The interplay between eWOM information and purchase intention on social media: Through the lens of IAM and TAM theory

Md Atikur Rahaman; H M Kamrul Hassan; Ahmed Al Asheq; K M Anwarul Islam

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0272926

The interplay between eWOM information and purchase intention on social media: Through the lens of IAM and TAM theory

PLoS One. 2022 Sep 6;17(9):e0272926. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272926. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Md Atikur Rahaman¹, H M Kamrul Hassan², Ahmed Al Asheq^{3

4}, K M Anwarul Islam⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Management, Jiujiang University, Jiangxi, China.
² Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Chittagong, Chattogram, Bangladesh.
³ School of Business, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland.
⁴ Department of Business Administration, World University of Bangladesh (WUB), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁵ Department of Business Administration, The Millennium University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Abstract

The maturity and growth of social media have empowered online customers to generate electronic word of mouth (eWOM), on various online websites and platforms, which may influence an individual's decision-making process. This paper explores eWOM information's impact on social media users' purchase intention by applying the information adoption model (IAM) and the technology acceptance model (TAM). PLS-SEM (SmartPLS V.3.3) has been utilized to test the hypotheses using data of 432 respondents. The research findings evinced that eWOM information quality, credibility, usefulness, and ease of use have been critical in determining online consumers' intention to adopt eWOM and form purchase behavior on social media. The study's outcomes offer the marketing managers a viewpoint to realize the significance of the effect of eWOM information on online purchase intention among social media users. Furthermore, the study findings will also enlighten marketing and business managers to utilize social media websites by gauging consumer behavior and focusing on characteristics of eWOM information on social media for better consumer insights.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Consumer Behavior*
Electronics
Humans
Intention
Social Media*
Technology

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the School of Management, Jiujiang University and Center for Entreprenureship & Innovation Research Society (grant number: 43120227). The funders have no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The funders will bear the cost of the article processing charge of the paper subject to the acceptance of the manuscript.