Interactive impact of EWOM message characteristics on online brand outcomes: Towards an integrative framework

Abstract

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.