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Posted: July 26th, 2022
The Influence of Word of Mouth and the Attitude of the Consumers in the Purchase Decision
THE INFLUENCE OF WORD OF MOUTH AND THE ATTITUDE OF THE CONSUMERS IN WECHAT IN THE PURCHASE DECISION
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to perform an analysis of the relationship between the influence of the WOM and the attitude of the consumers, in the buying decision process within a platform like WeChat. A detailed theoretical review and a valuable methodological contribution are presented through quantitative research using an ordinal and nominal scale of discrete variation, and evaluated through a survey designed to obtain perceptions that allow us to know the relation that Exists between the influence of the WOM and the attitude of the consumers and the purchase decision.
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The results of the correlations between the variables allowed to evidence with a high level of significance that attitudes can determine a purchase decision. Motivations, barriers, trust, relationships and similarities are learned predispositions and draw particular attitudes that definitely affect a buying decision. Likewise, it was verified that WOM evidently plays an important role and is an influential factor in the purchase decision. In addition, the results allowed us to have a corresponding approach on the motivations and barriers of a consumer / person to talk or share information about a brand or product on WeChat.
KEY WORDS: Word of mouth, consumer, attitude, purchase decision, user generated content, WeChat.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1.1 Background of the research study
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2.1 WOM defining Characteristics
2.2 Traditional and electronic WOM communication
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2.3.2 Tie strength between sender and receiver
2.4 Motives of WOM communication
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2.5.2 WOM and stages of decision making process
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3.3 Questionnaire design and measurement scales
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6.1 Theoretical and managerial implications
6.2 Limitations and Future Research
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The conceptual framework approach to analyze the impact of WOM communication.
LIST OF TABLES
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Table 1: WOM definitions based on supportive literature review
Table 2: Measurement items based on supportive literature review
Table 3: Influence of WOM vs. purchase decision correlation
Table 4: Consumer attitude vs. purchase decision correlation
LIST OF GRAPHICS
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Graphic 1: “Preference of the source”
Graphic 2: “Preference of the source in age ranges”
Graphic 3: “Trust on friends’ recommendations about everyday products”
Graphic 4: “Trust on friends’ recommendations in age ranges”
Graphic 5: “Attitude towards negative WOM”
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Graphic 6: “Attitude towards negative WOM in age ranges”
Graphic 7: “Expression of a negative experience”
Graphic 8: “Expression of a negative experience in age ranges”
Graphic 9: “Share of positive commentary”
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Graphic 10: “Share of positive commentary in age ranges”
Graphic 11: “WOM trustfulness for the purchase of products”
Graphic 12: “WOM trustfulness for the purchase of products in age ranges”
Graphic 13: “Value of opinion”
Graphic 14: “Value of opinion in age ranges”
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Graphic 15: “Determinants on purchase decision”
Graphic 16: “Determinants on purchase decision in age ranges”
Graphic 17: “The effect of negative commentary”
Graphic 18: “The effect of negative commentary in age ranges”
Graphic 19: “Attitude towards a bad experience”
Graphic 20: “Attitude towards a bad experience in age ranges”
Graphic 21: “Opinion trustfulness for daily use items”
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Graphic 22: “Opinion trustfulness for daily use items in age ranges”
Graphic 23: “Opinion trustfulness for expensive items”
Graphic 24: “Opinion trustfulness for expensive items in age ranges”
Graphic 25: “Attitude concerning a shameful product/service”
Graphic 26: Attitude concerning a shameful product/service in age ranges
Graphic 27: “Negative impression perception”
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Graphic 28: “Negative impression perception in age ranges”
Graphic 29: “Wellness in expressing negative experiences”
Graphic 30: “Wellness in expressing negative experiences in age ranges”
Graphic 31: “Trust on homophilous source”
Graphic 32: “Trust on homophilous source in age ranges”
Graphic 33: “Motivations to share experiences”
Graphic 34: “Motivations to share experiences in age ranges”
Graphic 35: “Sharing of comments with low degree of dissatisfaction”
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Graphic 36: “Sharing of comments with low degree of dissatisfaction in age ranges”
I. Introduction
1.1 Background of the research study
In today’s constantly evolving interactive world, the popularization of the Internet and mobile phones especially with social networks, have potentiated the effect and influence of word of mouth, “The world’s most effective, yet least understood marketing strategy”.[1] Traditional WOM has always played an important role on consumer behavior, this disruptive and dynamic channel of communication can enrich and strengthen relationships between the brand and the consumer through the power of recommendation; people frequently share information and opinions with their social ties, either to demonstrate a certain kind of social status or simply because they had a good or bad experience with a product or service. In a consumer driven society, WOM deserves a serious attention, consumer mindset has changed, they have gone from being passive recipients of advertising messages that are used to follow the recommendations of manufacturers and retailers to be active participants in the market, they have become skeptical about traditional advertisement and marketing and prefer to make purchasing decisions based on real opinions and experiences. According to a study in 2007 by the WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association), about 90% of purchasing decisions are made under the influence of recommendations, while about 70% occur under the impact of traditional media.[2]
In addition of a significant growth in strength and credibility, WOM finds an added value with the emergence of the Internet and social networks, the possibility of being measured, an event that will certainly help to improve the results of approaching recidivists and recent customers, “Assessing the impact and volume of word of mouth can help companies and brands to understand the effect of this one in their marketing and their approach to and new consumers” (Bughin, Doogan, and Jørgen, 2010)[3], measures such as Insightpool, Word of Mouth Index and Net Promoter Score (NPS), has been adopted to collect WOM rankings on websites and social media networks, so that companies can have a better picture of the proportions of their audience and find consistent response that in effect will reach the right people with the right content.
This research aims to explore and analyze the attitude and behavior resulting from the exchange and shares of opinions between consumers through mobile social networks. In addition, have a corresponding approach on the motivations of a client /person to talk or share information about a brand or product on mobile social networks. The methods of this study are based on findings from an online survey summited to WeChat users, the results will deliver the answer of the research question based on the influence of Word of Mouth and the attitude of the consumers in WeChat in the purchase decision.
1.2 Research problem
What is the relationship between the influence of the WOM and the attitude of the consumers in WeChat in the purchase decision?
Objective: Identify if there is a relationship between the influence of the WOM and the attitude of the consumers in WeChat in the purchase decision.
1.3 Research questions
What are the motivations and barriers on consumers when sharing an opinion about a brand or product on WeChat?
Will consumers’ attitude towards Word of Mouth on WeChat be influenced by the strength of the tie with the sender?
Will the consumer’s attitude towards Word of Mouth on WeChat be influenced by a similarity with the sender?
Will the consumer’s attitude toward Word of Mouth on WeChat be influenced by their confidence with the sender?
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1.4 Motivation of Study
In a consumer-driven society, the line between the roles in marketing becomes blurred, online consumers’ search for brand information, creation of content and willingness to share content with others is extremely useful in increasing brand engagement and relevance. Traditional Marketing seems to be outdated, since it relies on strategies where messages are transmitted without opportunity of immediate feedback or analysis.[4] There is a significant amount of research about the Internet as a medium of communication and marketing tool, it is likely that a similar approach could also be taken for other industries where information sources such as reviews and ratings websites exist. However, these studies are conducted in a time when consumer opinion platforms and online forums are the preferred destination for social interactions with fellow consumers, which means that in the constantly changing landscape and dynamic environment, with a proliferation of commercial product reviewing sites and the popularity of social networking sites, these findings seem outdated, this topic requires an updated approach and strategies that can be implemented to this new systems when it comes to consumer behavior on mobile social networks and this thesis explores it.
II. Literature Review
2.1 WOM defining Characteristics
The following definitions established in previous research are proposed in order to have a better understanding about WOM.
Table 1: WOM definitions based on supportive literature review
| Definition | Supportive Literature |
| “The act of exchanging marketing information among consumers.” | Katz, E. & Lazarsfeld, P. F. (1955).[5] |
| “Oral person-to-person communication between a receiver and a communicator whom the receiver perceives as non-commercial, regarding a brand, product or service.” | Arndt (1967).[6] |
| “Word of mouth as the opinion which consumers communicate to others in an unofficial way after they have used a product or taken a service.” | Westbrook (1987).[7] |
| “The world’s most effective, yet least understood marketing strategy.” | Misner, I. R. (1999).[8] |
| “EWOM communications are more measurable than traditional WOM.” | Lee, Park and Han (2008).[9] |
| “Informal information exchange about products or services between consumers. Word of mouth can be characterized as traditional when occurring in face-to-face communication, or electronic when exchanged.” | Barbara Gligorijevic (2013).[10] |
| “Consumer-to-consumer brand conversation or mention, online or off .” | WOMMA 2014.[11] |
2.2 Traditional and electronic WOM communication
WOM is described as “The world’s most effective, yet least understood marketing strategy”[12], is defined by others as the act of exchanging marketing information among consumers[13], People engage in functional conversations about a product, brand or service to obtain the information needed to make decisions and better interpret the world around them. Now, it is interesting to consider how nowadays technology can shape Word of Mouth; the advent of the Internet brought about a change in the way Humans communicate and relate, bringing with it a dynamic in communication where each user stops being a receiver of information and becomes a co-creator, this is how the personalization and Immediacy of the contents became the new Dynamics in the use of the Internet.[14] Over the course of time Word of Mouth has been transformed integrating to the media and information is now shared from chats, publications and others in a personal way, from one person to another. Now customer feedback on the Internet is available to a large number of other customers, so it can be expected to have a significant impact on the success of the goods and services.[15] Among a myriad of opportunities, technological changes have also facilitated the study of word of mouth itself, given that online articulations such as Tweets, online reviews, and blogs are somehow “big data” sources of real sharing behavior.[16] In the same way, it makes it possible for a company to follow and protocolize the client’s articulation in a detailed way that is not originally possible with the traditional word of mouth.[17]
EWOM is timeless, the speed of information on Word of Mouth Marketing reaches unprecedented proportions, when one comments something to a person, both become agents diffusing the initial information and so on in geometric progression. Speed implies that we have an important competitive advantage over our rivals, we will arrive before him to the final consumer. A study made from The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) affirms WOM has a more immediate impact than traditional advertising, about 90% of online WOM’s impact is in the first two weeks.[18]On the other hand, the Internet allows the comment of a consumer to remain visible for an indefinite period of time, so it can be seen by multiple individuals. In fact, it has been stated that “WOM may be endogenous because it not only influences new customer acquisition but also is itself affected by the number of new customers”.[19] Unlike face-to-face communication, in an online environment the audience is not physically present and involves written communication to share with a large audience of weak ties rather than strong ties, these factors should lead to a greater impact on the creation of the message, since people can take the time to adjust any identity they prefer through what they share.[20] Likewise, the assessment of homophily in an off-line environment is based on determinants such as gender, age, social and professional status, and ethnicity, but in an online environment, these signals can be “filtered” That is to say, disappeared, reduced, camouflaged, or even intentionally falsified.[21] Hussain et. Al affirmed online reviews provide an open source of extensive information about a particular product or service to consumers. On the internet, “consumers feel that other consumers are more intelligent and expert shoppers rather than their personal reputation in the online community.”[22]
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To provide a better understanding of consumer behavior on a completely further level through the consumption of online content, the role of issuer or receiver has been conceptualized in previous studies as active or passive participation; one in particular showed the impact of electronic WOM is very strong for info-active consumers, their attitudes and subsequent purchasing decisions. Whereas, info-passive consumers are influenced by traditional WOM and retailers.[23] Subsequently, a study conducted to analyze Chinese consumers’ attitude change and behavioral intention in terms of eWOM messages argued eWOM communication reflected prevalent collectivistic cultural values between Chinese, since they valued friends and groups integrity in their decision-making processes.[24]
2.3 Elements of WOM
2.3.1 Receivers expertise
In eWOM communication the most commonly investigated factors are those related to the psychological state of a recipient, such as purchase intention, attitude, information adoption and trust. [25] In the context of eWOM communication, the experience of the receiver is decisive, since a receiver who believes that an eWOM message is credible tends to learn from and use it. Conversely, a recipient who perceives an eWOM message as not credible is unlikely to risk acting on the review. [26] The influence of WOM on receiver’s purchase decision will be influenced by the receiver expertise given that “The greater the receiver’s expertise, the less is the influence of WOMC on receiver’s purchase decision”. [27]
Other aspects affect the perception of the receiver of WOM, positive and negative, the effects equally differ depending on the strength of the tie with the sender, and how the WOM source affects the influence of WOM on the behavioral attitude and the intention to buy[28], which we will analyze below.
2.3.2 Tie strength between sender and receiver
Several studies have found Tie strength is one of the most significant factors explaining the influence of WOM communications,[29] although the idea of individual-to-individual social ties is less relevant in an online environment than an offline one, when there is no explicit type of “interpersonal relationship” between an information seeker and another individual as the information source.[30] With readily available personal networks in SNSs, consumers’ product choices may be influenced by both stable and intimate ‘strong tie’ interactions and randomly or remotely connected ‘weak ties’.[31] Most of the studies conclude that the greater the strength of the tie between the sender and the receiver, the greater the influence of the sender’s WOMC on the receiver’s purchase decision. [32]
Although strong ties exert a more significant impact at the individual and small group level, in relation to the influence on the decision making, consumers now are placing a lot of weight on sources of information that would not be expected to be powerful influencers such as nonexistent or weak sources.[33] The asynchronous and connective characteristics of social networks allow weak ties to expand their potential influence by extending consumers’ personal networks to external communities or groups. This accelerates eWOM conversations throughout a large-scale network. [34] Strong ties are important for the transfer of valuable information, weak ties facilitate the bridging function and spread of information between networks, hence both were found significant to eWOM behavior via social media. [35] Strong ties, for example, or people one interacts with frequently, should be more chronically accessible than weak ties. There are possibilities for weak ties to play an important role in the high context where information flow is not direct and explicit. [36] While some studies confirm that WOM information coming from close social circles is the most reliable source of information in all age groups[37] others have a deeper approach revealing that the probability of choosing strong tie sources is influenced by task difficulty and prior knowledge; therefore, consumers who perceive great difficulty in the decision task are likely to look forward strong tie sources for recommendation. On the contrary, the probability of choosing sources of weak linkage is influenced by the importance of instrumental cues and subjective prior knowledge.[38]
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Communicating to close versus distant others activates distinct psychological motives that drive consumers’ behavior in their social interactions and affects the kind of information they share, these tendencies are tied to consumers’ motives to self-enhance and protect others, communicating to a close versus a distant other increases the sharing of negative information. When aiming to self- enhance, positive information might become more valuable to the self than negative information. In contrast, when aiming to protect others, negative information might become more valuable to the self than positive information.[39]
2.3.3 Senders characteristics
Homophily/ Similarity:
Homophily or Similarity have been identified and tested in previous research determinants of interpersonal influence and therefore in the effect of the WOMC references. Both should be directly related to the influence of the message on the receiver. [40] “Social networks may excel in attracting homophilous consumers, and this phenomenon increases the likelihood of those consumers’ engagement in eWOM behavior.” [41] In e-WOM, the process of social interaction occurs in a distinct way, since it is not necessarily required that people know each other beforehand or have any physical interaction. Here social contagion is usually made through individuals who are structurally equivalent, that is to say, people who share the same social status, interests, hobbies or profession. [42]
Recent studies raised online Homophily is almost entirely independent of the interpersonal factors with which it is traditionally associated such as an evaluation of individual age and socioeconomic class. Rather, these findings suggest factors such as notions of shared group interests and group mind-set evaluated at the level of the Web site itself drive online homophily. [43]
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Source credibility:
WOM is almost unbeatable regarding influence and persuasion capacity, nor the best advertising can match a personal recommendation’s credibility. This is how large companies have erected authentic empires based on the reputation and recommendations of myriads of satisfied customer. The credibility of the source can be defined by two elements, source experience and source bias; source experience is the perception about the competition of the source that provides the information and source bias is the possible incentives that can be observed in the source information.[44] Credibility stands closer to the offline communication, but still retains some unique attributes due to the nature of the environment in which the eWOM social network is created and propagated; The credibility of the information is evaluated by the consumer in relation to the website it is obtain from, as well as the contributor of that information.[45] In terms of the probability of the receiver to try, the main difference between traditional WOM and e-WOM is that technology allows people to interact without the previous physical interaction. This feature accelerates the process of social contagion when perceived risk comes from normative influence.[46] User generated content, considered the electronic format of WOM, is an accepted source of information, although its perceived reliability is rather less due to the possibility that the content can be edited or manipulated.[47]
The trustworthiness of the recommendation source plays an important role in WOM. Traditional WOM emanates from a sender known by the receiver of the information, thereby, the receiver has knowledge of the credibility of the communicator and the message. On the contrary, the electronic nature of eWOM in most applications eliminates the possibility of the receiver to judge the credibility of the sender or his message.[48] As mentioned above, in traditional WOM, the receiver of the message knows perfectly well who is giving the suggestion, so the biggest problem to face could be knowing if the sender is the right person to ask for the particular advice. However, in e-WOM, sender and receiver usually do not know each other, so here the query is how the receiver could perceive whether a message has been published honestly.[49] Nevertheless, the procedure that requires a mutual agreement of consumers to become friends and join other people’s networks present in some social networks and application, allows consumers to pass through profiles, which can increase the credibility of their contacts and inspire high levels of social trust. Finding that the higher the level of trust that social networks users have in their contacts, the greater the likelihood they will get involved in the opinion-seeking, opinion giving and opinion passing behavior.[50] SNS users appeared to spend at least some effort on attempting to evaluate individuals who provided information to the website, as well as the website itself.[51] Recent findings affirm credibility moderates the relationship between eWOM behavior and brand attitude formation, explaining that high source and message credibility induced more favorable attitude towards the brand than when either one or both were low in the context of the study.[52]
Furthermore, argument strength and perceived expertise have been consistently shown to be the most common determinants on information credibility.[53] Additional studies supports these findings when argument quality was identified as the most determinant factor of persuasive eWOM messages followed by source credibility. [54] Developing a framework upon the Brunswikian lens model, a recent study concluded that identity claims (arguments strength and perceived expertise) and behavioral residues (graphics, external links, recommendation ratings, and wall postings) affect the user’s judgment of an eWOM message through consistency checking and knowledge-based validation.[55]
2.4 Motives of WOM communication
Jonah Berger suggested that word of mouth can be understood in terms of five key functions that it serves for the word of mouth transmitter: impression-management, emotion regulation, information acquisition, social bonding, and persuasion.[56] Further studies revealed that consumers’ desire for social interaction, desire for economic incentives, their concern for other consumers, and the potential to enhance their own self-worth are the primary factors that motivated them to participate in eWOM. From this approach providers can be grouped based on what motivates their behavior, what can be used by firms to develop different strategies for encouraging eWOM behavior among their users. [57] Nevertheless, it is considered most of what people share is self-oriented or selfish. Whether it is to present a certain image to the public, regulate their emotions, acquire the desired information, deepen social bonds, or persuade others. all these motives are relatively self-centered and are explicitly motivated by the self. [58] A study focuses its analysis on the generation Y behavior towards eWOM, discovering that people who belong to this category consider online discussions and blogging as a way of “show off”, perceiving blogs and social media as a medium that allows them to express personal opinions that may not be interesting for others.[59]
Formerly, Jonah Berger affirmed “Consumers share positive emotions to re-consume or extend the positive affect. When something good happens, we want to tell others.” [60] Likewise, an empirical study of about 2,900 German platform users illustrated that readers find information content particularly important because it allows them to make better buying decisions and complete their searches in less time.[61] In this context, organizations are increasingly interested in listening to consumer dialogues as content generators and valuing these conversations with the intention of carrying out strategies that allow them to establish loyalty ties and commitment to customers towards their brands. Following this approach, A recent study suggests that advice seeking and social benefit are two motivations significant to brand-related conversations on social media as they both help fulfil two core uses of social media: nurturing relationships and conversations. [62]
2.5 WOM on consumer behavior
2.5.1 Characteristics
The current advertising saturation to which consumers are exposed leads advertisers to rethink new advertising strategies through existing media in order to reach their target audience. The new consumer has changed, this is now an individual characterized by its high capacity to exploit the opportunities offered by technology and especially the internet. Due to these events, social media has introduced new channels for communication processes, which has altered the information search styles of some consumers, and therefore altered their buying behavior.[63] “Knowing what topics people talk about is interesting, but it says little about the drivers of discussion, or why people talk about some products and ideas more than others.” [64] The result of the interpersonal exchange is the provision or access of information related to consumption, which contains some “informative value” above the formal advertising messages provided by the company and that influence the decision making of the individual. [65]
Despite the novel advantages that the implementation of WOM strategies in organizations can provide, it should not be overlooked that this can also have a negative effect; positive and negative WOM influence the behavioral intention in roughly the same way for customers and noncustomers. [66] but negative WOM can includes behaviors such as product denigration, relating unpleasant experiences, rumor and private complaining[67], which can affect the consumers’ perception and consequently harm the brand image. There are studies that have focused on detecting diverse ranges of consumer categorization, for example, based on their information searching practices, between the extreme polarities of info-active and info-passive Internet users. Info-active consumers rely strongly on electronic WOM, and consider their online searches to be a productive, valuable and information rich practice. Info-passive consumers conduct superficial online searches and show a strong preference towards face-to-face communication and traditional WOM. [68] Not all consumers are the same, therefore they should not be treated the same way.
2.5.2 WOM and stages of decision making process
Decision- making processes are influenced by a number of factors that determine consumers’ choice of certain products or services, WOM is one of the most influential variables in this process, as many of the studies carried out in recent years on this subject indicate. Findings showed that characteristics of social tie influenced recipients’ behaviors, but had different effects at different stages; tie strength only facilitated awareness, perceptual affinity or homophily unleashed recipient interest and demographically different ties were more influential than demographically similar across different stages of the decision-making process.[69] Similarly, a following study finds that information usefulness had a strong and significant impact on consumer decision to adopt information within online communities.[70] During the later stages of the decision process, expertise of the source will only exert influence to the extent that it affects the perceived costs or benefits of the recommended product or service.[71] Motivations, barriers, trust, relationships and similarities are learned predispositions and draw particular attitudes that definitely affect a purchase decision.
2.6 Opinion leaders
Customers or entities that are opinion makers and have a high impact on the market, are known as influencers and evangelizers. Influencers can range from ordinary people with a high-profile Twitter profile to prominent mass media figures. The evangelizers, meanwhile, another fundamental entity for WOM, are fans who actively promote among their circle the use of a brand. Based on the review of existing WOM and opinion leadership literature, studies insure it is intuitive that opinion leaders in the mobile phone categories would be tech savvy, a concept used to explain how much a consumer can relate to the benefits when the seller communicates the superiority of a product in terms of technical specifications.[72]
An opinion leader exerts greater power because of his status as an expert and reliable source, this figure verbally exposes his arguments with a direct and not too formal rhetoric, strengthening the strongest ideas and trying to continually create identification links in his discourse. Under this context, a study shows that the WOM sought by experts has a greater influence on the behavioral attitude and intention of the receptor than the WOM sought through strong or weak ties.[73] Likewise, the same study evidence experts mainly promote positive WOM, which makes the communication easier.[74] The experts must communicate effectively their ideas and messages, seeking the trust and empathy of the other members of the group through shared references or a tone adapted to specific circumstances. Additionally, a recent study finds that non-opinion leaders are less likely to seek opinion. It also reveals that knowledge of technology is correlated with information consumption and information creation from both friends and social media.[75] Influence is based on authenticity but it does not arise by spontaneous generation, it is the access to information and the unit to enable others to communicate clearly and convincingly, without ever leaving aside the congruence of what you want to communicate. Influencers are not necessarily celebrities, and may not have the impressive appeal that celebrities have, but they have something even more valuable; Their audience trust when it comes to buying recommendations.[76]
2.7 Negative WOM
“Consumer perceptions are usually based either on prior personal experience or reports of the prior experiences of others”[77] The valence of WOM can vary from positive to negative, if we have a bad experience with a product or service, there are many reasons to tell others and this can strongly affect the brands that receive this bad image. In positive WOM, the consumer conveys information that gives a positive feeling in order to help others, an intention to appear knowledgeable or intelligent, ego defense and reduction of dissonance, while in the case of negative WOM, Consumers transmit information about an unfavorable experience with the product or service, poor performance, high prices or rude sales personnel.[78]
Formerly, it was found that extremely dissatisfied customers engage in greater word of mouth than high satisfaction customers, whence negative communications are likely to have a greater impact than positive information, although the difference between the two are probably not significant.[79] A more recent study reformulates this concept, stating that people do not display a simple preference for bad news. Instead, they pass along information that matches the emotional valence of the conversation topic. [80] The likelihood of negative WOM is often related to the degree of consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. When minor dissatisfaction is experienced, consumers’ responses are often minima, in most cases consumers do not complain or disseminate negative reviews about the product concerned. Compared to when the dissatisfaction is serious enough, consumers tend to complain, regardless of other factors in the situation.[81] If we observe the communication between strong ties, we can state that this group creates an extensive amount of WOM, unfortunately, they seem to promote more negative WOM than positive WOM.[82] From the company’s perspective, a bitter experience of any product or service as well as any comments, especially negative, can cause difficulties and consequently affect their brand image, since the negative WOM or any negative comments influences more strongly than the positive.[83] However, what seems intuitively logical is not necessarily true, recently, a study published in which more than 30,000 respondents participated, rejects the thesis that the negative experiences of others are those that remain more in our memory. Consumers were asked about their latest memory of word of mouth, 89% reported positive experiences and only 7% did so with negative experiences. The so-called “strong ties” make up 71% of the experiences described. Even when consumers have a very negative buying experience, they do not report it to more people than people who had a very positive experience.[84]
III. Methodology
The conceptual framework of the study is based on traditional communication theories, where four principal elements explain social communication: the communicator (sender), the stimulus (message), the receiver and the response. [85]
EWOM represents a new form of communication between the receiver and the sender, where the sender will not necessarily receive a return communication from the sender, this feature was adjusted from the original model. In the same way, other important aspects were included in this study, such as WOM influence (independent and predictor variable), attitude (independent and predictor variable), purchase decision (dependent and criterion variable) and age and gender (control variables).
Figure 1: The conceptual framework approach to analyze the impact of WOM communication.
3.1 Research methodology
The theoretical framework for the research is based on media and communication, and marketing studies, this is an interpretative study using a quantitative method of data collection. The research project is distributed in two phases. The first phase is intended for data collection from secondary sources, with the purpose of adopting several communication and behavioral concepts that will eventually be tested. The second stage focus on quantitative data collection using a structured questionnaire with the purpose of study consumers’ attitudes towards user created products reviews on social mobile networks, this is where previously collected concepts from literature are tested. Each of these phases complement the next stages of the research by providing a concrete insight to explore findings and tests regarding the influence of Word of Mouth and the attitude of the consumers in WeChat in the purchase decision. The expected results represent the confirmations or rejections on the assumptions made in the development of this study after the understanding of the surveys made to consumers using the WeChat platform.
These are the hypothesizes raised in the beginning of this research:
H1: The purchasing decision processes of WeChat users are affected by the influence of the WOM.
* If the influence of WOM is related to the purchase decision of WeChat users, a significant correlation will be observed with an alpha of 0.05 between the influence of WOM and the purchase decision.
- The null hypothesis will be the NO relationship between the influence of the WOM and the purchase decision of the users of WeChat.
H2: The purchasing decision processes of WeChat users are affected by the attitude of the consumers.
* If the consumer attitude is related to the purchase decision of the users of WeChat, a significant correlation will be observed with an alpha of 0.05 between the attitude and the purchase decision.
- The null hypothesis will be the NO relation between the attitude of the consumers and the decision of purchase of the users of WeChat.
3.2 Sample characteristics
The population universe to which this study is directed is composed of all those users of WeChat, consumers of products and / or services. In order to test the proposed hypotheses, a non-probabilistic sampling has been developed in the opinion of the investigator, through the elaboration of a direct and structured questionnaire composed of 20 questions, carried out through a virtual platform and eventually spread through WeChat application.
The sample is composed of 100 individuals of both genders, participant selection filters were taken into account, that these people lived in china, who were users of WeChat and who were over 15 years.
3.3 Questionnaire design and measurement scales
A descriptive-correlational research was carried out, within a methodological framework of quantitative studies, using two scales of measurement: nominal and ordinal of discrete variation. For the preparation of the questionnaire, different types of questions were used to obtain the data to carry out the respective study: demographic questions; related to personal aspects (age, gender), dichotomous questions; with a single answer option (Yes / No), categorical questions; with multiple response options and qualification questions; Where the respondents select a single qualification for the proposed question.
Based on the literature and for the purposes of this study, the influence of WOM and the consumer’s attitude are considered independent and predictor variables, being determinants and having a fundamental role in the research. The purchase decision is considered a dependent and criterion variable. Additionally, the variables of age and gender have been selected as control variables.
For research purposes, after contemplating internal and external factors, an attempt will be made to understand the purchase decision through the consumer’s attitude and the influence of WOM, the attitude will be understood as: a learned and consistent predisposition to respond positively or negatively to the Presence of a product, brand or service. The purchase decision will be understood as: the choice to acquire a product or service after an evaluation of alternatives. Likewise, the influence of the WOM will be understood as the power of recommendation of a particular product or service prior to the evaluation and purchase decision.
Table 2: Measurement items based on supportive literature review
| Survey Question | Concept | Supportive Literature |
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