Abstracts Category : Other

The impact of eWOM on consumers purchase intention : the moderation role of products category

by Madalena Mauhin Ventura

Online content is becoming an increasingly important tool for consumers andmarketeers relationship to grow closer and last-longing. Namely, eWOM, which derived fromthe need of sharing knowledge and information among consumers, allowed them to reachinformation perceived as more trustful and real.Nowadays, this type of communication is part of the purchasing process and has beenproved to influence consumers buying decisions. Besides being perceived as consumergenerated information, eWOM can also be managed by marketeers, aiming at influencingindividuals to provide useful information, which ideally would be positive but can also benegative, and managing potential future customers expectations and needs.In addition, this research quantifies the purchase intention among different types ofeWOM, namely by exposing different sources, valences and structures and evaluating theimpact on consumers buying decisions within different products categories.Therefore, quantitative data was generated by an online questionnaire which presentedthe different illustrative scenarios for each of the four categories of products being tested: priceytech electronics, high touch retail, household staples and no touch services.The conclusions obtained were mostly opposing to literature, which may be explainedby the various range of eWOM limitations and characteristics, as lack of physical contact, butalso, were helpful to perceive that its influence is not linear and that it could depend on thescenario and the circumstances in which the information was developed and shared. O contedo online uma ferramenta cada vez mais importante para tornar a ligaoentre consumidores e marketeers mais prxima e duradora.Atualmente, este tipo de comunicao parte integrante do processo de compra e,apresenta um efeito influenciador na deciso dos consumidores. Apesar disso, esta informao vista como sendo originria de comuns consumidores, mas, esta tambm pode ser gerida pormarketeers com o objetivo de influenciar indivduos a providenciar informao til, - queidealmente seria positiva, mas que acontece por vezes ser negativa tambm-, e, assim, gerir asexpectativas e as necessidades de potenciais e atuais clientes.Adicionalmente, este estudo quantifica a diferena na inteno de compra consumidoresentre diferentes tipos de eWOM, atravs da exposio de diferentes tipos de fontes, valncias eestruturas, de modo a avaliar o impacto na deciso de compra dos consumidores, no seio dediferentes categorias de produto.Consequentemente, foi gerada data quantitativa atravs de um questionrio online queapresentava diferentes cenrios ilustrativos em relao aos tipos de eWOM que estavam a sertestados no mbito das categorias de produto escolhidas.Na verdade, as concluses obtidas nesta dissertao foram, maioritariamente, contra osfactos revelados na literatura considerada, o que, pode ser explicado pela variedade delimitaes e caractersticas peculiares da eWOM, mas, estas concluses podem tambm serteis para perceberAdvisors/Committee Members: Romeiro, Paulo, Bastos, Wilson.