The role of cool versus warm colors in B2B versus B2C firm-generated content for boosting positive eWOM

Abstract

While the importance of electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) for Business-to-Business (B2B) firms is increasing, the use of B2B firm-generated content for driving positive eWOM is less understood. Given the emergence of image-oriented social media platforms, this study investigates how color features increase positive eWOM in the B2B versus B2C context by analyzing 13,356 images on Instagram. The results reveal key differences in color features in the contexts of B2B and B2C. Specifically, cool colors are more appealing in B2B content, while warm colors work better in B2C content. Further, darkness, saturation, and colorfulness moderate the cool effect in B2B content, such that darker, less saturated, and more varied colors increase the effect of cool color. In the B2C context, only colorfulness increases the effect of warm color. The findings of this research contribute to the literature examining the different drivers of eWOM between B2B and B2C social media and offer managerial implications for B2B and B2C firms on ways to encourage positive eWOM.