Study on Effect of eWOM: A Literature Review and Suggestions for Future Research

The objective of this paper is to review prior studies to provide a better understanding of eWOM's effect on consumers and corporate and to identify issues that need to be addressed in the future research.

Abstract

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) plays a significant role in consumer purchase decisions. The influence of eWOM even changes the life style of consumers and it has brought unprecedented opportunities and challenges for marketing activity. Therefore, eWOM communication has received extensive attention from both academics and practitioners for decades. The current study on eWOM is following two lines. The first line regards eWOM as an outcome of consumers' post purchase behavior and the second line considers eWOM as a driver of consumers' purchase behavior. The objective of this paper is to review prior studies to provide a better understanding of eWOM's effect on consumers and corporate. Based on the literature review, several issues that need to be addressed in the future research are identified.