Disentangling the Effects of Social Network Density on Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) Intention

Abstract

A widely accepted notion in diffusion literature is that individuals’ word-of-mouth behavior is constrained by the properties of social structures (e.g., tie strength, positions in a network) they belong to. Although many studies have indeed confirmed the existence of such social influence, little is known about how the social structural effects are produced and work at a psychological level. This study attempts to present how one's electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention is shaped by 2 key factors—the valence of product-related information and the social coherence of the communication network in which s/he belongs. To understand the process through which the network structures moderate the impact of information valence on eWOM intention, 2 different moderation processes—a) mediated moderation and b) moderated mediation—were tested in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment. The experimental results supported the moderated mediation model, and the implications of the results were discussed.