The Impact of Electronic Word of Mouth on Brand Evaluation Leading to Brand Attachment: A Comparative Study on Consumer Electronics and Cosmetic Brands in Sri Lanka

J D T Madhusanka,W V A D Karunarathne,R A S Weerasiri

doi:10.4038/kjm.v9i2.7641

J D T Madhusanka, W V A D Karunarathne + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4038/kjm.v9i2.7641

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Abstract

The traditional medium of communication has been changed with the invention of digital technologies and World Wide Web as a result of it conventional word of mouth has converted in to electronic word of mouth communication. Sharing Opinions about products services and brands has a created a new trend in the social media. This raises the need to study how companies can measure the effects of e-WOM communications and how e-WOM compares itself with other forms of marketing communication and branding. Measurement items are adapted from existing scales found in the marketing literature. The scales are evaluated for reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity using data collected in the survey. A structural equation modeling procedure is applied to the data analysis. The research model was tested empirically using a sample of 400 respondents who had experience within online communities of customers during the period of research. Argument quality dimension of electronic word of mouth reported highest impact on consumer brand attachment. The study found that e-WOM is one of the most effective factors influencing brand evaluation and brand attachment of brands in consumer electronic industry and cosmetic industry.

Highlights

The advent and expansion of the Internet have broadened the consumer choice of collecting product and service related information, by comprising other consumer evaluations, displayed on the Internet and provided customers with chances to deliver their specific consumer-related advice (e-word of mouth (WOM)) by participating in digital based media (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2004)
The main purpose of this study is to comparatively evaluate the impact of e WOM on Brand Attachment in the consumer electronics industry and the cosmetic industry
It's important to concentrate to the corresponding strategies because the analysis shows that the three main attributes of source attractiveness are similarity, and familiarity and likeability which their functional roles are critical factors within the effective brand evaluation and brand attachment

Summary

Introduction

The advent and expansion of the Internet have broadened the consumer choice of collecting product and service related information, by comprising other consumer evaluations, displayed on the Internet and provided customers with chances to deliver their specific consumer-related advice (e-WOM) by participating in digital based media (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2004). With the advantage of Internet-based technologies, information is no longer controlled only by large news media institutions or large communications and media service providers. (Adjei et al, 2009; Zhu and Zhang, 2010) and develop Brand Attachment (Zhangand Tran, 2009). Consumer reviews on products and brands are one of the most important forms of electronic word of mouth. When it comes to modern businesses, branding is considered the primary capital of many industries. Many technological and beauty products are ones that consumers should use and enjoy before assessing the quality and positioning of their ideal product (Bounie et al, 2005)

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