Central European Management Journal

International Contexts of Social Media and e-WoM Communication in the Customer Decision-Making Process

Bartosik-Purgat, Małgorzata

Poznań University of Economics and Business

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Abstract

Purpose: The main purpose of the paper is to identify the importance of social media in e-WoM (electronic word of mouth) in relation to the two stages of consumer behavior, pre-purchase and post-consumption, in groups of different gender and countries. The article answers three research questions. Whether the frequency of using the most popular social media influences the range of using them in e-WoM among individual users? Which stage of consumer behavior process is more dependent on social media, pre-purchase or post-consumption? Do any differences exist between men and women in the scope under consideration?

Methodology: The analysis bases on literature studies and empirical data collected among 1246 respondents from four countries: China, Poland, the United States of America, and Turkey. Findings: General conclusions show differences between these countries in relation to the use of social media for e-WoM. Moreover, results confirmed the findings of literature analysis wherever consumers used social media at the stage of looking for information and advice about products (pre-purchase). Gender appeared as a significant differentiating factor that influences e-WoM behavior.

Research limitations: The design of the research (samples’ size and sampling method) could place some limits on the capacity of the study to generalize the results to other national contexts. Research implications: The results offer information for marketers who use social media communication to build brands’ loyalty in the international marketplace and individuals who rely on experiences shared through social media.

Originality: The content of the paper is important, timely, original, and focusses on the subject infrequently studied in the literature. The information from the paper applies to numerous groups of stakeholders.

Metadata

Journal Central European Management Journal 
Volume 26 
Issue 2 
Issue date 2018 
Type Article 
Language en
Pagination 16-33
DOI 10.7206/jmba.ce.2450-7814.226
ISSN 2658-0845
eISSN 2658-2430