Sharing Word-of-Mouths or not: the difference between Independent and Interdependent Self-Construal

With the high penetration of Internet, consumers now can share their consumption experience online. Word-of-mouths (WOMs) are now an important information source to get product and service information before making purchase decision. However, not all consumers tend to share their own consumption experience online, the question then arises about which kinds of consumers will share WOMs online. The current study conducted an online questionnaire of 226 participants and adopted structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis to explore the influence of self-construal on the intention to share WOMs. The current study explored participants’ WOM sharing intention in three WOM platforms of instant messaging service, social network websites, and product review websites. Two scenarios of positive and negative consumption experience were considered in the study. The empirical survey results interdependent self-construal participants were with higher intention to share WOMs than independent ones. Participants tend to post positive WOM in social network sites. The intention to post negative WOM is lower than to post positive one. The current study provides contributions about confirming the influence of self-construal on WOM and may serve as fundamental for future research on WOM behavior.

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