The impact of eWOM on consumer purchase intention, a study on Instagram

Nowadays, consumers are more informed than ever before. This information overload induced consumers to start consulting amongst each other to discuss their options. Studies show that 20 to 50% of all purchase are induced by electronic-worth-of-mouth (eWOM), e.g. in the form of product reviews. A reason for trusting and acting up on eWOM, is because of the lack of sales prerogative from the sender of the eWOM, something a marketeer does have. Results indicate that eWOM has a substantial influence on Purchase Intention in different environments, one of them being Social Media (SM). This research focusses on a particular SM platform: Instagram, because it has barely been researched before and Instagram has added a new feature which makes it an interesting sales platform for companies. The aim of this research is to investigate what the antecedents are that determine the attitude towards information on Instagram and to understand how a consumers’ need of information and pre-held belief moderates the eWOM adoption process and purchase intention. This study used a deductive approach by which it empirically validated a newly developed model, called: “the EWOM Information Adoption Model (EIAM)” through a quantitative (survey) study with a sample size of 190. The results showed that Information Quality, Information Crediblity and Information Usefulness are the antecedents that determine a consumers’ Attitude Towards Information on Instagram. Attitude Towards Information is a direct determinant for Purchase Intention and both moderaters (Need of Information and Pre-held Belief) have been accepted. The findings also indicated that most consumers are nowadays in high need of information, but consumers with low need of information have a more positive attitude towards the information. Meaning that with the right messages they are more inclined to eventually have an intention to purchase. These findings were not predicted by the researcher, as they contradict the findings from earlier research. Another important finding was in regards to the moderator pre-held belief. As the results indicated that 1 piece of contradicting eWOM information was not able to change a consumers’ pre-held belief and thereby change the outcome of the purchase intention. Thus, consumers who stated to like Apple, were still willing to purchase Apple products after being confronted with negative eWOM and vice versa. This research contributes to the literature of eWOM information and the impact that it has on consumers’ Purchase Intention