A Review Study of Antecedents of Electronic Word-of-Mouth: The Case of Transition Economy – Uzbekistan

Abstract

Antecedents of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social media have not been analyzed in the case of transition economies. The Commonwealth of independent states (CIS) is an interesting case, where countries lived with the ideology of communism for a long time and now they need to adapt to a new set of rules. First of all, the current study analyzes the cultural aspects of Uzbekistan to understand them in the perspective of Hofstede’s classification. Secondly, it reviews previous literature and finds what kind of effects tie strength, homophily, interpersonal influence, trust, self-presentation, and self-disclosure can have on engagement in eWOM in individualistic and collectivistic communities. Finally, it suggests why future research involving the CIS sample is important.