Name of the Scholar: P. Rajashekarreddy Reg.

ID: 41800790

Super visor: Dr. Mithilesh Pandey sir Programme: Ph.D. (Management)

Examining EWOM Credibility-Consumer Purchase Intention Relationship In Facebook:

A Mediation Analysis
Why  Consumer electronics are the highest reviewed products in the online environment and frequently
updated and launched products in the market.
Consumer  The customers were selected from the facebook fan pages of Amazon, the second largest e-commerce
electronics site in India.

Objectives  The objective of the current study was to examine the ibfluence of e wom credibility on consumer
purchase intention with trust in seller and brand image as mediators.
 To examine the mediating effects of trust in the seller and brand image between e WOM credibility
and purchase intentions.
Theories used  Attribution theory
 Behavioral Intention theories
 eWOM Credibility on Purchase Intention
 eWOM Credibility on Trust in Sellers
 eWOM Credibility on Brand Image and Purchase Intention
Hypotheses  H1: eWOM credibility has a positive effect on consumer purchase intention
 H2: eWOM credibility also has a positive effect on trust in sellers
  H3: Trust in the seller has a positive effect on purchase intention
 H4: eWOM credibility has a positive impact on brand image through the FACEBOOK fan page.
 H5: Brand image has a positive impact on purchase intention through the FACEBOOK fan page.
 H6: Brand image has a positive effect on consumer trust in sellers through the FACEBOOK fan page.
Research  The present study employed a cross sectional research design.

Methodology  The survey was conducted among 393 online consumers of electronic products.
 All the items were measured on a 5- point Likert Scale.
 Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Measurement Model
evaluation and Mediation Analysis, using SPSS-20 and SEM analysis AMOS-21.
Findings  E WOM credibility has a positive effect on consumer purchase intentions of consumer electronics on
Face book fan pages of e-commerce sites ( H1).
 User generated information on social media as credible and trustworthy and constantly seeking
product-related information to increase familiarity with the product before the actual purchase.
 Social media fan page credible content influences the consumer purchase decision.
 E WOM credibility also has a significant effect on trust in sellers ( H2).
 Credible content on fan pages has a significant influence on consumer trust in online retailers.
 Trust in sellers in positively associated with the purchase intention ( H3)
 Further, while marketers provide relevant brand related information on official brand fan pages,
 customers visiting them tend to have a greater trust on customer reviews than marketer information.
 The study also observes a positive association of e WOM credibility with brand image( H4)
 A positive brand image enhances favorable consumers’ perceptions of the products on e-commerce
sites.
Variables H1: e WOM Credibility (I.V.) and Purchase Intention (D.V.)
H2: e WOM Review Credibility (I.V.) and Trust in Seller (D.V.)
H3: Trust in Seller (I.V.) and Purchase Intention (D.V.)
H4: e WOM Review Credibility (I.V.) and Brand Image (D.V.)
H5: Brand Image (I.V.) and Purchase Intention (D.V.)
H6: Brand Image (I.V.) and Trust in Seller (D.V.)
Results  Online retail companies should acknowledge and leverage online reviews on SNS’s because they
play a vital role in determining consumer purchase decisions.
 Consumers have confidence in their retail website information.
 Confidence can be acquired through continuous enhancement of consumers’ trust in the e-commerce
sites by providing relevant and updated product information.
 Online retailers should devote efforts towards maintaining and improving brand image as well as
brand associations.
Research Gap  This study is focussed on online retail companies of Facebook fanpages, future researches may
explore other social networking sites, that is, Google communities, Instragram, and Pinterese, etc.
 The present study is limited to firms hosted fan pages of online retailer site-Amazon. Further studies
can explore from as vfan created fan pages in SNS’s.
 The study has considered only consumer electronics products from the online retail stores ; future
researchers should look into some other category of products.
Source 