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Global Economic Review: Perspectives

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The Influence of Electronic Word-

of-Mouth on Information Adoption in
Online Customer Communities
a
Ronnie Cheung
a
International Graduate School of Business, University of South
Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
Published online: 05 Mar 2014.

To cite this article: Ronnie Cheung (2014) The Influence of Electronic Word-of-Mouth on
Information Adoption in Online Customer Communities, Global Economic Review: Perspectives on
East Asian Economies and Industries, 43:1, 42-57, DOI: 10.1080/1226508X.2014.884048

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 Global Economic Review, 2014
Vol. 43, No. 1, 42–57, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1226508X.2014.884048

The Influence of Electronic Word-of-Mouth

on Information Adoption in Online Customer
Communities
RONNIE CHEUNG
International Graduate School of Business, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
Downloaded by [University of Aberdeen] at 21:31 14 November 2014

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the information adoption behaviours in online communities,
and investigates how such behaviours affect the purchase intention of consumers. A research model
was constructed to investigate the impact of electronic word-of-mouth on information adoption in
online customer communities. A survey was conducted using a sample of 100 respondents and a
partial least squares approach was used to validate the research model. The research results
concluded that timeliness and comprehensiveness of information, trustworthiness and quality of
information have positive influence on information usefulness, which in turn predicts the consumer
purchase intention.

KEY WORDS: Electronic word-of-mouth; online customer community; information usefulness

and adoption

JEL CLASSIFICATION: M15, M31

1. Introduction
The web has created the opportunities for electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)
communications through electronic media, such as online discussion forums, electronic
bulletin board systems, newsgroups, blogs, review websites and social networking sites
(Goldsmith, 2006). It allows consumers to obtain information related to goods and
services and facilitates a geographically dispersed group of people to share their
experiences with relevant products or services (Ratchford et al., 2001). A recent survey
found that most consumers perceive online opinions to be as trustworthy as branded
websites (AC Nielsen, 2007). Rowley (2001) also proposed that commercial enterprises
should try to organize online communities rather than just relying on other channels.
Online consumer discussion forums provide an effective medium for users to share
their opinions online. This results in a new wave of word-of-mouth (WOM)
communication (Evans et al., 2001), which is an appealing channel for advertisers
and marketers. The eWOM communication refers to the type of statements
accessible online, which are made by potential, actual or former customers about a

Correspondence Address: Ronnie Cheung, International Graduate School of Business, University of South
Australia, City West Campus, 70, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia. Email: ccheung@acm.org

© 2014 Institute of East and West Studies, Yonsei University, Seoul

 Information Adoption in Online Customer Communities 43

product or company (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004). Through the new generation of

cyberspace, the eWOM communication channel enables contributors and audiences
to extend their reach beyond small personal connections to a wider community
through the Internet. It also breaks the restrictions on time and location for
information sharing among consumers. The asynchronous discussions provided by
eWOM channels are usually kept for some time to allow users to participate or read
the messages at their own pace (Hoffman & Novak, 1997). With the attractiveness of
the eWOM channel, it is becoming one of the favourite sources for consumer
information that is facilitated through the Internet. However, as more participants
are included, users usually receive and share online WOM information from a variety
of unknown users. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the information sharing and
adoption behaviours of consumers in online communities.
In Hong Kong, blogs and discussion forums are becoming popular in the past two
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to three years. People are spending much more time on discussion forums such as
Uwants and HK Discuss. The Internet is becoming a fast emerging platform for
consumers, advertisers and marketers in Hong Kong to communicate with each
other. Therefore, it is important to analyse consumers’ information adoption
behaviours in online customer communities, and investigate how such behaviours
affect the purchase intention of consumers. The rest of this paper is organized as
below. First, we provide a literature review relating to eWOM and online customer
communities. Second, the research framework is presented, followed by a discussion
on the hypotheses for this study. Third, data collection and data analysis are
presented. Next, we summarize the findings and provide a discussion on the research
implications and the practical implications. Finally, the conclusions for this study are
presented.

2. Literature Review
The interactivity of the Internet provides an opportunity for consumers to
communicate directly with others to share information. Discussion forums and
chat sessions are said to be more effective than traditional means of communications.
The ability of the Internet to deliver and obtain information in a flexible, effective
manner at relatively low costs is very attractive. Calisir (2003) conducted an in-depth
study on the perceived position of the web as a communication medium compared
with other media from the perspective of young consumers. The research results
showed that young people perceived the web to be the best medium for guiding
consumer purchase decisions, and to provide a reliable source for information.
Therefore, to develop effective media-selection strategies for marketers, it is necessary
to investigate information adoption models for online communities.
Since the eWOM communication channel provides a new medium for information
exchange to a wide audience, the effect of such communication may vary from
person to person. It is therefore necessary to study the information adoption process,
and investigate theories to explain the effects of information adoption on consumer
purchase decisions. According to Sussman and Siegal’s (2003) information likelihood
model for online environments, attitude and behaviours are affected by online
messages in two ways: centrally and peripherally. The central influences that are
provided by online messages refer to those that directly relate to the contents of the
 44 R. Cheung

messages (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). Therefore, the information adoption model
should first consider information quality as the central influence. On the other hand,
such kind of influence can also be provided peripherally independent of the contents
and quality of the online messages. Therefore, the credibility or trustworthiness of the
information source is another factor affecting information adoption behaviours in an
online environment (Sussman & Siegal, 2003).
In addition to information quality and trustworthiness of the information source,
researchers also considered other characteristics of the web in the information
adoption models. In an online environment, information relating to products and
services are readily available through online communities and web search facilities.
Consumers are faced with lots of information through the web for supporting their
purchase decisions. Therefore, consumers tend to concentrate on identifiable
attributes that help them to concentrate on the essential online messages by
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information filtering. According to Madu and Madu (2002), in a web-based

environment, consumers consider the timeliness of information as one of the
determining factors for providing the expected value to support purchase decisions.
Consumers tend to select online messages that are more recent and up to date when
they search for information through the Internet. Furthermore, the selection of
messages for acquisition and retention is based on comprehensiveness, meaning that
consumers will select those messages that provide complete information (Sullivan,
1999). Finally, the information adoption model also needs to consider the relevance
of online messages. As consumers search for information through the online forums,
they want to acquire the important information quickly with little effort (Madu &
Madu, 2002). Therefore, the relevance of online messages is considered when
consumers search for information to support their purchase decisions.

3. Research Framework
With reference to the related studies in the literature, a research framework is
developed (as shown in Figure 1) for this study. It is based on the important
dimensions of eWOM for information adoption, namely, quality, relevance,
timeliness and comprehensiveness, together with the trustworthiness of the informa-
tion source. The research model is constructed based on the influence of the key
dimensions of eWOM on consumer purchase intention, and considers the mediating
effect of information usefulness on the relationships. There have been a limited
number of studies relating to eWOM in Chinese online communities, and this study
seeks to fill the research gap in this research area. Based on the research framework,
five hypotheses are developed. The information relating to the source of literature for
the constructs is summarized in Table 1.

3.1. Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness is defined as the extent to which an information source is perceived
to be believable and trustworthy by information recipients (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986;
Sussman & Siegal, 2003). It refers to the credibility of the information source.
 Information Adoption in Online Customer Communities 45

Trustworthiness

H1

Timeliness and
comprehensiveness H2 H5
Information Purchase
H3 usefulness intention
Quality

Relevance
H4
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Figure 1. The research framework.

Table 1. Source of literature for the constructs

Constructs Conceptual definitions Source of literature

Relevance Relevance of messages is considered for Nah and Davis (2002)
online communities and Internet users and Dunk (2004)
are conscious of their time, in order to
match those messages that relate to the
topics of interest quickly.
Timeliness and Timeliness of messages refers to the extent Cheung et al. (2008)
comprehensiveness to which the messages are current, timely
and up-to-date. Comprehensiveness of
messages refers to their completeness.
Trustworthiness Trustworthiness refers to the extent to Petty and
which an information source is perceived Cacioppo (1986)
to be believable and trustworthy by
information recipients.
Quality The quality of information refers to the Park et al. (2007)
contents of the message that are judged
to provide objective and supporting
information for the consumer purchase
decisions.
Information Information usefulness refers to an Davis (1989)
usefulness individual’s perception that purchase
decisions will be supported with the
information provided.
Purchase intention The degree to which the consumer has Fishbein and Ajzen (1975)
formulated conscious plans to make
purchase with the product.

3.2. Timeliness and Comprehensiveness

Timeliness is concerned with the recentness of information and consumers’
judgement of timeliness is based on whether the information is current and up to
 46 R. Cheung

date. Comprehensiveness refers to the completeness of the online information

(Cheung et al., 2008).

3.3. Quality
According to Park et al. (2007), information quality is an important measure that
affects consumers’ attitudes in online communities. The quality of information is
determined by the contents of the online messages, which is important for
information adoption in an online environment.

3.4. Relevance
The relevance of messages is important as most Internet users are conscious of their
time. Users want to find the information that they want quickly and with little effort,
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in order to match their topics of interest quickly (Nah & Davis, 2002). Dunk (2004)
also suggested that the relevance of the information is an important element for
providing the support to aid decision-making.

3.5. Information Usefulness

Within the virtual platform, new ideas and opinions about products or services may
be articulated. People would carry individual perception of whether these opinions
could be useful to help them to make better buying decisions. Information usefulness
(Davis, 1989) refers to an individual’s perception that the purchase decisions will be
supported with the information provided through the online messages. Therefore, if
others think that a comment or review provided by an online community is useful,
they will have greater intention of adopting the information.

3.6. Purchase Intention

Purchase intention refers to the degree to which the consumer has formulated
conscious plans to make purchase with the product of interest. The purchase
intention of low-involvement consumers increases along with the number of reviews.
The purchase intention of high-involvement consumers decreases when information
overload occurs (Park et al., 2007).

3.7. Hypotheses Development

The research model used in this study is developed from the information adoption
model from Sussman and Siegal (2003). According to the information adop-
tion model, the credibility of information source has a directly effect on information
adoption and consumers will consider online messages to be useful if they come from
a trustworthy source. Hong Kong has a high penetration rate in terms of Internet
access. Consumers are heavily involved in Internet-based forums. Consumers are
more likely to consider the information to be useful for decision-making if they come
from a trustworthy source. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H1: Trustworthiness of information will positively influence information usefulness

 Information Adoption in Online Customer Communities 47

According to Madu and Madu (2002), if the website is not updated consistently, the
website cannot serve as the expected source to deliver comprehensive information to
the user. Therefore, the more timely and comprehensive information provided by the
website, the higher is the perceived usefulness. Thus the hypothesis of this study is
stated as:

H2: Timeliness and comprehensiveness will positively influence information usefulness

In a computer-mediated environment, information quality can be evaluated by con-

sumers based on their purchase evaluation criteria (Olshavsky, 1985). The usefulness of
information is also evaluated against the quality of the comments from the information
source. The research from Olshavsky (1985) has shown that the higher the comments
quality in the online environments, the higher the perceived information usefulness is
reported by consumers. Therefore, the resulting hypothesis is as follows:
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H3: Information quality will positively influence information usefulness

Relevance of messages is important as most Internet users are conscious of their time.
Users want to find the information that they want quickly and with little effort while
they surf through the Internet (Dunk, 2004). It is therefore important to provide
relevant information for the consumers, so that only the most appropriate informa-
tion is provided. According to Dunk (2004), relevance is an important element in
decision-making. The more relevant the information source, the higher the perceived
usefulness of the information source. Therefore, the relationship between information
relevance and information usefulness is hypothesized as follows:

H4: Information relevance will positively influence information usefulness

According to Davis (1989, 1993), perceived usefulness has a direct effect on the
attitude towards adoption in a computer-mediated environment. In an online
community, the usefulness of the comments would therefore has a positive effect
on the purchase intention of consumers for the relevant products. Therefore, the
resulting hypothesis is as follows:

H5: Information usefulness will positively influence purchase intention

4. Questionnaire Design and Data Collection

The questionnaire (see Appendix A) was developed using research instruments from
the literature. The questionnaire was designed to cover the items relating to the six
constructs: information relevance, quality, timeliness and comprehensiveness, trust-
worthiness, information usefulness and purchase intention. Most of the constructs
were operationalized by modifying previously validated scales. The questionnaire
items for perceived usefulness were adapted from Davis (1989); the questionnaire
items for purchase intention were adapted from Fishbein and Ajzen (1975); the
questionnaire items for timeliness and comprehensiveness were adapted from Cheung
et al. (2008); the questionnaire items for information quality were adapted from Park
et al. (2007); the questionnaire items for relevance were adapted from Nah and Davis
 48 R. Cheung

(2002). Finally, the questionnaire items for trustworthiness were adapted from Petty
and Cacioppo (1986). Each construct was measured using multiple indicators in
order to capture the underlying theoretical dimensions effectively (Premkumar &
Ramamurthy, 1995). For each variable relating to these measures, respondents were
asked to indicate the agreement of each statement using the six point Likert scale
ranging from “1-strongly disagree” to “6-strongly agree”. The questionnaire was
divided into three sections. Section one focused on items that solicited demographic
information, including age, gender, education level, occupation and monthly income.
The items in section two focused on the consumer’s participation in customer online
communities and the items in section three included all the constructs used in the
research framework. In order to enhance the validity of the constructs, pre-testing
was conducted to modify the questionnaire before conducting the survey. Fifteen
copies of the questionnaire were randomly distributed in the pilot test, which resulted
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in refinements of the questionnaire items. The finalized questionnaire was posted

online for data collection at the high traffic forums in Hong Kong (e.g. HK Discuss,
Uwants Discuss). The Internet users of these websites were being selected for the
survey because they frequently participated in online customer communities. A total
of 100 completed questionnaires were successfully collected for data analysis.

5. Data Analysis
Structural equation modelling (SEM) is a statistical technique for measuring latent
and unobservable concepts through multiple observed indicators (Chin, 1998b;
Jöreskog, 1989). Partial least square (PLS) technique is a common statistical analysis
in SEM, and it can be used to validate the constructs of an instrument, test and
confirm the structural relationships among the constructs (Chin, 1998a; Gefen et al.,
2000). Jöreskog and Wold (1982) suggested that PLS is better suited for theory
development, whereas linear structural relationship (LISREL) analysis is suitable to
be applied for confirmatory analysis. This is because confirmatory analysis requires a
more stringent distributional assumption and a large sample. This study used PLS
because its premises are less limiting and the sample size in this study was relatively
small. SmartPLS 2.0, a statistical software application for PLS-based path modelling,
was applied to measure the causal relationships in the proposed model.

5.1. Demographic Profile of Respondents

The questionnaire items relating to the demographic of the respondents were
analysed, and the results are listed in Table 2. A summary of the profile of the
respondents is provided, which includes information relating to gender, age,
educational level, employment status and personal income.
A total of 100 successful responses were collected from the survey, the descriptive
statistics show that 50% of the respondents were male and 50% were female. The
samples include respondents from different age groups: 19–25, 26–32, 33–39 and aged
40 or above. Most respondents were in the age group between 19 and 25 years old. For
the employment status, 48% of the respondents were full-time employees, followed by
students, which constituted 38% of the sample. As most of the students were working
 Information Adoption in Online Customer Communities 49

Table 2. Demographic profile of respondents

Demographic variables Frequency

Gender
Female 50
Male 50
Age
19–25 75
26–32 20
33–39 3
40 or above 2
Education level
Primary 2
Secondary 13
High school 6
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Sub-degree 29
Bachelor's degree 45
Master or above 5
2000 or below 25
Monthly income
1001–5000 20
5001–8000 15
8001–11,000 21
11,001–14,000 5
14,001–17,000 5
17,001–20,000 5
20,001 or above 4
Employment status
Full-time 48
Part-time 11
Self-employ 3
Student 38

part-time, their personal incomes were below $2,000. For full-time employees, a
majority of respondents fell within the monthly salary range $8,001–$11,000.

5.2. The Measurement Model

The PLS measurement model for the reflective constructs was evaluated by
examining the convergent and discriminant validity of the individual indicator and
the composite reliability of a block of indicators. Convergent validity was assessed by
examining the correlation (loading) between the indicators, and the construct scores
were computed using PLS techniques. The measurement scales were evaluated using
the three criteria suggested by Fornell and Larcker (1981), and Chin (1998b): (1) All
indicator factor loadings should be significant and exceed 0.5; (2) Composite
reliability should exceed 0.7; (3) Average variance extracted (AVE) from each
construct should exceed 0.5.
Convergent validity shows the degree to which the items of a certain instrument
are related. Convergent validity can be assessed by the composite reliability, AVE
and factor loading measurements. Table 3 shows the values for the loadings of the
measurement model. All the reflective measures met the recommended levels for
 50 R. Cheung

Table 3. The measurement model

Average
variance Composite
Factor extracted reliability Cronbach’s
Constructs Indicators loadings t-value (AVE) (CR) alpha (α)
Trustworthiness TRUST1 0.78 16.71 0.68 0.87 0.77
(TRUST)
TRUST2 0.85 15.54
TRUST3 0.85 37.55
Purchase INT1 0.91 68.03 0.72 0.88 0.80
intention (INT)
INT2 0.80 14.38
INT3 0.83 23.65
Quality (QUAL) QUAL1 0.87 34.67 0.57 0.84 0.74
QUAL2 0.84 26.26
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QUAL3 0.76 13.00

QUAL4 0.50 3.67
Relevance (REL) REL1 0.89 35.39 0.68 0.87 0.77
REL2 0.85 15.93
REL3 0.74 9.75
Timeliness and TCOMP1 0.78 24.03 0.59 0.88 0.83
comprehensiveness
(TCOMP)
TCOMP2 0.82 27.84
TCOMP3 0.60 5.17
TCOMP4 0.84 25.44
TCOMP5 0.78 26.39
Information USE1 0.87 37.24 0.80 0.92 0.88
usefulness (USE)
USE2 0.90 46.57
USE3 0.91 57.01

composite reliability and AVE. The Cronbach’s alpha scores ranged from 0.74 to
0.88, indicating that all constructs have Cronbach’s alpha scores greater than the
recommended minimum level of 0.7 (Hair et al., 2010), and that they exhibit strong
internal reliability. The composite reliabilities of the constructs ranged from 0.84 to
0.92, again with all values above the recommended level of 0.7. The AVE values,
ranging from 0.57 to 0.80, were greater than the variance due to measurement error.
A confirmatory factor analysis was also conducted to test the convergent validity of
each construct. The analysis showed that all the items have factor loadings higher
than 0.5 in the confirmatory factor analysis (above the recommended minimum
value). Furthermore, each indicator’s loading was found to be higher than all its
cross-loadings. Therefore, all the conditions for convergent validity were met.
A rule for assessing the discriminant validity requires that the square root of the
AVE to be larger than the correlations between the construct and any other construct
in the model (Chin, 1998b). In Table 4, the diagonal entries (in bold) represent the
square root of the AVE for each construct. All other entries represent the
corresponding correlation coefficients among the constructs. As shown in Table 4,
all constructs met the minimum requirements. Therefore, all constructs in the model
displayed adequate discriminant validity.
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Table 4. Correlation matrix and discriminant validity

Information Adoption in Online Customer Communities 51

Information Purchase Timeliness-
Construct Trustworthiness usefulness Quality intention Relevance comprehensiveness
Trustworthiness (TRUST) 0.83
Information usefulness (USE) 0.58 0.89
Quality (QUAL) 0.55 0.73 0.76
Purchase intention (INT) 0.47 0.68 0.67 0.85
Relevance (REL) 0.44 0.54 0.55 0.48 0.83
Timeliness-comprehensiveness 0.55 0.76 0.65 0.59 0.49 0.77
(TCOMP)

Note: Bold values represent the square root of the AVE for each construct.
 52 R. Cheung

Trustworthiness

0.13*

Timeliness and
0.44***
comprehensiveness
0.68***
Information Purchase
0.32*** usefulness intention
Quality

0.10

Relevance
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Figure 2. The structural model and the path coefficients. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001.

5.3. The Structural Model

The structural model (Figure 2) was evaluated by examining the structural paths,
t-statistics and variance explained (the R2 value). Path significances were determined
by running the model through a bootstrap re-sampling routine with 100 cases and
500 bootstrap re-samples. The path coefficients for the structural model are presented
in Figure 2.
The five hypotheses presented in this study were tested using the PLS approach.
The path significance of each hypothesized association in the research model and the
variance explained (R2) by each path were examined. In this study, a two-tailed t-test
was used because the independent variables may either show a positive effect or a
negative effect on the dependent variables (Helm et al., 2010). According to the two-
tailed t-test (df = 99), the 0.05 significance level, or p < 0.05, requires a t-value >
1.96, and the 0.01 significance level, or p < 0.01, requires a t-value > 2.63. The 0.001
significance level, or p < 0.001, requires the corresponding t-value > 3.40.
Table 5 shows the path coefficients with all the significant paths highlighted with
asterisks. Not all the structural paths were found to be statistically significant in the
research model. According to the statistics, H1, H2, H3 and H5 were supported.
The purchase intention construct was predicted by information usefulness, which

Table 5. The path coefficients

Hyp/
Path β T Sig. R2 Sig.
Information usefulness – >purchase intention 0.68 14.21 *** 0.46 H5/Yes
Trustworthiness – > information usefulness 0.13 2.13 * 0.69 H1/Yes
Quality – >information usefulness 0.32 4.00 *** H3/Yes
Relevance – >information usefulness 0.10 1.29 H4/No
Timeliness-comprehensiveness – >information 0.44 5.57 *** H2/Yes
usefulness

*p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001.

 Information Adoption in Online Customer Communities 53

explained 46% (R2 = 0.46) of the variance in the intention construct, indicating a
high overall R2 value. Usefulness of information was predicted by trustworthiness,
timeliness and comprehensiveness, and quality of information, together, these
variables explained 69% (R2 = 0.69) of the variance in information usefulness. The
relevance of information does not bring any significant impact on the usefulness of
information and H4 was rejected.
The exogenous variables in the research model explained large amounts of
variance of information usefulness (R2= 0.69). The R2 value can be divided based
on the path coefficients and correlations between the dependent and explanatory
variables (Tenenhaus et al., 2005). According to Tenenhaus et al. (2005), the value of
R2 for information usefulness may be decomposed in terms of the multiple regression
coefficients and correlations between the dependent variable and the explanatory
ones as follows:
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X
R2 ¼ bjcorðy; xj Þ ¼ 0:13  0:58 þ 0:32  0:73 þ 0:10  0:54 þ 0:44  0:76 ¼ 0:69

Table 6 illustrates the contribution of R2 value by each explanatory variable in

predicting the dependent variable corresponding to information usefulness. For this
model, timeliness and comprehensiveness contributed the most in the prediction of
information usefulness, contributing 48.0% of R2. In addition, trustworthiness and
quality contributed 10.8 and 33.5% of R2, respectively. On the other hand, the
relevance of information contributed only 7.7% of R2 – far lower than those of other
exogenous variables.

6. Discussion
This study has identified the key dimensions of information adoption for eWOM
communities. Based on the information adoption model, a research model was
constructed for this study. In this study, there are several factors that are identified to
have a significant positive influence on the usefulness of information in online
customer communities. These include information trustworthiness, quality, timeliness
and comprehensiveness of information. Among these factors, the timeliness and
comprehensiveness of information was found to contribute to the largest amount of
variance in information usefulness. This is in line with previous research results from
Cheung et al. (2008), which posited that information is considered to be useful if
comprehensive and complete information was provided through the online message
contents. Trustworthiness was found to have a positive significance influence on
information usefulness. This is in line with the previous research results from Bickart
and Schindler (2001), which indicated that the trust on the information source has a

Table 6. The explanation of information usefulness

Path β r Contribution to R2 (%) R2

Trustworthiness 0.13 0.58 10.8 0.69
Quality 0.32 0.73 33.5
Relevance 0.10 0.54 7.7
Timeliness-comprehensiveness 0.44 0.76 48.0
 54 R. Cheung

significant impact on information adoption, and information is more likely to be

adopted if the opinions and reviews are contributed from the familiar fellow
consumers in the online community. The quality of information was also found to
have a significant impact on information usefulness. This is also in line with research
on the argument quality of information, which posits that the persuasive strength of
the arguments embedded in informational messages represents the value that is
perceived by the user (Bhattacherjee & Sanford, 2006). The relevance of information
was found not to impact information usefulness. The result is inconsistent with the
research from Cheung et al. (2008), which posited that the relevance online messages
was a predictor of information usefulness for the consumers who were seeking to
enhance their knowledge on dining experiences. Since the research from Cheung et al.
(2008) was based on a smaller group of consumers with a more focused interest
relating to dining experiences, their targets of study were more sensitive to reviews
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that contributed to the relevance of the message to the topic of interest.

The research model developed in this study also considers the impact of informa-
tion usefulness on consumer purchase intention. The technology acceptance model
(Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989) is one of the most widely used research models in the
information systems area. Surprisingly, only a limited number of studies have applied
the technology acceptance model to online customer communities. The technology
acceptance model considers usefulness as one of the determinants of the behavioural
intention to adopt a particular technology. Cheung et al. (2008) investigated the
impact of information usefulness on the adoption behaviour of online customer
communities and a positive relationship was found to exist between information
usefulness and information adoption in online environments. In this study, the
usefulness of online information was found to have a significant positive effect on
consumers’ intention to acquire the product associated with the online information
seeking behaviour. Therefore, the research model has significant implications for
marketers who would like to make use of the new media for promotional activities.
In terms of research implications, this study has extended the information
adoption model (Sussman & Siegal, 2003) to explain the influence of the various
dimensions of information adoption on consumer’s perception of information
usefulness, which in turn influences purchase intentions. It shows that the theories
of information adoption can be extended to the technology acceptance of online
communities, in order to explain the online information seeking behaviours among
consumers. A large number of researches have focused on the effect of Internet-based
promotions on sales. This study has shown that research on Internet-based marketing
should also be extended to the online information seeking behaviours among con-
sumers. The research model developed in this study shows a very high explanatory
power for the determinants of information usefulness (R2 = 0.69). Therefore, this
study has important implications for developing theories for information adoption in
an online environment.

7. Conclusions
In this research, a quantitative study was conducted using a sample of 100
respondents. A path analysis was conducted using PLS techniques to investigate
the impact of eWOM on the information adoption behaviours in online customer
 Information Adoption in Online Customer Communities 55

communities. The research results concluded that trustworthiness, timeliness and

comprehensiveness, and quality of information have a positive influence on
information usefulness. Furthermore, consumer purchase intention is predicted by
the usefulness of information in online customer communities. Because of the fact
that information usefulness has a significant positive effect on purchase intention, it
is necessary for companies to emphasize on aspects that influence information useful-
ness and adoption in online customer communities. Future direction of research
could extend the research framework to include research areas relating to customer
equity and social aspects in online customer communities.

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 Information Adoption in Online Customer Communities 57

Appendix A. A section of the questionnaire relating to the research framework

Relevance
The messages in the online customer communities are relevant.
The messages in the online customer communities are appropriate.
The messages in the online customer communities are applicable.
Trustworthiness
The messages in the online customer communities come from a creditable source.
I have confidence on the believability of the message source.
The messages in the online customer communities come from a trustworthy source.
Timeliness and comprehensiveness
The messages in the online customer communities are current.
The messages in the online customer communities are timely.
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The messages in the online customer communities are up to date.

The messages in the online customer communities provide complete information.
The messages in the online customer communities include all necessary information that
I need.
Quality
The contents of the messages in the online communities are of high quality.
The messages in the online communities provide accurate information.
I have confidence on the quality of the online messages.
I am confident on the contents of the online messages.
Information usefulness
The messages in the online communities for customers are of benefit to me.
The messages in the online communities for customers are useful.
The messages in the online communities for customers are advantageous for supporting my
purchase decisions.
Purchase intention
After reading the online messages, I intend to make a purchase with the product of interest.
I have browsed through the online customer communities and I shall make a purchase with
the product of interest.
After reading the online messages, I plan to make a purchase with the product of interest.