Determining consumers' electronic word of mouth motivations in online communuties and a study

Abstract

Lots of messages are recieved by customers through mass communication. Thus, they tend to rely on word of mouth, which is one of the most objective ways of receiving information at shopping. At this point, word of mouth becomes a very important source for the customers who have not experienced the products and services and an effective tool for competition for the organisations. Recently word of mouth plays an important role as a promotion tool. Sharing consumer experiences about products and services in online areas have transformed the concept of word of mouth into electronic word of mouth communication. Due to fast arrival and impact of worx of mouth, it becomes most importance to determine the motivators that draws consumers' to online platforms to search for knowledge. This research aims at identifying the motives of electronic word of mouth communication. In this research, 435 participants' word of mouth searching and sharing motives are tried to be measured.