Examining Consumers’ Responses to Negative Electronic Word-of-Mouth on Social Media: The Effect of Perceived Credibility on Brand Attitude and Purchase Intention
XIE Minghua
Student No. 15250962
Bachelor of social science (Honors) in Communication --
Public Relations and Advertising Major
Abstract
Consumers nowadays are increasingly engaging in electronic word-of-mouth communication to share their experience with brands or engage in the pre-purchase information search process. Such communication online shows a significant influence on consumers’ purchase decision making. As consumers tend to trust other consumers more than companies, eWOM is always considered to be more credible as compared to other paid media. Therefore, the perceived credibility of eWOM is always regarded as a key driver of the unignorable impact of eWOM. Moreover, negative word-of-mouth is found out to be more influential than the positive or neutral ones, as they are perceived to be more informative and diagnostic. Therefore, this research aimed at investigating the impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on observing consumers’ reactions, with regard to their post-message brand attitudes and purchase intentions. In addition, the researcher also paid attention to whether such impact would be affected by consumers’ prior brand attitudes and company’s eWOM intervening strategy (i.e., webcare). The results indicated that high perceived credibility of negative eWOM negatively affects consumers’ post-message brand attitudes and purchase intentions. And companies’ use of accommodative webcare diminishes such negative impact.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 3
2.1. WOM AND PERCEIVED CREDIBILITY ...... 3 2.1.1. Electronic Negative Word-of-mouth ...... 3 2.1.2. Social Word-of-mouth and the circumstance in China ...... 5 2.1.3. Perceived Credibility and Electronic Word-of-mouth ...... 7
2.2. CONSUMERS’ REACTIONS ...... 9 2.2.1 Brand Attitude and Purchase Intention ...... 9 2.2.2 Prior Brand Attitude and Perceived Credibility of eWOM ...... 10
2.3. CORPORATE RESPONSES ...... 12 2.3.1. Webcare and Electronic Negative Word-of-mouth ...... 12 3. METHODOLOGY ...... 14
3.1 PRE-TEST ...... 15
3.2 MAIN SURVEY ...... 16
3.3 MEASURES ...... 18
3.4 PARTICIPANTS ...... 22 4. RESULTS ...... 25 5. DISCUSSION ...... 31 6. IMPLICATIONS ...... 36
6.1 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS ...... 36
6.2 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS ...... 37 7. LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH ...... 39 8. REFERENCES ...... 40 9. APPENDICES ...... 50
9.1 APPENDIX A ...... 50
9.2 APPENDIX B ...... 53
1. INTRODUCTION
Consumers nowadays actively engag in online word-of-mouth communication to share their opinions about various products and services offered by different brands. They are transmitting the roles from passive “read-only” observers to active participants involving in public participation culture (Jenkins, 2006). As such, electronic word-of- mouth (referred to as eWOM hereafter) has played an increasingly significant role in consumer behaviors, from initial product awareness to buying decision making, and to post-purchase evaluations (Riegner, 2007; Reingen, 1987). Word-of-mouth (referred to as
WOM hereafter) can be divided into the forms of positive WOM (i.e., PWOM) and negative WOM (i.e., NWOM) based on the valence of information contained (Luo,
2009). Yet, negative WOM with unfavorable reviews tends to be weighted more heavily than the positive ones and thus exerts adverse influence on sales, consumer loyalty, overall brand loyalty and even company image (Daugherty & Hoffman, 2013). In fact, it is the advent of social media that provides customers with crucial channels of online information exchange, thus flourishing eWOM engagement (De Vries et al., 2012).
Generally, most customers perceive eWOM as a credible and authentic assessment
(Dellarocas, 2003). According to Chu and Kim (2011), the perceived credibility, in turn, makes eWOM transmit faster and reach a larger range of audience, thus driving the unignorable influence (Newman,2003). However, such perceived credibility of eWOM can be plagued by several issues online nowadays, including the anonymous identity of reviewer (Sen & Lerman, 2007) and inserted promotional messages. In addition, the electronic mediated context of WOM provides new contextual cues for recipients to infer
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different credibility judgments toward a specific eWOM information, such as source power and information quality. Besides the eWOM factors, consumers’ internal prior brand attitude also plays a significant role in consumers’ processing of eWOM information. Lee (2011) found that the congruence between prior brand attitude and eWOM valance would produce positive feelings toward the eWOM received.
Even though more control is shifting from companies to consumers, marketers are sparing no effort to intervene with negative eWOM through strategies like webcare to reduce the potential detrimental effects. Over the past few years, researchers have paid increasing attentions to various aspects of eWOM on social media, including consumers’ motivations for engagement (Henning-Thurau et al., 2004; Goldsmith & Horowitz,
2006), general impact on recipient and organizations, as well as its overall structure
(Daugherty & Hoffman, 2013). Nevertheless, there is still a lack of attention to customers’ responses toward different types of eWOM considering discrepancy in valences.
In addition, recent researches have investigated a number of elements that affect consumers’ credibility judgments toward messages within eWOM communication (Gvili et al., 2018; Chang, 2011; Cheung et al., 2009). However, what role perceived credibility plays in consumers’ responses to eWOM on social media is still less explored. Based on the consideration that negative eWOM has larger impact than positive eWOM, the main objective of this project is to examine consumers’ responses toward negative eWOM with different levels of perceived credibility, with regards to their brand attitudes and purchase intentions. What is more, this study also aims to explore the impact of consumers’ prior
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brand attitudes and brands’ webcare strategy on consumers’ reactions toward negative eWOM. In sum, this paper will focus on addressing the following research questions:
1) How does consumers’ perceived credibility towards negative eWOM influence
their brand attitudes and purchase intentions?
2) How does consumers’ prior brand attitude affect the effect of perceived
credibility?
3) How does the use of webcare strategy affect the effect of perceived credibility?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. WOM and Perceived Credibility
2.1.1. Electronic Negative Word-of-mouth
Traditional WOM is regarded as a person-to-person communication tool for exchanging information perceived to be non-commercial about a brand, product or service between a communicator and a receiver (Arndt, 1967). On the digital platforms, eWOM is defined as the online evaluative statements addressed to consumers about a product or company (Henning-Thurau, 2004; Litvin et al., 2008). With the emergence of new information and communication technology, eWOM breaks through the spatial and temporal limitations of traditional WOM, transmitting at an exponential speed in a variety of online communication channels, such as social media, review websites and
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discussion boards. Furthermore, eWOM communication is no longer conducted interpersonally through face-to-face conversations between people with strong ties like friends and families, but rather is often generated among people with weak ties, that is, communicators have little or no prior relationships, through electronic technology, thus being more anonymous and accessible to a vast number of receivers (Wood, 2017; Chen et al., 2018).
Much research has shown that WOM is one of the most crucial determinants of consumers’ purchase decisions as well as intended behavior (Huete-Alcocer, 2017;
Jalilvand, 2012). In addition, WOM also has considerable power to affect many dimensions of interests for brands, such as acquiring new customers and raising sales
(Daugherty, 2013; Chevalier et al., 2006). As eWOM takes advantage of the information technology and further empowers the information exchange about brands and products, its impact on consumer behaviors can go beyond the influence of traditional WOM. With the nature of low cost and high accessibility, eWOM drives consumers to increasingly engage in the pre-purchase information search process online to seek buying advice from others (Jalilvand, 2011; Chen, 2018). Moreover, it also offers a new opportunity for businesses to listen to consumers’ needs and perceptions, and above all, to better communicate with their audience (Huete-Alcocer, 2017).
Scholars distinguish positive and negative WOMs based on the valence of information. While PWOM offers positive and favorable evaluative statements about an organization, product or service, NWOM contains negative and unfavorable information instead, including messages like telling terrible experience, private complaining and
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product denigration (Sweeney et al., 2014). A lot of evidence has shown that NWOM is more impactful than PWOM in terms of consumers’ brand evaluation, purchase decision making and brand’s losses of reputation as well as revenue (Hornik, 2015; Sweeney et al., 2014; Lee, 2011). Arndt (1967) even found that NWOM had doubled the influence of
PWOM. There are many explanations for this phenomenon. First, Herr et al. (1991) suggested that consumers tend to perceive negative evaluation to be more diagnostic or informative compared with the positive ones because it is more useful for categorizing products and less common in nature. Second, Rozin and Royzman (2001) used prospect theory, which indicates that the pain of losing is psychologically much more powerful than the pleasure of gaining, to illustrate why consumers place more weight on NWOM during decision making. Third, Mizerski (1982) thought that negative information was more surprising, thus catching more attentions from consumers. Fourth, some research also found that dissatisfied customers were more likely to tell others about their bad experience (Hanna & Wozniak, 2001) and the spread of NWOM tends to be faster (Libai,
2013). Last, it is the Internet, in particular, that accelerates the spread of bad reviews and rumors about goods and brands, expanding the negative effect of NWOM (Lee, 2011).
2.1.2. Social Word-of-mouth and the circumstance in China
According to Wood (2017), sWOM refers to WOM communication via social media, which is a subset of eWOM. He emphasized that there are some exclusive characteristics of sWOM compared with other forms of eWOM, including higher accessibility and searchability, faster scalability, saturated information, higher visualization as well as
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high involvement of non-simultaneous conversations (Balaji, 2016).
China witnesses the surge of development of social media platforms as well as e- commerce services. As such, it is important to gain an in-depth understanding of the influence of negative eWOM on consumers purchase decision-making in the Chinese context. According to statistics reported by Hootsuite (2018), there are 911 million active social media users in China which exceeds four times the figure of the U.S. Moreover, the number of users using mobile social media in China has increased by more than 84 million new users within the year of 2017. What sets China apart is that a number of key global social platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram is blocked in mainland
China, making the study of users’ communication on localized social media platforms like Sina Weibo (referred to as Weibo hereafter) unprecedentedly significant. Weibo is a microblogging site launched by Sina corporation in China in August 2009, allowing users to upload multimedia update and information like texts, photos and videos for instant sharing based on following-followed relationships through the App and the website.
Although initially taken as just a copy-cat of Twitter, Weibo continuously embraces more features to develop into a unique platform. It has over 411 million monthly active users now, overtaking Twitter in active user totals (Luxion Media, 2018).
Furthermore, Chinese customers are believed to exhibit distinct reactions to WOM on social media. Magni and Atsmon (2012) indicated that Chinese customers, with high level of skepticism about news and advertising, were particularly inclined to rely on
WOM on social media for reference on purchase. Besides, Muralidharan and Men (2015) conducted a cross-cultural survey and pointed out that peer communication had great
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impact on Chinese customers, which could be attributed to their collective mind-set making them think pretty highly of social interaction and become more receptive to the peers’ influence.
2.1.3. Perceived Credibility and Electronic Word-of-mouth
Many prior studies have found that perceived credibility is a key driver of the influence of WOM communication (Newman, 2003; Huete-Alcocer, 2017; Daugherty,
2013). In fact, consumers tend to trust other consumers more than sellers and also attach more credibility to informal and non-commercial communication sources than to paid advertisement or official salespeople (Nieto, 2014; Wilkie, 1994). Therefore, as WOM communication is regarded as a consumer-dominated marketing channel where the message source is independent of the market, it is perceived to be a more reliable medium than traditional media such as television and radio, offering less biased information and more authentic assessment (Huete-Alcocer, 2017; Daugherty, 2013).
The association between perceived credibility and eWOM remains inconclusive.
Researcher found somewhat conflicting findings about the perceived credibility of online
WOM communication. On the one hand, some researchers indicated that the credibility of eWOM was doubted by consumers as the presence of particular issues online, including the anonymity of message senders (Sen & Lerman, 2007), inserted advertising information to manipulate consumers, lacking professional gatekeepers or quality control mechanism (Lee, 2018) as well as the weak bonds between communicators (Kim et al.,
2014). On the other hand, many studies showed that consumers were inclined to lend
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more credibility and strength to eWOM, compared with traditional WOM. Huete-Alcocer
(2017) claimed that with the nature of written instead of oral, eWOM is more difficult to be altered or distorted when multiple communicators involved, thus perceived to be more credible. In addition, Steffes and Burgee (2009) found that online weak bonds were more persuasive than strong ties when selecting courses and professors in colleges. Thus, the concept of perceived credibility turns out to be complex when considering the context of eWOM communication and further studies should be conducted.
According to Cheung et al. (2009), perceived eWOM credibility is defined as the extent to which one perceives an online evaluation statement about a product or company to be believable, true, or factual. In addition, Chang and Wu (2014) stated that when examining eWOM in the perspective of credibility, researchers tend to separate it into source credibility and information credibility. Source credibility indicates the perceived motivation and ability of the information provider to give out accurate and truthful message, while the information credibility refers to the message itself. Studies have shown that source attributes including attractiveness, power, familiarity, similarity, experience, trustworthiness as well as expertise can impact the perceived eWOM credibility. When a message source is perceived to be more attractive, powerful, familiar, experienced, trustworthy, similar to the reader or as an expert, consumers would perceive the certain eWOM statements provided to be more credible (Hovland and Weiss, 1951;
Filieri, 2018; Wu, 2011; Tormala, 2004). Lee (2018) also indicated that if the information source had more friends or followers and keeps relational interaction with others, people were more likely to believe that the source had more opinion leadership, and therefore to be more credible, especially in the context of social networking sites. Furthermore,
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regarding information credibility, prior research showed that if a message was long, up- to-date, relevant to a target product, containing fact-based information and logical discussion, or supported by many of other consumers, the message was more likely to be perceived as credible (Filierli, 2018; Lee, 2018).
2.2. Consumers’ Reactions
2.2.1 Brand Attitude and Purchase Intention
Brand attitude is defined as consumers' internal, relatively enduring and unidimensional evaluation of a specific brand based on their brand beliefs (Spears and
Singh, 2004; Agarwal and Malhotra 2005; Wu, 2011). In addition, purchase intention refers to consumers’ conscious plan to exert effort to purchase a specific brand (Spears and Singh, 2004). These two constructs are different because brand attitudes are summary evaluations reflected in its cognitive and affective responses, whereas purchase intentions show a consumer’s intention and motivation to carry out the purchase behavior (Elseidi and El-Baz, 2016; Spears and Singh, 2004). Although prior studies have shown that brand attitude has significant influence on consumers’ buying aim and readiness to pay a premium value, the relationship between attitude and behavior is not always clear.
Therefore, purchase intention becomes an important intervening psychological variable between brand attitude and purchase behavior (Spears and Singh, 2004; Kudeshia and
Kumar, 2017). Furthermore, these two constructs are commonly used in various public relations and advertising domains, including brand evaluations, brand extensions and tracking studies (Spears and Singh, 2004). Several researchers have found that negative
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eWOM has adverse effect on consumers’ brand attitudes and purchase intentions (Balaji,
2016). Consequently, this article will examine consumers’ responses, including both brand attitudes and purchase intentions, toward negative eWOM with different levels of perceived credibility.
The following hypotheses are proposed:
H1a: High perceived credibility of negative eWOM negatively affects customers’ brand attitudes.
H1b: High perceived credibility of negative eWOM results in customers’ lower levels of purchase intention.
2.2.2 Prior Brand Attitude and Perceived Credibility of eWOM
Prior brand attitude indicates consumers' overall evaluation of a specific brand before they receive eWOM messages. It is formed through consumers’ use or searching experience in relation to a specific brand before their encounter with eWOM concerning that brand. According to Shin (2017), the congruency between prior brand attitudes and eWOM message valence plays a significant role in determining the probability of brand choice. A negative eWOM message would be more influential for receivers with negative prior brand attitudes.
Lee (2011) reported that message receivers tend to engage in different types of message processing activities according to their varying initial attitudes and beliefs about a target brand or product as well as the attitude/belief strength. He claimed that consumers’ information processing procedures were not necessarily rational as customers 10
were keen to selectively process and support the information that is consistent with their prior attitudes and to counter-argue and elicit negative thoughts about the information incongruent with their prior attitudes, resulting in resistance to attitude change and self- serving bias in message processing. That is to say, based on the different prior brand attitudes, people can process eWOM information in the manner reflecting the affirming bias and negating bias (Wood et al., 1995; Chen et al., 1992). In specific situations, consumers of strong positive prior attitudes toward a specific brand may even increase their purchase intentions when faced with negative eWOM, resulting in “contrast effects”
(Wanke et al., 1999).
Consequently, it is plausible that there is a simultaneous interaction between consumers’ prior brand attitudes and their perceived credibility of negative eWOM received. Thus, if a customer holds a positive prior brand attitude, he/she would be less willing to accept the negative eWOM, even though it was perceived with high credibility.
Likewise, consumers with a positive prior brand attitude and perceive high credibility (vs. low credibility) of the negative eWOM message received are likely to form positive brand attitudes (vs. negative brand attitude) and high purchase intentions (vs. low purchase intention) toward the brand mentioned in the negative eWOM. Likewise, it can be hypothesized that prior brand attitudes moderate the negative relationship between perceived credibility of negative eWOM messages and post-message brand attitude.
Likely, prior brand attitudes may also moderate the association between perceived credibility of negative eWOM and purchase intentions.
Based on the discussion, the following research hypotheses are formed:
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H2a: The effect of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on post-message brand attitudes is moderated by prior brand attitudes, such that those customers with positive prior brand attitudes and perceive high credibility of negative eWOM will report positive post-message brand attitudes, as compared to negative prior brand attitudes.
H2b: The effect of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on purchase intentions is moderated by prior brand attitudes, such that those customers with positive prior brand attitudes and perceive high credibility of negative eWOM will report positive purchase intentions, as compared to negative prior brand attitudes.
2.3. Corporate Responses
2.3.1. Webcare and Electronic Negative Word-of-mouth
Although eWOM communication is always considered to be consumer-dominated, marketers nowadays are still making every effort to appropriately intervene in negative eWOM, given its considerably detrimental impact on consumers’ decision-making and companies’ image as well as revenue. Deighton and Kornfeld (2009) illustrated that marketing today was more about the matter of fitting in instead of domination or control.
In this case, webcare is devised as a fit-in-context communicative tool that allows marketers to relinquish control yet manage negative eWOM in a subtle and dialogic means (Ghosh, 2017).
According to Van Noort and Willemsen (2012), webcare is defined as “the act of engaging in online interactions with complaining consumers by actively searching the
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web to address consumer feedback”. When demonstrating sympathy and responsiveness, webcare can be an effective means to not only mitigate negative eWOM’s potentially detrimental effects, but strengthen consumer perceptions, loyalty, positive eWOM, as well as purchase intentions (Schamari, 2015). Additionally, webcare can be divided into accommodative and defensive ones. The former includes strategies like apology, explanation and compensation in response to consumers’ complaints, whereas the latter shows the intention to defend the brand and shift the blame. Noticeably, scholars found that accommodative webcare performed a more efficient role in generating positive brand evaluation and buying intentions than the defensive ones (Lee and Song, 2010).
Therefore, it can be assumed that when observing consumers receive negative eWOM, webcare as an intervention and recovery strategy from the company will moderate the negative effect of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on brand attitudes and purchase intentions, such that customers who perceived high credibility of a negative eWOM message read would still report a positive brand attitude and high purchase intention if they are offered an accommodative webcare, compared to no accommodative webcare provided.
In light of the above, it is proposed that:
H3a: There is an interaction between accommodative webcare strategy and perceived credibility of negative eWOM, such that the use of accommodative webcare strategy attenuates the relationship between perceived credibility of negative eWOM and brand attitudes.
H3b: There is an interaction between accommodative webcare strategy and perceived
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credibility of negative eWOM, such that the use of accommodative webcare strategy attenuates the relationship between perceived credibility of negative eWOM and purchase intentions.
3. METHODOLOGY
A 2×2 scenarios experimental design was employed to test the hypotheses. The high/low level of perceived credibility of negative eWOM as well as the presence/absence of accommodative webcare were manipulated, and customers’ brand attitudes as well as purchase intentions were measured. Participants were randomly assigned to either of the four conditions: 1) a negative eWOM message with high perceived credibility and absence of accommodative webcare; 2) a negative eWOM message with high perceived credibility and presence of accommodative webcare; 3) a negative eWOM with low perceived credibility and absence of accommodative webcare;
4) a negative eWOM message with low perceived credibility and presence of accommodative webcare.
Weibo users living in Mainland China or frequently travel to mainland China were selected as the study population. Considering the fact that the major constituent of customers is adults and the ethics in teenagers’ and children’s research, this study focused on analyzing adults. As one objective of the study is to investigate the effect of consumers’ prior brand attitudes, a controversial brand which is perceived to be both highly positive and negative by a large number of consumers needed to be chosen as the study object. Therefore, A pretest was arranged to aid selecting the brand and test the
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effect of the two pieces of manipulated negative eWOM messages (i.e., high vs. low perceived credibility). In order to correctly evaluate the influence of the level of perceived credibility towards negative eWOM, the potential influence produced by consumers’ experience with an existing product should be removed. Thus, a fictional product was created to ensure that participants have no previous experience with it, thus holding neutral attitudes and purchase intentions toward the product.
3.1 Pre-test
The pretest was conducted for two objectives: 1) to select one of the most controversial brands for the follow-up experiment; and 2) to guarantee subjects would perceive corresponding levels of credibility (i.e., high vs. low) when reading the two pieces of negative WOM message concerning the fictional product. Based on the monitoring results on Weibo, food service brands were identified as one of the most popular topics in eWOM communication. Hence, six food service brands found out to be the most controversial and highly discussed were listed for testing participants’ perception. Among them, 85 Degree C Bakery Café was the one that people with the most conflicting attitudes. Additionally, two made-up Weibo post giving an account of negative experience with the same fictional product of 85 Degree C were displayed in the survey to test whether they achieve the expected effect of making people perceived the corresponding high and low level of credibility.
This pretest utilized a web-based questionnaire, bilingual in English and traditional
Chinese (the two posts were shown in Simplified Chinese version and English version).
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On the principle of convenience sampling, 53 Chinese Weibo users aged 18 or above were invited to do the survey. They were first asked to rate their attitudes toward the six alternative food service brands on 7-point Likert scales anchored by “1=Extremely
Negative” and “7=Extremely Positive” with an additional option for participants who didn’t know the offered brand. Then, they also need to reflect their perceived credibility relating to the two made-up Weibo posts.
Among the 6 brands, 85 Degree C, a Taiwanese bakery and cafe chain, was reported to be the brand that participants with the most contradicting attitudes (Mean=4.72,
SD=1.67). This result was consistent with the findings of social listening on Weibo.
Therefore, 85 Degree C Bakery café was determined to be the stimulus brand used in the main survey following. As for the perceived credibility of the two made-up Weibo post, the participants reported a high level of perceived credibility towards the post manipulated for achieving the same perception (Mean= 4.56, SD=0.76). Similarly, the other post designed for obtaining a low level of perceived credibility also achieved its aim (Mean= 3.67, SD=1.02). This result guaranteed the validity of continuing using the 2
Weibo post in the main survey.
3.2 Main Survey
The main survey also applied an online questionnaire approach to collect data. It is written in both English and traditional Chinese. Before starting to answer the survey questions, all participants were instructed to read and sign an “informed consent” form.
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The questionnaire was divided into six parts. First of all, three screening questions were used to exclude participants who were not in the target population (i.e., age below 18, not a Weibo user, not frequently staying in Mainland China). Second, a brief introduction to
85°C Bakery Cafe was presented followed by one question to test participants’ original attitudes toward the brand before being exposed to the later negative eWOM stimulus material. Third, participants were asked to report their Weibo consumption habits, including use frequency, the number of accounts following, brand searching inclination and KOLs following information. This part was also used to separate the measurements of prior brand attitude as well as brand attitude after reading a certain negative eWOM message, so that the potential testing threats to validity can be reduced. Fourth, a graphical image, which looked like a screenshot captured from a real Weibo post, was given. The post was about a negative review of 85°C Bakery Cafe’s new salted egg yolk series. After reading the post (followed by the brand’s accommodative response or not), participants needed to answer questions related to manipulation check to reflect their perceived credibility of the post and then evaluate their attitudes toward the brand as well as purchase intentions concerning the product. Fifth, demographic information such as age, gender, education levels, monthly household income and employment status was collected. Last, a debriefing was provided to explain that both the 85°C salted egg yolk series and the Weibo were fictitious. In addition, reversed wording was used in some of the survey questions to gain a stronger and more valid measure.
The data was collected in March 2019, with the use of convenience sampling method to distribute the questionnaires. The researcher applied the research software Qualtrics to
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create an online questionnaire and sent the web link to invite potential research subjects.
In order to recruit participants who hold diverse attitudes toward 85°C Bakery Cafe, the web link to the questionnaire was released on Weibo with tags correlated to the brand.
3.3 Measures
Perceived Credibility: The perceived credibility level was manipulated at two levels
(high perceived credibility level vs. low perceived credibility level). The two perceived credibility levels were presented by two different Weibo post screenshots. Evidence from previous research has supported that there are a lot of factors that would lead to high eWOM perceived credibility, including source attributes like expertise, power and high opinion leadership as well as message attributes like long description, face-based evidence presence and support from other consumers. While the violation of these attributes would cause low perceived credibility of eWOM content (Hovland and Weiss,
1951; Filieri, 2018; Wu, 2011; Tormala, 2004; Lee 2018; Filierli, 2018). Based on the findings, the researcher created the materials to stimulate participants different high and low levels of perceived credibility.
To make sure the manipulation materials meaningful and effective, a pretest was conducted. The measure of content credibility perception proposed by Appelman and
Sundar (2016), which is used to assess an individual’s judgment of the veracity of the content of communication, was adopted and adjusted for the manipulation check in the pretest and the major survey. The scale ranges from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly
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Agree) and consists of three items by asking participants to rate if the content of the materials is “Accurate”, “Authentic” and “Believable”. The inter-item reliability was good (Cronbach’s α = .87). As the result of pretest indicated that the materials could successfully depict high and low perceived credibility levels. Therefore, the researcher kept applying the manipulation materials to the main survey. When subjects filling out the questionnaire, they were randomly assigned to read one version of the Weibo posts, either the one manipulated to be perceived with high credibility or low credibility. The abstract of the materials used in the questionnaire are put below (see Appendix for the full questionnaire).
Low perceived credibility:
It’s a short post consisting of a few words for negatively reviewing the product,
“Taste horrible. Don’t try. I threw away whole bread!”, with the Weibo hashtag #85°C salted egg yolk series#. The source displays the characteristics of an online Internet troll, with a meaningless username “User6503763257890” and a lack of the account profile image. Besides, there was no support to the post from other Weibo users (i.e., no likes or reposts).
High perceived credibility:
It’s a long post consisting of a detailed description of the opinion about the product, a fact-based video image screenshot and the Weibo hashtag #85°C salted egg yolk series#.
The source is a big V account, showing characteristics of food influencer. For example, the username of the source is “Foodiemomo” and there is an attractive profile image.
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Moreover, there was huge support from other users. The post has 82 reposts, 98 comments and 1.4k likes.
The text content of the post is: First try on “Salted Egg Lava Croissant”. To be honest, it’s very disappointing. The croissant itself was horribly dry. The layers struck together which created a chewy and tough texture. What’s worse, the salted egg yolk filling was weird and superficial. I tasted more of the sweet cream rather than the egg yolk. Then I gave “Salted Egg Yolk Lava Tart” a try. Unfortunately, it was another huge disappointment. It was 20% salted yolk filling and 80% oil! At first bite, the oil came pouring out. I would never try this series of 85°C again. It’s DEFINITELY a nightmare for a salted egg yolk fan!!!
Prior brand attitude: The initial brand attitudes toward 85°C Bakery Cafe before subjects’ being exposed to the negative eWOM message was measured by the single-item measure of overall attitude toward the brand (BATTb) adopted from John (2014). The respondents were asked to place the surveyed brand into one of five clearly understandable categories – single preferred, one of several preferred, acceptable only on promotion, not acceptable, and don’t know this brand. According to John (2014), this measurement is regarded as the most efficient and managerially meaningful measure of
BATTb.
Brand attitude: Respondents’ attitudes toward the surveyed brand 85°C Bakery Cafe after their reading the certain negative eWOM message were measured by the five seven- point semantic differential scales adapted from Spears and Singh (2014): “I think this
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brand is unappealing/appealing, bad/good, unpleasant/pleasant, unfavorable/favorable and unlikable/likable”. Participants' ratings on these five items were averaged to form their brand attitudes (Cronbach’s α = .865).
Purchase intention: The purchase intentions were measured by four items: “I would definitely intend to buy/absolutely consider buying/definitely expect to buy/absolutely plan to buy an item in the 85°C salted egg yolk series” (Mathur, 1998; Yi, 1993). All items were measured on 7-point Likert scales anchored by “1=Strongly Disagree” and
“7=Strongly Agree” and computed the mean of purchase intention. (Cronbach’s α
= .880).
Accommodative Webcare: Accommodative Webcare was manipulated at two conditions (i.e., the presence/absence of the company’s accommodative webcare).
According to Lee and Song (2010), strategies like apology, explanation and compensation to respond to consumers’ complaints are broadly applied in the company’s accommodative webcare. Based on this, the researcher created materials for manipulating the presence/absence of accommodative webcare. Upon respondents reading the negatively valenced Weibo post, they were randomly assigned to either of the two groups
(i.e., there is/is no an accommodative response from the official Weibo account of 85°C
Bakery Cafe on comments of this post). Strategies including apology, explanation and commitment, were contained in the response to achieve accommodation. The response from the brand used in the questionnaire are put below (see Appendix for the full questionnaire).
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Comments from 85°C Weibo account on the post:
Hi, we are very sorry that you had a negative experience with our new salted egg yolk series. By launching this new series, we were trying to combine the unique salted egg yolk ingredient with our fresh pastries. And its records for sales volume as well as consumers’ comments were both very great. Thanks for letting us know your opinion. We would keep on improving this series in the future!
3.4 Participants
This study collected 471 samples, of which 363 were determined usable. Responses from participants who were no adults, no a Weibo user, not frequently stayed in Mainland
China or displayed an apparent response set bias were withdrawn from the data set. Of the remaining respondents, 89 of them were given the scenario 1): a negative eWOM message with high perceived credibility and absence of accommodative webcare, 90 of them were given the scenario 2): a negative eWOM message with high perceived credibility and presence of accommodative webcare, 90 of them were given the scenario
3): a negative eWOM with low perceived credibility and absence of accommodative webcare, and the rest 94 of them were given the scenario 4) a negative eWOM with low perceived credibility and presence of accommodative webcare. There are no statistically significant differences in terms of the demographics among the four scenarios. Table 1 illustrates the demographic characteristics of participants in each scenario.
Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of the Research Sample (N=363)
Scenario 1): Scenario 2): Scenario 3): Scenario 4):
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High High Low Low Overall Perceived Perceived perceived perceived Credibility Credibility Credibility Credibility and and and and Absence of Presence of Absence of Presence of Webcare Webcare Webcare Webcare Age 18-25 81 (91.0%) 84 (93.3%) 85 (94.4%) 89 (94.7%) 339 (93.4%) 26-30 5 (5.6%) 5 (5.6%) 2 (2.2%) 4 (4.3%) 16 (4.4%) 31-40 2 (2.2%) 1 (1.1%) 2 (2.2%) 0 (0.0%) 5 (1.4%) 41-50 1 (1.1%) 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (1.1%) 2 (0.6%) 51-60 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 60+ 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (1.1%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (0.3%) Gender Male 17 (19.1%) 26 (28.9%) 30 (33.3%) 23(24.5%) 96 (26.4%) Female 72 (80.9%) 64 (71.1%) 60(66.7%) 71(75.5%) 267(73.6%) Education Level Junior middle 1 (1.1%) 0 0 1 (1.1%) 2 (0.6%) school or below Senior high 3 (3.4%) 1 (1.1%) 3 (3.3%) 3 (3.2%) 10 (2.8%) school or technical secondary school Junior college 1 (1.1%) 2 (2.2%) 2 (2.2%) 3 (3.2%) 8 (2.2%) Bachelor 78 (87.6%) 79 (87.8%) 76 (84.4%) 74 (78.7%) 307 (84.6%) Master 6 (6.7%) 8 (8.9%) 9 (10%) 12 (12.8%) 35 (9.6%) Ph.D. 0 0 0 1 (1.1%) 1 (0.3%) Household income Below ¥5,000 9 (10.1%) 14 (15.6%) 9 (10.0%) 10 (10.6%) 42 (11.6%) ¥5,001- ¥15,000 30 (33.7%) 33 (36.7%) 30 (33.3%) 37 (39.4%) 130 (35.8%) ¥15,001- ¥30,000 28 (31.5%) 23 (25.6%) 32 (35.6%) 23 (24.5%) 106 (29.2%) ¥30,001- ¥45,000 11 (12.4%) 11 (12.2%) 9 (10.0%) 9 (9.6%) 40 (11.0%) ¥45,001- ¥60,000 3 (3.4%) 7 (7.8%) 2 (2.2%) 6 (6.4%) 18 (5.0%) ¥60,001- ¥75,000 2 (2.2%) 1 (1.1%) 3 (3.3%) 3 (3.2%) 9 (2.5%) Above ¥75,000 6 (6.7%) 1 (1.1%) 5 (5.6%) 6 (6.4%) 18 (5.0%) Employment Status Employed 21 (23.6%) 20 (22.2%) 11 (12.2%) 9 (9.6%) 61 (16.8%) Self-employed 2 (2.2%) 1 (1.1%) 2 (2.2%) 1 (1.1%) 6 (1.7%) Homemaker 1 (1.1%) 1 (1.1%) 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 2 (0.6%) Student 64 (71.9%) 66 (73.3%) 76 (84.4%) 81 (86.2%) 287 (79.1%) Out of work 1 (1.1%) 2 (2.2%) 0 (0.0%) 3 (3.2%) 6 (1.7%) Others 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (1.1%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (0.3%) Total 89 90 90 94 363
Table 2 gives information about the participants’ prior brand attitudes toward 85°C
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Bakery Cafe. In this research, 40.5% (N=147) of participants show a preferred attitude toward 85°C, while 28.1% (N=102) of them hold an attitude of acceptable only on promotion, and around 12.7% (N=46) display a not acceptable attitude. For the rest
18.7% (N=68), they have no idea about the brand, thus no prior brand attitude existing.
The researcher believes that there is enough sample within each group of prior brand attitudes to ensure statistical power and effectively test the hypothesis.
Table 2 Distribution of participants' prior brand attitudes toward 85°C
Frequency Percent Preferred 147 40.5 Acceptable only on promotion 102 28.1 Not Acceptable 46 12.7 Don’t Know the Brand 68 18.7 Total 363 100
Table 3 displays the distribution of participants’ prior brand attitudes toward 85°C
Bakery Cafe in high perceived credibility and low perceived credibility groups
(participants having no awareness of the brand were removed). For the high perceived credibility group, 15.5% (N=22) of participants held not acceptable prior brand attitude,
30.3% (N=43) of participants shown prior brand attitude as acceptable only on promotion and the rest 54.2% (N=77) of participants with the prior brand attitudes as preferred. As for the low credibility group, 15.7% (N=24) of participants indicated that 85°C Bakery
Cafe was not acceptable for them before they were exposed to the negative eWOM message. 38.6% (N=59) of participant reported prior brand attitudes as acceptable only on promotion, whereas the rest 45.8% of participants held preferred prior brand attitudes.
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The results of chi-square test showed that no significant difference (x2＝2.52, p> .05) was found regarding to participants’ prior brand attitudes toward the surveyed brand in the two groups (high vs. low perceived credibility of negative eWOM), indicating that there was a relatively balanced distribution for prior brand attitudes in these two groups.
Table 3 Distribution of prior brand attitudes in groups of high and low perceived credibility
High Perceived Credibility Low perceived Credibility Preferred 77 (54.2%) 70(45.8%) Acceptable only on promotion 43 (30.3%) 59(38.6%) Not Acceptable 22 (15.5%) 24(15.7%) Total 142(100%) 153(100%)
4. RESULTS
An independent sample t-test was conducted to compare the post-message brand attitudes in the high perceived credibility and low perceived credibility groups. After reading the negative eWOM information, participants in the low perceived credibility group had higher brand attitudes toward 85°C Bakery Cafe (M= 4.14, SD= 0.89) than those in the high perceived credibility group (M= 3.81, SD= 1.14), t(361)= -3.02, p< .05.
As for purchase intentions, independent sample t-test also shown that there was a significant difference between low perceived credibility group (M= 3.92, SD= 0.90) and high perceived credibility group (M= 3.46, SD= 1.08), t(361)= -4.41, p< .05. Participants perceived highly credible for the negative eWOM received significantly shown lower purchase intentions than those perceived lowly credible of negative eWOM. Therefore, both H1a and H1b were supported.
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A univariate general linear model was then used to compare the main effects of perceived credibility of negative eWOM and prior brand attitudes and their interaction effect on post-message brand attitudes. Perceived credibility included two levels (high perceived credibility, low perceived credibility) and prior brand attitudes consisted of three levels (not acceptable, acceptable only on promotion, preferred). All effects were statistically significant at .05 significant level. The main effect for prior brand attitudes yielded an F ratio of F(2, 289)= 86.53, p< .05, indicating a significant difference among consumers with prior brand attitudes of not acceptable(M= 2.68, SD= .71), acceptable only on promotion(M= 3.81, SD= .67), and preferred(M= 4.51, SD= 1.03) in terms of their post-message brand attitudes. The main effect for perceived credibility of negative eWOM yielded an F ratio of F(1, 289)= 15.97, p< .05, indicating a significant difference between the groups of high perceived credibility(M= 3.43, SD= .081) and low perceived credibility (M= 3.87, SD= .077) in terms of their post-message brand attitudes. The interaction effect was significant, F(2,289)= 3.18, p< .05.
Tukey’s HSD post hoc tests were further carried out. The results indicated that brand attitudes after receiving negative eWOM were lower for participants with prior brand attitudes as not acceptable than for participants with prior attitudes as acceptable only on promotion (p< .05) and preferred (p< .05). For participants with prior brand attitudes as acceptable only on promotion, their post-message brand attitudes were also lower than those with preferred prior brand attitudes (p< .05). Figure 1 shows how the interaction of participants’ perceived credibility of negative eWOM and their prior brand attitudes influence their post-message brand attitudes. It can be noticed that preferred prior brand
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attitude would weaken the impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on post- message brand attitudes, as the slope of preferred prior brand attitude is gentler compared with the slopes of prior brand attitude as acceptable only on promotion and not acceptable. Thus, H2a is successfully supported.
The effect of perceived credibility of negative eWOM and prior brand attitude on purchase intention was also examined by a univariate general linear model. Consistent with the previous test, there were two levels of perceived credibility of negative eWOM
(low perceived credibility, high perceived credibility) and three levels of prior brand attitude (not acceptable, acceptable only on promotion, preferred). All effects were statistically significant at the .05 significance level. The main effect of prior brand attitude yielded an F ratio of F(2, 289) = 54.11, p < .05, indicating that the purchase intention was significantly lower for participants who perceived high credibility of negative eWOM (M = 3.14, SD = 0.84) than for participants who perceived low credibility of the message (M = 3.64, SD = 0.79). The main effect of perceived credibility
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of negative eWOM yielded an F ratio of F(1, 289)= 19.21, p < .05, indicating that there was a significant difference among consumers with prior brand attitudes as not acceptable(M= 2.62, SD= .77), acceptable only on promotion(M= 3.51, SD= .91), and preferred(M= 4.10, SD= .94) in terms of their purchase intentions toward the product.
The interaction effect was non-significant, F(2, 289) = 1.41, p > .05. Therefore, there wasn’t statistically significant interaction effect of perceived credibility of negative eWOM and prior brand attitudes on purchase intentions toward the product. Thus, the results fail to support H2b.
A simple moderation analysis using the PROCESS macro for SPSS was performed
(Hayes, 2018; model 1= simple moderation) to test the hypothesis 3a that the relationship between consumers’ perceived credibility of negative eWOM and their post-message brand attitudes would be moderated by companies’ accommodative webcare strategy.
The overall model accounted for 4% of the total variance in brand attitude (F(3,359)=
4.74, R2= 0.04, p< .05). Results show that the moderating effect of accommodative webcare was significant on the relationship between perceived credibility of negative eWOM and brand attitudes (b= .43, SE= .21, p< .05). As for the main effects, perceived credibility of negative eWOM was found to be a significant predictor for brand attitude (b
= - .32, SE= .11, p< .05). While the presence of accommodative webcare was not significantly associated with brand attitudes (b= .11, SE= .11, p> .05).
To determine how the accommodative webcare moderates the relation between perceived credibility of negative eWOM and brand attitude, the interaction was plotted to examine the association between perceived credibility of negative eWOM and brand
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attitude in the presence and absence of accommodative webcare strategy. The results showed that in absence of accommodative webcare, the simple slope of the association of perceived credibility of negative eWOM and brand attitude was significant (b= - .54, p< .05). However, in the presence of accommodative webcare, the slope was not significantly different from zero (b = -. 11, p > .05). Figure 2 shows this relationship, graphically, that when perceived credibility of negative eWOM is high, brand attitude is relatively negative, but only obvious for participants exposed to the absence of accommodative webcare. In other words, the presence of accommodative webcare serves to buffer the impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on brand attitude.
Therefore, H3a is supported by the results.
To test the H3b that accommodative webcare moderates the impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on purchase intention, simple moderation analyses using the PROCESS macro for SPSS (Hayes, 2018; model 1) was conducted. The data showed that the overall model explained 10% of the total variance in purchase intention
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(F(3,359)= 12.63, R2= 0.10, p< .05). Accommodative webcare was found to be a significant moderator (b= .45, SE= .20, p< .05), such that the relation between perceived credibility of negative eWOM and purchase intention varies depending on whether accommodative webcare was displayed to participants. As for the main effects, perceived credibility of negative eWOM was found to be a significant predictor for purchase intention (b = -1.13, SE= .32, p< .05). While accommodative webcare was not significantly associated with purchase intention (b= - .30, SE= .32, p> .05).
To determine how accommodative webcare moderates perceived credibility of negative eWOM on purchase intention, the interaction was plotted to examine the association between perceived credibility of negative eWOM and purchase intention in the presence and absence of accommodative webcare strategy. The data showed that in absence of accommodative webcare, the simple slope of the association of perceived credibility of negative eWOM and purchase intention was significant (b= - .68, p< .05).
However, in the presence of accommodative webcare, the slope was not significantly different from zero (b = -. 24, p > .05). This interaction is represented graphically in
Figure 3. Of note, the presence of accommodative webcare may weaken the inverse effect of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on purchase intention, as the slop of presence of webcare is gentler. To put it in another way, the presence of accommodative webcare serves to buffer the impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on purchase intention. Therefore, the results provide support to H3b.
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5. DISCUSSION
The primary aim of this research is to investigate the role of consumers’ perceived credibility of negative eWOM in their responses to the certain negative eWOM message received, in respect of their brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Meanwhile, this research also aims to figure out if this role would be affected by the potential interactions perceived credibility of negative eWOM has with consumers’ prior brand attitudes and companies’ accommodative webcare strategy. Although WOM has become a research hotspot in the field of public relations and advertising recently, very little attention was attached to consumers’ perceived credibility of negative eWOM. Most of the hypotheses proposed by the author were supported by the study results, confirming that perceived credibility of negative eWOM does have an influence on consumers’ brand attitudes and purchase intentions and this influence is more salient if the accommodative strategy was not used by brands to intervene the negative eWOM. In addition, the effect of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on post-message brand attitudes is moderated by
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consumers’ prior attitudes toward the brand. For people with positive prior brand attitudes, the impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on post-message brand attitudes is diminished.
In general, if observing customers perceived high credibility of certain negative eWOM message relating to unsatisfying interaction with a brand, such as terrible service or inferior products, they are likely to form undesirable attitudes toward the brand and show lower purchase intentions. This finding is consistent with previous research that perceived credibility is a critical factor driving the influence of WOM (Newman, 2003;
Huete-Alcocer, 2017; Daugherty, 2013) and negative eWOM shows an unignorable adverse effect on consumers buying-decision making (Hornik, 2015; Sweeney et al.,
2014; Lee, 2011). One possible explanation for this finding can be that eWOM nowadays facilitates a huge amount of information exchange online, within which the quality and credibility of the eWOM messages communicated are very jagged. For example, there are some social media trolls who constantly target and attack a brand, creating a number of negative reviews and slanderous posts without fact-based. Such an environment of eWOM makes consumers become critical about eWOM messages and set perceived credibility of eWOM as a key criterion in terms of whether or not adopting the certain eWOM message.
Nevertheless, it should be noticed that the impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on brand attitude and purchase intention varies depending on whether companies’ using accommodative webcare or not. That is to say, when the company applying accommodative webcare strategy to respond to consumers’ complaints or other bad
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reviews and intervene in the negative eWOM communication which seems to be greatly dominated by consumers, consumers are less likely to have negative attitudes and low purchase intentions, compared to no accommodative webcare strategy applied. Briefly, the use of accommodative webcare diminishes the impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM. This finding is consistent with previous research that accommodative webcare response has the potential to trigger positive reactions and mitigate negative reactions of observing consumers in eWOM (Weitzl, & Hutzinger. 2017).
As discussed in the literature review, accommodative webcare responses entail a high degree of responsibility for dissatisfying event complained and use accommodative signals like apology, redress and explanation to respond for negative eWOM generated.
The finding can, therefore, be explained by the considerably favorable outcome resulted from companies’ showing empathy and sincerity in accommodative webcare responses.
Without being exposed to the companies’ webcare response, complaint bystanders can only get information from the complainants’ eWOM messages. Once they perceived high credibility of the message, they would attach value to the message and adopt it for brand choice. However, if accommodative webcare is provided, observing consumers can get more information about the failed service/product depicted in the negative eWOM received. They would then reappraise the perceived credibility of the negative eWOM message or readjust their attitudes toward the brand as well as purchase intentions according to the specific accommodative webcare delivered. For example, they may understand that the condition was actually not that bad as described in the negative eWOM from the companies’ explanation given. It is noticeable that communicating the
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reasons for the service failure is very important, as statements containing an explanation increase the message's persuasiveness (Burnstein, & Vinokur, 1977).
Another finding is that prior attitudes toward the brand would buffer the effect of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on post-message brand attitudes. When consumers hold a preferred prior brand attitude, the negative effect of high perceived credibility of negative eWOM on post-message brand attitudes is slighter, compared to consumers with prior brand attitudes as acceptable only on promotion or not acceptable.
This finding is consistent with previous research that the congruency between prior brand attitudes and eWOM message valence plays a significant role in determining the adoption of the eWOM message, such that a negative eWOM message would be more influential for receivers with negative prior brand attitudes (Shin, 2017).
According to Kolter (2001), attitudes settle into a consistent pattern which leads people to behave in a fairly consistent way toward similar objects. For example, consumers would behave constantly in a favorable or unfavorable way with respect to a given brand. It’s hard to change because of its structural nature. Therefore, for consumers with preferred prior brand attitude, they tend to behave in a preferred manner in connection with the brand. Even though they are exposed to a certain negative eWOM message concerning the brand and perceived highly credible for the message, they would still reject or ignore the negative information which is inconsistent with their brand attitudes to minimize the tension and stress resulted from the dissonance. This is consistent with the cognitive dissonance theory, which proposed that people may ignore or deny information that conflicts with the existing beliefs/attitudes (Festinger, 1962). On
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the other hand, for people with non-preferred prior brand attitudes (i.e., acceptable only on promotion or not acceptable), the perceived credibility of the negative eWOM message is somewhat consistent with their attitudes. Hence the impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on post-message brand attitudes is more obvious for people with negative prior brand attitudes, compared to those with positive prior brand attitudes.
On the other hand, the moderating effect of prior brand attitudes on the relationship of perceived credibility of negative eWOM and purchase intentions cannot be supported by the study results. Briefly, high perceived credibility of negative eWOM negatively affects the post-message purchase intention, regardless of what prior brand attitudes consumers holding. One possible explanation for this finding can be that brand attitudes are unable to determine purchase intention, although the positive association between them are proved to be significant for many prior studies (Spears and Singh, 2004; Kudeshia and
Kumar, 2017). Consumers can be very cautious when considering whether or not executing the purchase behavior to a brand. Apart from their affective evaluation of the brand, they would still take many other factors into consideration for forming the motivation to buy. That’s why consumers nowadays tend to devote a lot of time and efforts for pre-purchase information searching online to seek buying advice from others and reduce their uncertainty about the purchase outcome. Moreover, this finding also reconfirmed the significant adverse influence of negative eWOM on consumers’ purchase intentions (Hornik, 2015; Sweeney et al., 2014).
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6. IMPLICATIONS
6.1 Theoretical Implications
As the current eWOM literature majorly focus on consumers’ motivations for engagement (Henning-Thurau et al., 2004; Goldsmith & Horowitz, 2006), general impact on recipient and organizations, as well as its overall structure (Daugherty & Hoffman,
2013), this research looked into a new angle from the role of observing consumers’ perceived credibility of negative eWOM, which was scarcely touched before. By doing so, this research contributes to the body of knowledge on the recipients of negative eWOM. It recognized that consumers’ perceived credibility of negative eWOM plays an essential role in consumers’ brand attitudes and purchase intentions, further developing predominantly focus of past research put on the general influence of negative eWOM.
In addition, the power of accommodative webcare as an intervention strategy to negative eWOM was further identified, as it can moderate the negative impact of perceived credibility of negative eWOM. Webcare strategy was seldom studied by previous research. However, there is emerging research interests in it, as it is increasingly used by companies nowadays and generates great impact on the interaction between consumers and brands (Schamari, 2015). What is more, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, this research is the first to pay attention to the interaction effect of consumers’ prior brand attitudes and perceived credibility of negative eWOM on brand attitudes and purchase intentions, related finding again ascertained the stubborn nature of brand attitude. By demonstrating that the interaction of prior brand attitudes and perceived credibility of negative eWOM has a significant moderation impact on post-
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message brand attitudes, but not on purchase intentions, the complexity of the relationship between brand attitudes and purchase intentions were suggested.
6.2 Practical Implications
This research also has important implications for companies intervening in negative eWOM. First, our findings suggested that high perceived credibility of negative eWOM can negatively affect consumers’ brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Accordingly, more targeted negative eWOM messages (i.e., negative eWOM messages that observing consumers may induce high perceived credibility) that of more negative impact in the public should be identified and handled with more efforts. The literature has already demonstrated a lot of factors that would increase consumers’ perceived credibility of eWOM, including the message sources’ expertise, attraction, opinion leadership and trustworthiness of the message source (Hovland and Weiss, 1951; Filieri, 2018; Lee,
2018), the messages’ timeliness, logical discussion, and factual basis as well as other readers’ support (Filierli, 2018; Lee, 2018). This research ascertained the necessity for corporations to put emphasis on handling such messages in negative eWOM.
As the research also proved accommodative webcare strategy as a useful tool to diminish the negative effect of high perceived credibility of negative eWOM, the corporate should use this strategy to deal with those targeted negative eWOM messages.
A combination of accommodative signs is more recommended instead of the single use of sign like an apology. An apology-only strategy could be interpreted by a consumer as a confession of guilt. An important point for the use of accommodative webcare in reducing the negative effect of high perceived credibility of negative eWOM is to explain
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for what was originally reported or complained in the negative eWOM messages to help consumers conducting reappraisal for the message. Displaying of sympathy and sincerity is also very important when using accommodative webcare to handle the negative eWOM.
Last but not least, the findings indicated that positive prior brand attitudes show high resistance to the effect of perceived credibility of negative eWOM on post-message brand attitudes. Therefore, strategies should be taken by companies to maintain the positive brand attitudes that consumers have and transfer consumers’ non-positive brand attitudes into positive brand attitudes. As the change of brand attitudes is not easy, companies can begin by planning campaigns or disseminating simple gifts like coupons to those who seldom purchase the brand. Compared with those who show not acceptable brand attitudes, consumers with attitudes like acceptable only on promotion show less non- positive belief strength, so that the change of attitude would be easier. Also, it’s always a good strategy for corporations to interact with consumers holding positive brand attitudes through the VIP program, where exclusive discounts or gifts would be offered, to maintain their positive brand attitudes.
Last but not least, corporates should understand that even for customers with positive prior brand attitudes, the negative relationship of perceived credibility of negative eWOM and purchase intention is still significant. Therefore, keeping alert to negative eWOM with characteristics to be perceived as highly credibility is important. Accommodative webcare should be delivered timely and in an appropriate way to avoid the undesirable effect caused.
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7. LIMITATIONS and FURTHER RESEARCH
It should be aware that this research was subject to a number of limitations. First, the present research was carried out using a convenience sampling. The sample of respondents consists of personal friends, fellow students and social network. Most of the participants are young college students. Therefore, the sample does not completely represent the majority of Weibo users in mainland China and the generalization of the results was constrained to some extent.
Second, the current research was not representative enough for selecting 85°C
Bakery Cafe as the only surveyed brand. The results might not be applicable to brands in various industries.
Third, the levels of perceived credibility of negative eWOM were manipulated at high and low levels by two Weibo posts researchers designed, according to the characteristics of eWOM messages that are normally perceived as highly and lowly credible suggested by the literature. Although manipulation checks indicated that the stimulus manipulation was successful, the actual perception of the credibility of negative eWOM can vary with each individual. Future research should extend the knowledge on this subject by using different designs. For example, using a measurement of perceived credibility to detect participants’ perceived credibility after a stimulus message.
Fourth, the effect of accommodative webcare was tested by manipulating the presence or absence of such information in the questionnaire. To gain more multifaceted information about webcare, future research should be conducted with a different design.
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For example, real-life cases of webcare delivered can be used to investigate participants’ perceptions about them.
Additionally, as this research investigated the role of perceived credibility of negative eWOM which is barely researched before, more research is needed to test the reliability and validity of the results.
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9. APPENDICES
9.1 Appendix A
[Pilot test]
Q1. Please indicate what attitudes do you hold toward the following brands
請指出你對以下品牌所持有的態度
1= Extremely negative (非常消極)
4= Neither positive nor negative(既不積極也不消極)
7= Extremely positive (非常積極)
8= I don’t know it (我不知道這個品牌)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Burger King 漢堡王 Pizza Hut 必勝客 KFC 肯德基
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85°C Bakery Café 85 度 C Starbuc ks 星巴克 Haidilao Hotpot 海底撈 火鍋
Q2. 85°C Bakery Cafe is a Taiwanese bakery and cafe chain specializing in bread, cakes, coffee and tea, aiming at bringing premium pastries and drinks to the masses at an affordable price. It now operates more than 1000 shops worldwide and has over 600 stores in mainland China.
85 度 C 咖啡蛋糕烘焙專賣店是一家來自臺灣的烘培與咖啡連鎖，產品包括麵包、蛋糕，咖
啡及茶。85 度 C 將為大衆提供平價高質的西點與飲品作爲它的目標。在世界範圍内有超過
1000 家的分店，其中，超過 600 家分店位於中國大陸。
Recently, salted egg yolk has become extremely popular in the gastronomic scene of china. 85°C Bakery Cafe has joined the salted egg yolk craze and launched its new salted egg yolk series, containing salted egg lava croissant, salted egg yolk lava cheese tart, salted egg yolk cream puff as well as salted egg yolk molten lava cake.
最近，鹹蛋黃在中國美食界受到了極大的歡迎。85 度 C 加入鹹蛋黃熱潮，推出了鹹蛋黃全
新系列，包括鹹蛋黃熔岩牛角包，鹹蛋黃熔岩芝士撻，鹹蛋黃泡芙及鹹蛋黃熔漿蛋糕。
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There are two posts from two different Sina Weibo (Chinese microblogging platform) users describing their opinions toward 85°C salted egg yolk series. Please read the posts below and reflect what you feel about the posts.
這裏有兩篇來自不同新浪微博用戶的帖子，分別闡述了他/她們對於 85 度 C 鹹蛋黃系列的
看法。請閲讀以下兩篇帖子並表明你對帖子的感受。
Q2.1.
[Display picture 1]
Please indicate how much do you agree or disagree to the following statements about your perception towards the post
請指出你在多大程度上同意或不同意下列描述你對這篇帖子感受的句子
No. Questions Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
極不同意 極度同意 a. I think the content is accurate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
我認爲它的内容是准確的 b I think the content is authentic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 我認爲它的内容是真實的
c. I think the content is believable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 我認爲它的内容是可以相信的
Q2.2.
[Display Picture 2] 52
Please indicate how much do you agree or disagree to the following statements about your perception towards the post
請指出你在多大程度上同意或不同意下列描述你對這篇帖子感受的句子
No. Questions Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree 極不同意 極度同意 a. I think the content is accurate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 我認爲它的内容是准確的 b I think the content is authentic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 我認爲它的内容是真實的 c. I think the content is believable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 我認爲它的内容是可以相信的
9.2 Appendix B
[Main Survey]
1. What is your age? 請問你的年齡是？ ❑ Below 18 (End of the survey. Thank you very much for your assistance!) 低於18嵗 （結束調查。非常感謝您的幫助！） ❑ 18 or above (Please continue) 18嵗及18嵗以上 （請繼續）
2. Are you a user of Sina Weibo? 你是否為新浪微博的用戶之一？ ❑ Yes (Please continue) 是 （請繼續）
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❑ No (End of the survey. Thank you very much for your assistance!) 否 （結束調查。非常感謝您的幫助！）
3. Do you live in mainland China or frequently travel to mainland China? 你是否居住于中國大陸或經常出入中國大陸？ ❑ Yes (Please continue) 是 （請繼續） ❑ No (End of the survey. Thank you very much for your assistance!) 否 （結束調查。非常感謝您的幫助！）
4. 85°C Bakery Cafe is a Taiwanese bakery and cafe chain specializing in bread, cakes, coffee and tea, aiming at bringing premium pastries and drinks to the masses at an affordable price. It now operates more than 1000 shops worldwide and has over 600 stores in mainland China. 85度C咖啡蛋糕烘焙專賣店是一家來自臺灣的烘培與咖啡連鎖，產品包括麵包、蛋 糕，咖啡及茶。85度C將為大衆提供平價高質的西點與飲品作爲它的目標。在世界 範圍内有超過1000家的分店，其中，超過600家分店位於中國大陸。
If you were buying some bread for self or others, 85°C Bakery Cafe would be… 如果你準備爲自己或他人購買一些麵包，85度C會是... ❑ My single preferred brand 我唯一優先選擇的品牌 ❑ One of my preferred brands 我優先選擇品牌範圍中的一個 ❑ An acceptable brand if “on special” 如果它特價出售，我可以接受 ❑ Would not buy this brand under any circumstance 在任何情況下都不會購買的品牌 ❑ Really don’t know enough about this brand to rate it 我完全不知道這個品牌，因此無法評價
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5. How often do you visit Weibo? 你使用微博的頻率是？
❑ Once every 1-2 hours or shorter period
每1至2小時一次或比這更頻繁 ❑ Several times a day 一天内幾次 ❑ About once a day 大概一天一次 ❑ 3-5 times a week 一個星期3至5次 ❑ Once or twice a week 一個星期1至2次 ❑ Once every two weeks or longer 每兩個星期或更久使用一次
6. Rougly how many accounts do you follow on Weibo? 你大概關注了多少微博用戶？ ❑ Below 100 少於100 ❑ 100 to 200 100到200 ❑ 201 to 300 201到300 ❑ 301 to 400 301到400 ❑ 401 to 500 401到500 ❑ 501 or above
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501及以上
7. If you become interested in certain product/brand, would you search more information about it on Weibo? 如果你對某個產品或品牌感興趣，你是否會在微博上搜索更多關於它的信息?
❑ Yes 會 ❑No 不會
8. Do you follow at least one Big V (verified Weibo account)? 你是否關注了至少一個微博大V （获得个人认证的微博用戶）？
❑ Yes 是 (Continue) ❑No 不是 (Go to Q10)
9. Which type of Big V do you follow on weibo most? (One choice only) 你關注什麽類型的大V最多？（請只選擇一個選項）
❑ Athletes 運動員 ❑ Personal Trainers 私人教練員 ❑ Models/Celebrities 模特/名人 ❑ Bloggers 博主 ❑ None of the above 以上都不是
[high perceived credibility: Picture1] Recently, salted egg yolk has become extremely popular in the gastronomic scene of China. 85°C Bakery Cafe has joined the salted egg yolk craze and launched its new salted egg yolk series, containing salted egg lava croissant, salted egg yolk lava cheese tart, salted egg yolk cream puff as well as salted egg yolk molten lava cake. 最近，鹹蛋黃在中國美食界受到了極大的歡迎。85度C加入鹹蛋黃熱潮，推出了鹹 蛋黃全新系列，包括鹹蛋黃熔岩牛角包，鹹蛋黃熔岩芝士撻，鹹蛋黃泡芙及鹹蛋黃 熔漿蛋糕。
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There is one post from a Sina Weibo user called Foodiemomo describing her opinion about 85°C salted egg yolk series. Please read the post below (the original content of the post was translated into English). 這裏有一篇來自Foodiemomo的微博帖子，描述了她/他對85度C鹹蛋黃系列的看法。 請你閲讀下面這篇微博帖子。
Display picture
[with corporation’s response: Picture 3] There is a response from the official Weibo account of 85°C Bakery Cafe on comments of this post. 這裏有一個來自85度C官方微博賬號對這篇帖子的回復
[Low periceved credibility: Picture 2] Recently, salted egg yolk has become extremely popular in the gastronomic scene of China. 85°C Bakery Cafe has joined the salted egg yolk craze and launched its new salted egg yolk series, containing salted egg lava croissant, salted egg yolk lava cheese tart, salted egg yolk cream puff as well as salted egg yolk molten lava cake. 最近，鹹蛋黃在中國美食界受到了極大的歡迎。85度C加入鹹蛋黃熱潮，推出了鹹 蛋黃全新系列，包括鹹蛋黃熔岩牛角包，鹹蛋黃熔岩芝士撻，鹹蛋黃泡芙及鹹蛋黃
熔漿蛋糕
There is one post from a Sina Weibo user called User6503763257890 describing her opinion about 85°C salted egg yolk series. Please read the post below (the original content of the post was translated into English). 這裏有一篇來自用戶6503763257890的微博帖子，描述了她/他對85度C鹹蛋黃系列 的看法。請你閲讀下面這篇微博帖子。
[with corporation’s response: Picture 3] There is a response from the official Weibo account of 85°C Bakery Cafe on comment of this post 57
這裏有一個來自85度C官方微博賬號對這篇帖子的回復 After reading the post (and the response from the brand), please indicate your feelings about 85°C Bakery Cafe 在閲讀完這篇帖子（和該品牌的回應）后，請您表明您對85度C咖啡蛋糕烘焙的感
受
10. I think 85°C Bakery Cafe is... 我認爲85度C咖啡蛋糕烘焙是… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Unappealing Appealing 不吸引人的 吸引人的 Good Bad [R] 好的 壞的 Unpleasant Pleasant 不愉快的 令人愉快 的 Unfavorable Favorable 不利的 有利的 Unlikeable Likeable 不討人喜歡 討人喜歡
的 的
11. After reading the post (and the response from the brand), please rate your intention to purchase 85°C salted egg yolk series 在閲讀完這篇帖子（和該品牌的回應）后，請您評價您購買85度C鹹蛋黃系列產品 的意圖
1=Strongly Disagree (强烈不同意)
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7=Strongly Agree （强烈同意） No. Questions
(1) I would definitely intend to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 buy an item in the 85°C salted egg yolk series 我很肯定地想要購買85度C 鹹蛋黃系列的產品 (2) I would absolutely consider 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 buying an item in the 85°C salted egg yolk series 我絕對會考慮購買85度C鹹 蛋黃系列的產品 (3) I would definitely expect to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 buy an item in the 85°C salted egg yolk series 我肯定會期待購買85度C鹹 蛋黃系列的產品 (4) I would definitely plan to buy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 an item in the 85°C salted egg yolk series 我肯定會做計劃去購買85度 C鹹蛋黃系列的產品
12. How old are you? 你的歲數是？ ❑ 18 to 25 18嵗至25嵗 ❑ 26 to 30 26嵗至30嵗 ❑ 31 to 40 31嵗至40嵗 ❑ 41 to 50 41嵗至50嵗 ❑ 51 to 60 51嵗至60嵗
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❑ 61 or above 61嵗及以上
13. Please indicate your gender. 你的性別是
❑ Male 男性 ❑ Female 女性
14. What is your education level? 你的受教育程度是？ ❑ Junior middle school or below 初中及以下 ❑ Senior high school or technical secondary school 高中及中等專科學校 ❑ Junior college 大專 ❑ Bachlor 本科 ❑ Master 研究生 ❑ Ph.D 博士
15. My monthly household income is... 你的家庭月收入為... ❑ Below ¥5000 低於¥5000 ❑ ¥5001- ¥15000 ❑ ¥15001- ¥30000
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❑ ¥30001- ¥45000 ❑ ¥45001- ¥60000 ❑ ¥60001- ¥75000 ❑ ¥75000 or above ¥75000 及以上
16. What is your current employment status? 你現在的就業狀況是？ ❑ Employed 受聘的 ❑ Self-employed 個體經營的 ❑ Homemaker 家庭主夫/婦 ❑ Student 學生 ❑ Military 軍人 ❑ Out of work 無業狀態 ❑ Others, please specify 其他，請注明
[Debriefing] Thank you for participating in this survey. We need to explain to you that the 85°C salted egg yolk series, the post (as well as 85 Degree C official account’s comment) are fictitious. The purpose of doing so is to eliminate the influence of some pre-existing factors. Thank you so much for your understanding!
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謝謝您參加這項調查。我們需要向您解釋85度C鹹蛋黃系列，您在問卷中所看到的 微博帖子（及85度C的官方回應）都是杜撰的，目的是爲了去除某些之前存在的可 能會影響調查結果的因素。非常感謝您的理解！
Picture 1 Post for High Perceived Credibility Group
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Picture 2 Post for Low Perceived Credibility Group
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Picture 3 the Company’s Accommodative Webcare
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