Antecedents of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) Under Consideration of Deviations Between Genders

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is one of the most investigated topics in contemporary marketing research and its strong impact on brand perceptions and purchase intention is making it essential for both practitioners and researchers. Several academic studies analysed the effectiveness of eWOM commu...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hoffmann, Jonas Tobias
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2017
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42081/
_version_ 1848796413821976576
author Hoffmann, Jonas Tobias
author_facet Hoffmann, Jonas Tobias
author_sort Hoffmann, Jonas Tobias
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is one of the most investigated topics in contemporary marketing research and its strong impact on brand perceptions and purchase intention is making it essential for both practitioners and researchers. Several academic studies analysed the effectiveness of eWOM communication and how it influences a consumer’s purchase intention. On the contrary, few studies analysed a consumer’s antecedents to spread eWOM. This study applies the self-determination theory (SDT) from social psychology, or particularly the concept of extrinsic and altruistic motivation to explain a consumer’s eWOM intention. Indeed, some existing eWOM studies were drawing back on the SDT before, yet the novelty of this study is a broader concept of extrinsic motivation, containing the subordinate factors self-enhancement, social benefit and economic incentives. Furthermore, based on Putrevu (2001), who identified behavioural differences among genders, this study analysed these differences in an eWOM context. This study examined survey data from 223 respondents in order to analyse popular eWOM platform in consideration of age and gender and to analyse if extrinsic and altruistic motivation significantly influences one’s eWOM intention. Moreover, literature from the avenue of social psychology indicates a higher degree of altruistic behaviour for females and a stronger extrinsically orientation for males. Therefore, it has been tested if those gender differences also hold up in the eWOM context. The results of this study show significant differences in the popularity of eWOM platforms between different age groups, yet differences between genders could not be proven. Additionally, the conceptualised research model to predict a consumer’s eWOM intention yield good results, as it explains 26% of the variance. Moreover, a significantly positive influence of extrinsic motivation on eWOM intention could be evidenced.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:47:36Z
format Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-42081
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:47:36Z
publishDate 2017
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-420812017-10-13T01:08:09Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42081/ Antecedents of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) Under Consideration of Deviations Between Genders Hoffmann, Jonas Tobias Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is one of the most investigated topics in contemporary marketing research and its strong impact on brand perceptions and purchase intention is making it essential for both practitioners and researchers. Several academic studies analysed the effectiveness of eWOM communication and how it influences a consumer’s purchase intention. On the contrary, few studies analysed a consumer’s antecedents to spread eWOM. This study applies the self-determination theory (SDT) from social psychology, or particularly the concept of extrinsic and altruistic motivation to explain a consumer’s eWOM intention. Indeed, some existing eWOM studies were drawing back on the SDT before, yet the novelty of this study is a broader concept of extrinsic motivation, containing the subordinate factors self-enhancement, social benefit and economic incentives. Furthermore, based on Putrevu (2001), who identified behavioural differences among genders, this study analysed these differences in an eWOM context. This study examined survey data from 223 respondents in order to analyse popular eWOM platform in consideration of age and gender and to analyse if extrinsic and altruistic motivation significantly influences one’s eWOM intention. Moreover, literature from the avenue of social psychology indicates a higher degree of altruistic behaviour for females and a stronger extrinsically orientation for males. Therefore, it has been tested if those gender differences also hold up in the eWOM context. The results of this study show significant differences in the popularity of eWOM platforms between different age groups, yet differences between genders could not be proven. Additionally, the conceptualised research model to predict a consumer’s eWOM intention yield good results, as it explains 26% of the variance. Moreover, a significantly positive influence of extrinsic motivation on eWOM intention could be evidenced. 2017 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42081/1/HoffmannJonasTobias-42081.pdf Hoffmann, Jonas Tobias (2017) Antecedents of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) Under Consideration of Deviations Between Genders. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]
spellingShingle Hoffmann, Jonas Tobias
Antecedents of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) Under Consideration of Deviations Between Genders
title Antecedents of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) Under Consideration of Deviations Between Genders
title_full Antecedents of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) Under Consideration of Deviations Between Genders
title_fullStr Antecedents of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) Under Consideration of Deviations Between Genders
title_full_unstemmed Antecedents of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) Under Consideration of Deviations Between Genders
title_short Antecedents of Consumer Engagement in Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) Under Consideration of Deviations Between Genders
title_sort antecedents of consumer engagement in electronic word-of-mouth (ewom) under consideration of deviations between genders
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42081/