| Summary: | Despite growing interest in the rising popularity of electronic word of mouth (EWOM), many
unanswered questions remain about its effects on online brand outcomes. This paper explores
the interactive impact of message characteristics (valence, credibility and format) on online
brand evaluation and engagement. We tested our hypotheses using a web-experiment with a
fictitious airline brand as the research context to collect data from a sample of Facebook users
(N=480) drawn from an online Australian consumer panel. All the participants were randomly
assigned to one of 16 conditions in a 2 (EWOM message valence: negative vs. positive) x 2
(EWOM message credibility: low and high) x 4 (message format: text, picture, audio-visual
and audio) between-subjects factorial design. We found a positive effect of message valence
on online brand evaluation that is positively moderated (enhanced) by credibility. We also
found significant differences in the impact of valence (but not credibility) on brand evaluation
across different message formats. Finally, brand evaluation mediates the impact of message
valence (but not credibility) on online brand engagement.
|
|---|