Word of mouse! What drives consumer voluntarism to write online reviews?

ABSTRACT

Online reviews have gained attention of both prospective consumers and business entities. Prior researchers have investigated motivators of online review writing; however, explicit role of intrinsic motivations for this voluntary act has yet to gain much attention. This study addresses this gap by examining consumers’ intrinsic motivations influencing their intention to write online reviews. An integrated model incorporating hedonic, pro-social, and ego-defensive motives as predictors along with Theory of Planned Behavior was developed and tested with data collected from 1111 users of e-tailer platforms. Results of PLS-SEM procedure reveal that the consumer’s intention to write online reviews is predicated on hedonic motivation and ego-defensive function as well as two TPB factors, namely, attitude toward review writing and perceived behavioral control. The study’s findings elucidate the complex mechanisms underlying consumers’ intention to write online reviews with implications for theory and practice of e-WOM behavior and business research.

KEYWORDS:

• Technology
• e-tailers
• intrinsic motivation
• TPB
• online reviews
• E-WOM

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gowhar Rasool

Gowhar Rasool is Assistant Professor at School of Business Studies, Central University of Jammu, Jammu, India. He has nine years of teaching and research experience. His research interests are in the field of Consumer Behaviour and Marketing.

Anjali Pathania

Anjali Pathania is a PhD Scholar at School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, India. She has nine years of teaching experience at Central University of Jammu, India. Her research interests are in the field of Behavioural Science and Information Systems.