Influence of Negative eWOM on Switching Intention

Abstract

Despite discussions on strong and growing influence of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on consumer decisions, there is insufficient effort to validate negative eWOM as a key source of causal data towards mobile consumer switching behaviour. Studies have indicated strong negative eWOM leads to high degree of influence on switching behaviour (Zhang et al., 2015). However, these studies are based on consumers’ survey response on how the negative eWOM impacts their decisions with emphasis on the strength and valence of the negative eWOM. Limited studies explore the contents of negative eWOM itself and how the choice of words is reflective of consumer elements or contexts which are meaningful towards understanding the causality between negative eWOM and switching behaviour (Martins et al., 2013; Qahri et al., 2015). The content of the negative eWOM sheds light on consumer elements related to mobile consumer switching behaviour, described as issues and situations. This study identifies and validates the causality of key consumer elements highlighted in the negative eWOM in association with mobile consumer switching phenomenon.