ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH: INVESTIGATING THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTRONIC MESSAGE SOURCE CREDIBILITY, MESSAGE APPEAL AND BRAND EQUITY ON CONSUMER PURCHASE INTENTION

Abstract

Consumers of modern ages are now becoming less attentive towards traditional
promotion techniques and their focus is now more towards electronic medium. Word of
mouth is known as one to one verbal contact which contains a source of information
about a product or service. Such communication when turns on electronic media
become electronic word of mouth communication. The role of word of mouth
communication in marketing is widely accepted, however, the factors responsible for its
positive effects such as source credibility, message appeal and brand equity have been
neglected in the advertising literature. This study investigated the direct effects of
source credibility, message appeal and brand equity, and the indirect effects of
electronic word of mouth (EWOM) on message receiver purchase intent for the
respective brand. Results of the study reveal that message source credibility, message
appeal and brand equity have significant positive effects on consumers' purchase
intention where as the mediating variable EWOM has also significant positive indirect
effect on consumers' purchase intention. Thus, all the hypothesized relationships of the
study are substantiated. The study provides useful managerial and practical
implications with possible future directions.