The impact of ewom communication factors on consumer intention to purchase a smartphone /

THE IMPACT OF EWOM COMMUNICATION FACTORS ON CONSUMER INTENTION TO PURCHASE A SMARTPHONE AUŠRINĖ BIELSKYTĖ Bachelor Thesis Global Marketing, Business Management Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Vilnius University Supervisor – Algis Gaižutis, Doc., Dr. Vilnius, 2024 76 pages, 1 figure, 12 tables, 13 annexes, 145 references. In this Digital Age era, where information is being shared online very easily and quickly, eWOM becomes an important source when looking for opinions before making a purchase decision. Because of big eWOM impact on consumer behavior and purchase decisions (Chu & Shu-Chuan, 2021), marketers, researchers and businessmen have been very interested in this topic as it might help businesses to scale up businesses. The aim of bachelor thesis is to analyze the impact of most important eWOM communication factors on consumer intention to buy a smartphone. YouTube was chosen to be platform for eWOM in this research. Paper consists of analysis of scientific literature of previous researchers, empirical research, and statistical data analysis. Survey method was used to collect data from respondents for empirical research and it included young people aged 18-33 living in Lithuania, Vilnius. Consistent with prior research, it was found that eWOM communication factors source credibility, argument quality and eWOM volume have significant positive impact on overall eWOM credibility and this one has significant positive impact on eWOM adoption and subsequently – on purchase intention. However, contrary to belief, source style does not have substantial impact for overall eWOM credibility. Also, it was found that eWOM partially mediates relationship between perceived eWOM credibility (independent) and purchase intention (dependent).

Grantor dc:publisher

Institutional Repository of Vilnius University

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Bielskytė, Aušrinė,

• eWOM, YouTube, communication factors, consumer behavior, purchase intention, smartphone, high-involvement product, empirical research, theoretical analysis, Information Adoption Model

Statement dc:rights

• info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Language dc:language

eng

Repository record dc:identifier

https://repository.vu.lt/VU:ELABAETD210640933&prefLang=en_US

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vu.lt:elaba:210640933