TITLE:
Provide Consumers with What They Want on Word of Mouth Forums
AUTHORS:
Yan Liu, Dahai Dong, Robert E. Burnkant
KEYWORDS:
Internet Word-of-Mouth (WOM); Construal Level Theory; Consumer/Marketer-Sponsored Forums; Expectation Consistency/Inconsistency; Satisfaction
JOURNAL NAME:
iBusiness,
Vol.5 No.1A,
March
29,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Internet word-of-mouth (WOM) has a
powerful impact on the consumer information search process. However, richness
in information causes information overload. Consumers are not able to
efficiently find the information they need among numerous and often redundant
WOM postings and forums. As consumers become knowledgeable about WOM outlets,
they may lower their search cost as they learn what kind of information to
expect on various WOM forums. This conceptual paper develops research propositions to explain: 1) types of
information consumers expect to see on different types of WOM forums, and 2)
how expectations relate to satisfaction with WOM information and forums.