Acceptance of Electronic Word of Mouth in Pre and Post Purchase in USA

by

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My thanks go out to all who have helped me complete this study and with whom this project may have not been possible. In particular, my gratitude goes out to friends, facilitator and family for extensive and helpful comments on early drafts. I am also deeply indebted to the authors who have shared my interest and preceded me. Their works provided me with a host of information to learn from and build upon, also served as examples to emulate.

DECLARATION

I, (Your name), would like to declare that all contents included in this thesis/dissertation stand for my individual work without any aid, & this thesis/dissertation has not been submitted for any examination at academic as well as professional level previously. It is also representing my very own views & not essentially which are associated with the university.

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ABSTRACT

eWOM i.e. electronic word of mouth which can be analyzed as websites, blogs, social networking sites etc. There has been many researches some in this field but has not given a complied analysis of eWOM effect in social media. Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is presently one of the most exciting areas of research, but the research in this domain is quite broad and fragmented. The power of the word of mouth (WOM) to influence consumers' judgments is a well-known accepted phenomenon by researchers and practitioners. The advent of the Internet has increased the options available to a consumer for gathering unbiased information of a product from other consumers. The popularity and the growth of Web 2.0 have created a new world of collaboration. It also has simultaneously provided consumers an opportunity to spread their own consumption experience which deserves explanation. This is an important upcoming issue which can help marketers in many ways. This proposal is segmented in two parts first are the pre-purchase effect of Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) and the post-purchase impact of various variables on the generation of eWOM. Our country of focus is United States. As U.S. is one of the countries with maximum indulgence in social media.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO STUDY1

1.1 Research Background1

1.2 Problem Definition1

1.2.1 Research Aims1

1.2.2 Research Objectives1

1.3 Research Rational2

1.4 Research Questions and Hypothesis3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW5

2.1 Introduction5

2.2 Word of Mouth6

2.3 Electronic Word of Mouth8

2.4 Similarity of WOM and eWOM10

2.5 The Information Communicated through eWOM11

2.6 Traditional WOM Research12

2.7 Current Research on EWOM15

2.8 Effects of Electronic Word of Mouth19

2.9 Motives for providing eWOM21

2.10 Motives for Seeking Electronic WOM22

2.11 Traditional Model of Complex Decision Making24

CHAPTER 3: CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT AND HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION26

3.1 Conceptual Model and Hypothesis Development26

3.1.1 Pre-purchase effects26

3.1.2 Post-purchase effects27

CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY28

4.1 Overview of the Research Methods Employed28

4.2 Rationale for conducting the Study29

4.3 Research Methods30

4.3.1 Secondary Method31

4.3.2 Primary Data32

4.4 Ethics33

4.5 Sampling34

4.5.1 Specification for Sampling35

4.6 Design of Questionnaire35

4.7 Data Collection method and Field Work35

4.7.1 Searching Technique36

4.7.2 Literature Search37

4.8 Data analysis38

4.8.1 Qualitative Data Analysis38

4.8.2 Quantitative Data Analysis38

4.9 Validity39

4.10 Reliability40

CHAPTER 5: RESULTS AND ANALYSIS43

5.1 Results43

5.2 Analysis49

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION52

REFERENCES54

APPENDIX62

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO STUDY

1.1 Research Background

Hennig-Thurau et ...