On the Effectiveness of eWOM Communications: the Moderating Effect of Consumers' Prior Experience

摘要

Electronic word of mouth communications (eWOMs) are online consumer-generated communications that are expected to affect consumers' perceptions of adopting online services. While adoption of an online service consists of pre and post-usage stages, much of literature implicitly assumes that the effectiveness of positiveegative eWOM is the same across the two stages. In this paper, we draw on the accessibility-diagnosticity model and elaboration likelihood model to show that the effectiveness of eWOM on consumers' perceptions of adopting experience services is contingent on: (1) the stage of the service adoption, (2) consumers' prior experience with the context of the eWOM communications, and (3) the eWOM communications framing (i.e., positive and negative). Our findings explain that the confluence of aforementioned factors determines the effectiveness of eWOM.