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Abstract:
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Past studies suggest that market mavenism refers to the degree to which a consumer is likely to become a market maven . High market mavenism consumers are characterized to possess information across many kinds of product categories and initiate word -of -mouth communication (WOM ) . High market mavenism consumers are influential consumers and key participants in WOM communication .
Due to the explosion of online communication platforms , electronic word -of -mouth communication (eWOM ) comes to attention . Understanding the virtual version of market mavenism becomes a salient topic . eMavenism is the extent to which consumers are involved in finding and disseminating marketing or advertising information online . Consumers who are relatively high on eMavenism are conventionally considered eMavens . eMavenism should be regarded as a unique type of market mavenism . This dissertation study aims to examine both the antecedents and eWOM communication behavioral consequences of eMavenism . The antecedents of eMavenism are considered from scattered literature on market mavenism , while eWOM communication behavioral consequences are identified from extensive literature review on the characteristics of eWOM communication .
The results suggest that psychological tendencies and technology factor are the most important antecedent groups that positively affect eMavenism . Although consumption factor is not significantly related to eMavenism , it may serve as a perspective to analyze the primary difference between eMavenism and market mavenism . The insignificant relationships between demographics and eMavenism challenge the traditional perception that high mavenism consumers are constrained to the old , the unemployed , or housewives . The findings from this dissertation study debunk that high eMavenism consumers come from a broad variety of demographic groups . The findings call for a shift from focusing on consumer demographics to focusing on consumer psychographics in analyzing eMavenism . As to eWOM communication behavioral consequences , specific anonymity types are preferred by highly eMavenist respondents . Highly eMavenist respondents stay active in different online media outlets and contribute more positive than negative eWOM in online discourse .
This dissertation study enhances the theoretical understanding of eMavenism and eWOM communication . The findings are also managerially relevant . |