The Influence of Reviewers on Millennial Consumers

Background: The digital world of today alters the way consumers search, communicate, and perceive information significantly. Specifically, the traditional word-of-mouth, which refers to the exchange of information between consumers about products and brand, has become digitalized. This transforms word-of-mouth into electronic wordof-mouth, which serves as a user-generated information resource and can be accessed through various social media platforms. Problem: The ubiquitous presence of social media platform usage increases consumer’s exposure to electronic word-of-mouth reviews of goods and services. Previous studies primarily emphasized the effect of eWoM review quality and credibility, but neglected the reviewers that create the content of these reviews. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the influence that eWoM reviewers exert on Millennials’ purchasing behaviors. Method: A positivist approach was utilized together with a deductive approach in this quantitative study. A self-completion questionnaire which was distributed online, and the data collected from the respondents of it served as the primary data with academic literature serving as secondary data. The analysis of the data was processed in SPSS. Conclusion: The findings of this study show eWoM reviewers and their social currency affect the purchasing behaviors of Millennials. Furthermore, the study showed that the nature of the influence of eWoM reviewers was directed at entertaining, educating, and persuading Millennials rather than acquainting them with new products