce

With the increase of the product types and service categories,the information provided to the consumer is more and more,but the product information obtained by the consumer is still asymmetric.The study found that,in the case of information asymmetry for consumer decisionmaking,social learning can help consumers make consumer decisions,thus affecting product sales.Social learning is the process of consumers 'consumption behavior and experience influencing other potential consumers' decision-making,that is,consumers 'involvement in and processing socialized information.It mainly includes two forms: observing others' choice in purchase,learning;from a hand experience of the crowd to get direct advice,that word of mouth.In the past,word-of-mouth had a great influence on consumers' decision-making and product sales,but there were few researches on the impact of observational learning.This article explores the impact of online word-of-mouth and observational learning on product sales,and explores whether different product types and product involvements have moderating effects on the impact.This paper focuses on the impact of social learning on product sales.Firstly,it summarized the literatures of domestic and foreign scholars,summarized the concept,characteristics and expression of social learning with its two forms: observational learning(OL)and word-ofmouth(WOM)learning.And it intensified the theoretical basis of the two kinds of social learning.Then,it combined with the theory and practice,established the observational learning and online word of mouth on the impact of product sales model.Finally,it collected the WOM and OL infomation of 3200 products in 16 kinds of goods sold in JD.com.We used it to make regression analysis and simple effect test.The theoretical model and hypotheses are validated through empirical research,and the differences in the impact of observational learning and online word-of-mouth on product sales under different product types and product involvements are explored.Through analysis and discussion,the following conclusions are obtained:1.Observational learning has a positive impact on product sales.2.The volume and direction of word-of-mouth affect product sales.3.With different product involvements,social learning on the impact of product sales are different.Low involvement products are influenced by observational learning,volume and valence of word-of-mouth on sales.High involvement products are influenced by observational learning and volume of word-of-mouth on sales.The commonality between the two is that their impact of observational learning is greater than word-of-mouth.4.With different type of products,social learning on the impact of product sales are different.For search products,observational learning and volume of word-of-mouth influence the sales,and observational learning has a greater impact than word-of-mouth learning.For experience products,observational learning,volume and valence of word-of-mouth influence the sales,and observational learning has a greater impact than word-of-mouth learning.For trust products,observational learning and volume of word-of-mouth influence the sales,and word-of-mouth learning has a greater impact than observational learning.