Towards an Integrated Model of Electronic Word of Mouth Communication

The term electronic word of mouth has witnessed a constant evolution due to the technological advancements and increased internet mediated consumer conversations. The topic has become a subject of interest for both business professionals and academic scholars with its growing importance in business research. Past studies mostly discussed the dynamic nature of eWOM under the strong influence of emerging concepts and technological innovations. However, very few research studies have viewed its extensive evolution in the context of a basic model of communication. In this research paper, a theoretical review was conducted to systematically organize the literature findings to develop an eWOM communication model. From participants’ classification and motivation to generate eWOM to its influence on receivers, the model elaborates all the basic elements of communication process which also include content type and transmitting platform. This paper significantly contributes to elaborate the basic eWOM communication process by the extensive analyzation of the existing body of knowledge which will help in building a strong foundation of the topic for future studies.