Social Word of Mouth valence and role of moderators: An integrated model of consumer decision making

The study aimed at coming up with an integrated model of consumer decision making that captures the impact of social media word of mouth (SWOM) on consumers’ decision influencing variables including perceived risk, its impact on attitude towards the brand, and eventually on intention to purchase. The integrated model incorporates the impact of SWOM message valence along with moderating role played by various source and receiver level characteristics on the variables mentioned above. Two experiments with between-subject factorial designs were conducted for testing the hypotheses. The first study had 128 participants divided into eight groups and their responses were collected offline. The second study had 221 respondents take part in an online experiment and were provided real life image stimuli for the study. A combination of regression, Manova and Mancova were used for testing the hypotheses. The study established differential impacts of social media message valence, source and reviewer credibility, product knowledge, and involvement level on consumers’ decision making. We extend the understanding of the traditional WOM factor into the SWOM space. The study contributes by establishing the extant role of both, positive and negative SWOM, under different source and receiver level characteristics.