Essay Sample on eWOM

Introduction

The term word of mouth (WOM) can be defined as informal communications among consumers about products and services (Eisingerich et al., 2015; Wang and Yu, 2017). Researchers have sought to explain how WOM is spread. Early studies utilized psychological factors to explain how WOM is spread. When electronic means is involved in the sharing of WOM, the term electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is used. In this case, the term eWOM refers to any positive or negative comment made by prospective, current, or former customers regarding a product, service, the company, or organization- which is spread to many people through the Internet.

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The term eWOM has also been described as a spreading behavior by which customers post their personal experiences of particular products or services. Through such behavior, consumers influence potential buyers to purchase or avoid purchasing a specific product or service. Some of the ways through which eWOM can be shared are via online recommendations, arguments, and review (Shih et al., 2013).

One of the platforms that have enabled ease of spread of eWOM is Social Network Sites. Through such platforms, three factors influence consumer purchase intention and behavior- opinion passing, opinion giving, and opinion seeking (Chu and Kim, 2011). That is, when customers are making decisions regarding the purchase of a product or service, they are highly likely to search for information and advice from other individuals because of opinion seeking behavior. Conversely, the opinion leaders are more likely to influence other people's purchase patterns and attitude by sharing their comments. Through online social platforms, opinion passing behavior can be easily spread to potential recipients because of the capacity of the Internet to provide multidirectional communications. For the past three decades, there has been rapid growth and penetration of the Internet across the globe. Because of this, consumers have been able to share their post-purchase experience via diverse online platforms such as blogs, website bulletin boards, and email.

Cong and Zheng (2017) explain that the growth of the Internet has changed the traditional way of communication (word-of-mouth) and the way consumers search for information. Consumers have adopted diverse network platforms for sharing and exchanging of information regarding particular products and services. The use of electronic or Internet platforms to spread information about a specific product or service has been described as electronic word-of-mouth, a marked divergence from the traditional word-of-mouth that involved spread of information from one individual to another through face to face means.

Majority of the consumers in the existing Internet platforms aggregates many experienced consumers who have an interest in sharing information regarding a particular product or service (Mishra et al., 2018; Moran and Muzellec, 2017). Also, most of the consumers believe that purchase advice provided through eWOM is characterized by authenticity, objectivity, and reliability. Consequently, there is a high likelihood that the information shared about the products are credible. Similarly, it has been reported that eWOM can rapidly disseminate information and attain precise positioning. Because of this, the eWOM is shared and amplified continuously in the process of communication and re-dissemination- thus ensuring that information about products and services reach more potential buyers. The capacity of eWOM to reach many people has resulted in its increased adoption in carrying out marketing activities.

The more the amount of eWOM, the higher the likelihood that consumers are likely to get pertinent information regarding the product or service. For instance, a study conducted by Tariq et al. (2017) sought to analyze the impact of eWOM and brand awareness on customer purchase decisions as mediated by brand image. Findings of this study revealed that eWOM has a positive effect on brand image. This implies that consumers who obtain information pertaining a product via online reviews found on a company's website or social media platform are more likely to perceive the company as having a good brand image (Tariq et al., 2017). Next, the researchers established that by establishing a good brand image through eWOM, there is an increased likelihood that a company will realize enhanced purchase intention (Tariq et al., 2017).

It is also worth noting that the quantity of eWOM has significant explanatory power for the purchase of products and services. The influence of online reviews on purchase intention can be either positive or negative (Reimer and Benkenstein, 2016; Ruiz-Mafe et al., 2018). For example, if potential buyers of specific products or services find negative reviews when trying to search for information, then there is an increased likelihood that their purchase intention will be weakened. However, if there are positive reviews related to a particular product among many past buyers, it is highly likely that potential purchasers will buy it because many other consumers have purchased the same product (Book et al., 2016; Djafarova and Rushworth, 2017).

In the network marketing environment, the quality of consumer perception of eWOM has a significant influence on their purchase intentions. That is, if the eWOM such as online reviews are perceived to be credible and to suggest that the product or service is of high quality, then there is an increased prospect that the customer will purchase it. Additionally, when eWOM is perceived as of high quality, the more likely that the prospective buyers will see it as trustworthy and reliable and develop a good attitude towards the product or service and enhanced purchase intention.

Value to the Society

The proposed study seeks to assess the impact of eWOM on consumer purchase patterns of fine dining restaurants in the central belt of Scotland. This study is motivated by the desire to solve unsolved problems. Specifically, even though various studies have examined the impact of eWOM on consumer purchase patterns, there is a knowledge gap regarding the influence of eWOM on consumer purchase patterns of fine dining restaurants in the central belt of Scotland. Consequently, the proposed study will help to address this research gap. In addressing this research gap, many benefits will be realized. First, the findings of the study will help in understanding whether consumer purchase patterns of fine dining restaurants in the central belt of Scotland are influenced by eWOM. Such findings will help restaurants to appropriately use eWOM to spur their growth and profitability through improved sales. Specifically, if the results of the study show that there are various eWOM factors have a positive impact on consumer purchase behavior, then restaurants can use eWOM to meet clients' expectations.

Secondly, if EWOM is found to predict consumer purchase patterns positively, the findings of the proposed study will be valuable to the managers and leaders of fine dining restaurants in the central belt of Scotland because by adopting eWOM, they are capable of reaching a larger audience than they are currently achieving. For instance, if a restaurant has found ten bloggers with each one of them having a network comprising of five thousand followers and is passionate about products and services offered in the restaurants, the bloggers are likely to influence their followers to purchase the products and services provided by the restaurant. This is because every time the bloggers share about the products and services offered at the restaurant, their followers would know about it. This translates to about 50,000 people knowing more about the restaurant. This is the main reason why affiliate and referral marketing strategy may help the restaurants to increase their customer base and sales.

Third, the proposed study will have a significant contribution to academia, especially in having more studies on the topic of eWOM marketing. This is because it will give an insight into the influence of eWOM on consumer purchase patterns of fine dining restaurants in the central belt of Scotland. The results of the study will not only be useful to fine dining restaurants in the central belt of Scotland but also for those found in other geographical areas because it will act as a base for future studies on related topics.

The impact of eWOM is essential for fine dining restaurants in the central belt of Scotland, especially for marketing managers, because it enables them to understand consumers' behavior. Specifically, marketing managers will be acquainted with how consumers perceive their products through negative and positive feedbacks, thus helping them to ensure that their brand meets customers' expectations. Consequently, marketing managers will develop relevant communication platforms that will ensure that consumers are knowledgeable about their brand. Moreover, through eWOM, Managers get the opportunity to amend negative reviews customers may be having re...