Forwarding behavior of electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM) within Vietnam service context
Abstract
Consumer generated content via the Internet is tremendously growing in the marketing landscape which motivates online consumption decision, especially in service context. However, online users usually do not hold accountability for the consequences of their recommendations with unconfirmed information and high risk for brand‟s image. This work, with the aim of explaining the effect of interpersonal and non-interpersonal sets on the receiver‟s forwarding behavior of Electronic word-of-mouth in Vietnam service context. Regarding the methodology, word-of-mouth theory of Bristor and model of active interpersonal information search of Gilly are used after developing hypotheses. Structural equation model is also applied to prove the association among independent and dependent variables. Data were collected mostly on the Internet, with the participating of 218 respondents in Vietnam. Findings explore that recipients‟ expertise and sender‟s expertise as interpersonal variables have significant impacts on forwarding behavior of recipient, with the strongest impact being on receivers‟ expertise and the weakest impact on level of expertise of communicators. In addition, the level of EWOM sources actively sought is affected strongly by receivers‟ expertise and tie strength from the positive perspective. This study exhibits an immense attempt to concentrate on the combination of impact of Interpersonal sets and non-interpersonal sets on determinants of delivering electronic word-of-mouth behavior of recipient. This study also consolidates and supports the Electronic word-of-mouth theory under Vietnam service circumstance. In addition, this research gives practical information and recommendations for Vietnam services industry in setting their marketing plans and contributions for e-marketing management research.