Types of Electronic Word-of-Mouth and Their Impact on Consumer Attitudes

Numerous eWOM platforms have made it easier for consumers to connect with one another for product-related information. The aim of the study at hand is to investigate the influence of three commonly used eWOM types on consumer brand perception. By manipulating the valence of the communicated messages, we shed light on the interaction of different eWOM types and provide more insights on the relationship of social tie and valence and its role in attitude formation. Using two experiments we confirm three hypothesized relationships. First, by manipulating valence and eWOM type our results confirm that involved consumers are more influenced by conventional electronic word-of-mouth offering comprehensive information about the product from acquaintances or strangers (i.e., weak social ties) than by overall product ratings with their conveyed superficial normative cues (no social tie). Second, by introducing a third eWOM type in the experiment, so called social media electronic word-of-mouth, our findings confirm that this form of interpersonal communication (strong social tie) becomes so dominant that any other type of subsequently consulted eWOM – whether it be consistent or inconsistent with SeWOM in valence – becomes neglectable. Based on our results we propose to foster the capacity of review sites to signal social ties.