Should a company have message boards on its Web sites?

Abstract

This study examined the impact of messages on a discussion forum regarding a consumer's brand evaluation and attitude toward the Web owner. Four hypotheses were developed based on consumer behavior theories. An experiment using a 2×3×2 between participants factorial design was conducted to test the hypotheses. The results showed that message favorableness and message number on an Internet discussion forum can influence a consumer's brand evaluation and attitude toward the Web owner. However, the effects are different under different levels of preexisting brand image. Negative messages hurt mainly low-image brands, whereas message repetition helps only high-image brands.