A Study On Electronic Word-of-mouth Spreading Behaviors Based On The Consumption Locations

Electronic word-of-mouth(EWOM)is the positive or negative comment on a product or brand,which is made by potential or existing consumer groups and widely disseminated by the Internet.With the rapid development of Internet and social media technology in recent years,the influence of EWOM has become more and more prominent.Previous studies have shown that 61%of consumers will search for customer reviews and blogs on the Internet before buying new products,and 80%of the consumers will consult the online reviews when making purchasing decisions.EWOM can create more than 3 billion 300 million brand value everyday.The huge potential behind EWOM and the increasingly fierce market competition make EWOM information become an effective tool to influence and shape consumer attitudes and behavior.Therefore,it is very important for enterprise management and brand operation to understand the behavior of EWOM and its antecedences.Recently,researches on the antecedants of EWOM spreading bahavior have formed a curing situation,mostly investated in virtual community context.However,with the development of web 2.0/3.0,consumers in the E-era can leap from reality to virtual whenever and wherever possible.So,EWOM spreading is not only a kind of online behavior,it is also the result of the comprehensive interaction between the reality and the virtual.Currently,the studies take both comsumption locations and vitual community context into account to investigate the mechanism of EWOM spreading behavior are basically missing.In addition,in the real community,a good organizational climate can significantly promote the knowledge sharing among members.Virtual community is the "projection" of the real community.However,the concept of the social climate in virtual community lacks systematic definition and the studies on social climate in virtual community context is not sufficient enough currently.Considering the above research deficiency,in this paper,we first make a comprehensive review of the relevant research literature on EWOM spreading bahavior and summarizes the current research defects and blanks;Then,based on the social climate theory and Elaboration Likelihood Model(ELM),this study aims to combines online and offline factors to explore the antecedences of EWOM spreading intention from the view of the central route and the peripheral route,and proposes the research model of EWOM spreading mechanism based on the consumption locations and the measurement dimensions of variables.Finally,a total of 277 valid data were collected by questionnaires,and the validity of the model was verified through empirical analysis.The results show that community cohesion,community support,community contribution recognition,products quality,service quality,and the consumption location situation will significantly affect the EWOM intention.The relationship between product quality and EWOM intention is stronger for males than for females,while the relationship between service quality and EWOM intention is stronger for females than for males.Besides,the impact of product quality and consumption location situation on EWOM intention was full mediated by consumer involvement,the impact of community support,community cohesion on EWOM intention was partially mediated by consumer involvement.Finally,based on the conclusion of this research,we put forward the corresponding suggestions for the management of offline restaurant and the operation and promotion of online virtual community.