The impact of message appraisals of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty on information seeking and electronic word-of-mouth intentions of US female consumers

Abstract

The current study examines how an empowered public engages in information seeking and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) behavior due to emotions elicited from their message appraisals of an inspiring branding campaign. Using cognitive appraisal theory as a framework, the current research assumes that the women with higher problem recognition and involvement will be more likely to engage in information seeking and eWOM behavior through positive affect. Using a representative sample (N = 530) randomly drawn from Qualtrics’ panel data, it uses a structural equation modeling approach to test the proposed appraisal-based behavior model. The results indicate that participants’ information seeking and eWOM behavior are adaptive responses to the emotions elicited by message appraisals. The results also show that situational variables influence the message appraisals of intrinsic pleasantness and goal-conduciveness dimensions.