ABSTRACT
We treated electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) behavior as a multidimensional construct and investigated the salient predictors for each individual eWOM behavior in this study, with an emphasis on hotel attribute performance. The results show that hotel attribute performance, previous eWOM experience, and platform convenience are the drivers of eWOM behaviors in general. Demographics and lodging preference do not affect eWOM behaviors. Economic incentives also have no effect on eWOM behaviors, which suggests that good reviews cannot be bought. The performance of core attributes can improve eWOM activities and eWOM praise, but the performance of facilitating attributes helps only with eWOM praise.
5. Conclusion
This study was based on the premise that eWOM activities (i.e., intention, frequency, and thoroughness) and eWOM praise are affected differently by hotel attribute performance. The present study produced four findings to add to the eWOM literature. First, eWOM behavior is a multidimensional construct. Although some of the behaviors may be correlated, individual behaviors have their own unique predictors. Second, demographics and lodging preference do not predict eWOM behaviors. Contrary to common belief, monetary and non-monetary incentives have no effects on eWOM. The drivers of eWOM behaviors are hotel attribute performance, previous eWOM experience, and platform convenience. Third, the performance of core attributes is positively and directly related to intention, frequency, and praise, but the performance of facilitating attributes is directly related to praise only. Fourth, the performance of facilitating attributes can positively affect intention, frequency, and thoroughness only when the performance of core attributes is positive. We also found that the positive performance of facilitating attributes decreases the intention to post eWOM when the performance of core attributes is negative. A possible explanation could be that the intended posting is negative, and a positive performance of facilitating attributes could partially recover the damage done by a negative performance of core attributes.
Experts have advocated that increasing the volume of online reviews can help mitigate negative comments (Teixeira and Kornfeld, 2013), improve consumer perception (Viglia et al., 2014), and eventually, improve operational performance (Kim et al., 2015). The present findings provide managerial implications for improving online review volume and eWOM praise. For example, to increase intention and frequency, managers should improve the performance of core attributes before that of facilitating attributes because facilitating attributes work only under the positive performance of core attributes. When resources are limited, managers should prioritize technology investments that make it easy for guests to post comments and for managers to respond to comments instead of economic incentives that encourage guests to post comments. All of the analysis results point to the importance of the performance of core attributes. Managers should ensure the performance of core attributes before they divert resources to facilitating attributes, platform technology, and economic incentives to customers. Another implication is that the performance of core attributes and the performance of facilitating attributes affect praise directly. This means that consumers’ perception of the performance could be affected by their overall hotel stay experience. In managerial practice, this means that to produce positive eWOM, core and facilitating attributes matter. Managers should strive to improve not only the actual performance but also customers’ perception of the performance.
