Past, Present, and Future of Electronic Word of Mouth (EWOM)

Abstract

Communication platforms are undergoing a transition from physical to digital spaces. The Internet has radically changed the business scenario wherein people have become the “media” for collaborating to share information. Practitioners have started using electronic word of mouth (eWOM) for consumer insight through text analytics, sentiment, hashtag analytics, and other machine learning tools. Due to the growing importance of the topic as a research area, it is vital to map the research domain. This paper uses performance analysis tools (quantitative and qualitative) and science mapping tools (conceptual and intellectual structures) for literature review and the identification of future research directions. The content analysis of emergent topics and themes offers directions for future researchers. Recommender systems, data mining (artificial intelligence and machine learning), semantics, and sentiment analysis are emergent topics. We contribute to the eWOM literature by canvassing state-of-the-art research and proposing future research directions.