Online word-of-mouth antecedents, attitude and intention-to-purchase electronic products in Pakistan

Abstract

Online word-of-mouth communication, a phenomenon that has taken hold over the last decade, is bringing major change to the lives of individuals, and specifically to consumers. Considering the rapid growth in online communication with the advent of virtual mediums, and the lack of attention this receives in developing countries, this empirical research examines the impact of online communication on consumers’ buying intentions. The study investigated the outcomes of online word-of-mouth communication on consumers’ preferences, the variables influencing an individual in using positive word-of-mouth, and their effect on consumers’ attitudes and intentions to buy electronic products. The theoretical foundation for this study, the heuristic–systematic model and attitude formation theory, laid a strong framework for collecting data from 251 internet users, which covers six measures: speaker’s trustworthiness, speaker’s expertise, speaker’s experience, word-of-mouth use, attitude and purchase intentions. Data analysis used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to understand the effect of exogenous variables over endogenous variables, and the effect of a mediator variable between two constructs. The results show that the impact of online word-of-mouth communication, received from a trustworthy and experienced source, on receiver’s purchase intentions is mediated by attitude.