Chinese consumers’ perceptions toward social media platform for shopping and eWOM intention: a study of WeChat

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study identified major constructs of Chinese social media WeChat, and investigated how Chinese consumers perceive social media influence their perceived usefulness of the media for shopping and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention. The study used WeChat, a major social platform in China, to examine the proposed relationships. Data were collected from Chinese consumers age over 18 who are WeChat users and a total of 502 Chinese WeChat users were analysed. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that source credibility and interactivity as the major constructs of the social media platform of WeCha, informativeness being eliminated from the original three factors of social media characteristics. Regression analyses were then conducted to test the hypothesised relationships. The results indicated a significant impact of social media characteristics: source credibility and interactivity, on perceived usefulness of WeChat and on eWOM intention. A significant influence of perceived usefulness of social media on electronic word-of-mouth intention was also found.