Exploring the effect of e-WOM participation on e-Loyalty in e-commerce

The idea behind the concept of Electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM) is very important to the visibility of individuals and businesses seeking exposure on the Internet. e-WOM is defined as "any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet" [39]. The purpose of this study is to understand how electronic word of mouth influences the online shopping patterns of customers. This study draws on motivation theory and identification theory to understand how e-WOM influences online shopping behavior. The results from the empirical examination are very encouraging. The proposed research model is supported as well as the accompanying hypotheses. The findings illustrate that the intrinsic motives (e.g., desire to help other customers) are more important than the extrinsic ones (e.g., monetary rewards) as the antecedents of e-WOM participation. It was also found that personal site identification has a greater impact on e-loyalty when compared to social site identification. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.