Influence of Cultural Orientations on Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) in Social Media

ABSTRACT

This study explores how horizontal/vertical individualism and collectivism (HVIC) orientations influence electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) (i.e., opinion leadership and opinion seeking) in social media. Online survey panel data through Amazon MTurk were collected from American social media users to address the research purpose. The results, using the structural equation modeling, show that the paths from horizontal individualism to opinion leadership, vertical individualism to opinion leadership and opinion seeking, horizontal collectivism to opinion leadership, and vertical collectivism to opinion leadership and opinion seeking were significant. This study provides theoretical and managerial implications regarding the influence of HVIC orientations on eWOM in social media.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• within-culture variations
• horizontal individualism and collectivism
• vertical individualism and collectivism
• collectivism and individualism
• electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Youngtae Choi

Youngtae Choi (Ph.D., Texas A&M-College Station) teaches international, social media and fundamentals of marketing at the University of North Florida. His research focuses on social media marketing and culture-based international consumer behaviour.

Junga Kim

Junga Kim (Ph.D., University of Florida) is an assistant professor in the School of Communication at the University of North Florida. Her primary research interests lie in information seeking behaviour, interpersonal communication on the Internet, and effects of interactive advertising.