How electronic word of mouth affect consumers

On Monday 16 December Iffat Tarannum will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend her thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM, e.g., online consumer reviews) refers to online communication about products and brands among consumers. eWOM influences the consumer decision-making process and subsequently company revenues. Therefore, understanding how different types of eWOM affect consumers is crucial. Currently, consumers are sharing eWOM enriched with textual paralanguage (TPL).

TPL refers to written expressions of nonverbal communication which includes emojis, emoticons, stickers, various punctuations, and demarcations. This doctoral dissertation, comprising three articles, focuses on eWOM written with TPL.

The first article reviews existing research on eWOM with TPL. Findings reveal that consumers use TPL to express emotions and maintain social ties. TPL also enhances consumers’ understanding when they read eWOM. Additionally, the article compares sentiment analysis tools, highlighting their varying techniques for interpreting the sentiment of TPL in eWOM messages.

Why do some firms perform digital transformation faster than others?

On Friday 6 December 2024 Lars Arvei Moen will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.

The second article investigates what happens to consumers as senders of eWOM when they use both text and TPL (vs. only text) to write eWOM. With three experiments, we find that when consumers use both text and TPL, they express more ideas in their eWOM. They also tend to think more about the brands and feel more connected to the brand. Such connections drive brand loyalty, benefiting firms

The Third article examines how WOM with text and TPL (vs. eWOM with only text) influences the purchase intention of the receivers of eWOM. Two experiments show that TPL boosts brand purchase intentions in two ways: it enhances the vividness of imagining brand use and signals reviewers' perceived warmth, making the eWOM more persuasive.

This dissertation contributes to eWOM literature by providing insights into how TPL impacts both senders and receivers. We recommend that marketers encourage consumers to use TPL in eWOM to strengthen engagement and brand loyalty.