An exploratory investigation on the role of Word-of-Mouth communication on the consumption of beauty products

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW1

2.1 Background of the Word of Mouth Communication1

2.2 Difference between Traditional WOM and E-WOM2

2.3 The Consumption of Beauty Products3

?The consumer3

?Gender4

?Process5

?Socialisation5

?Needs/Wants5

2.4 Different Factors related to Word of Mouth Communication (WOM)6

2.5 The importance of Word of Mouth Communication for consumers7

2.6 Consumer's Involvement with the product9

?Self-fulfilment9

?Advice seeking9

?Message intrigue10

?Altruism10

?Autonomous11

?Reducing cognitive dissonance?11

2.7 Negative WOM Usage12

?Cognitive Dissonance12

?Dissatisfaction13

?Status Barrier13

2.8 Conclusion of the study14

REFERENCES15

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Background of the Word of Mouth Communication

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has increasingly become an important topic in marketing and consumer research. However, theory construction and methodology development in this area are still in their infancy. This leaves some basic and important questions unanswered including whether eWOM communication is effective, what roles are played by different communication cues, and how valuable information from text reviews can be generated. The impact of consumer word-of-mouth on consumer behaviour and firm performance has been traditionally documented in consumer or marketing research. The advent of the Internet dramatically expanded the scale and scope of word-of-mouth (WOM) communication. In the past, WOM communications had geographic constraints and were conducted mainly among local networks. Now, however, consumers can easily and freely reach hundreds and thousands of other consumers' reviews through the Internet and can exchange with each other their opinions, experiences, evaluations, and knowledge about companies, products and services (Keller & Berry, 2006).

The majority of the eWOM literature focuses on the outcomes of eWOM. However, little is known about the communication process and communication effectiveness of eWOM. Consistent with the definition of advertising effectiveness, eWOM effectiveness is defined as to what extent eWOM readers can perceive the information communicated by eWOM senders, and how much the communicated information can influence the eWOM readers' attitudes, emotional states, and future patronage intentions toward a product/service. Regarding the question of eWOM effectiveness, two major streams of research on computer-mediated-communication have provided two different answers. On the one hand, the cues-filtered-out approach argues that because of the absence of nonverbal cues such as facial expression and body movement, and social cues such as gender and social status, computer networks lack the capability of information communication, especially emotional information communication. Furthermore, some consumer research indicated that compared with face-to-face (FTF) WOM, the less vivid printed communication exerted a weaker impact on consumers' product judgment. On the other hand, the social information process model suggests that individuals can adapt to Internet channels and use linguistic cues to communicate their emotions as effectively as in face-to-face communication. Up to now, there has been no conclusion regarding which side of the story is correct (Berger & Schwartz, 2011, 880).

2.2 Difference between Traditional WOM and E-WOM

Because cognition and affection are direct results of consumption experience, the information communicated through eWOM includes both cognitive and affective components towards a product or service. Cognitive information is related to thinking processes such as learning, concept formation, logical inference, and problem solving. In the case of eWOM, cognitive ...