The impact of negative electronic word-of-mouth on consumers` purchase intention : a motivitional analysis in the Malaysian context

Abstract

The impact of negative eWOM about certain products on consumers is remarkable. Interestingly, consumers seem to be affected by negative eWOM to perform an actual purchase. However, the question whether this negativity has specific motives and how much effect it has over consumers’ purchase intention is what this study is trying to answer. By answering this question, this research would provide marketers with a clear understanding on what motivates consumers to spread negative eWOM as well as add to the body of literature of eWOM. This study tests empirically a model that incorporates both motives of negative eWOM and its impact on purchase intention. A questionnaire data was collected from 254 Malaysian consumers and structural equation modelling was used to test the research hypotheses. The results confirm that negative eWOM motives are mainly advice seeking, dissonance reduction and altruism while venting negative feelings proved to be ineffective motive. In addition, negative eWOM was found to have a significant impact on purchase intention. As a conclusion for this study, implications and further research were discussed.