Master Thesis Defense University of Groningen
Franziska Viktoria Luis Schürmann Student number S3017087
What impact does an increasing negative
product experience have on the intention to
engage in negative eWOM and how does the
presence of a negative or a positive overall
valence in an online product review set impact
Table of contents
Introduction & Relevance
Research question & Conceptual model Research method & method of analysis Results & Conclusion
Introduction
Growth of the internet and the way of shopping
Product experience and the expectation disconfirmation theory Electronic word of mouth (eWOM)
Relevance
Insights in origin of negative eWOM Complementation to previous studies
Investigation of different personality traits
Research Question
What impact does increasing negative product experience have on the intention to engage in negative eWOM and how does the presence of a negative or a positive overall valence in an online product review set impact this effect?
How does being a conformist or individualist influence the relationship between increasing negative experience and the intention to engage in negative eWOM?
Research Method
3 x 2 between-subject experimental design with the help of a
survey
Fictive product experience with STAR-TELEVISION and set
of product reviews
196 randomly chosen participants from the Netherlands
and Germany
• Factor analysis and reliability analysis • ANOVA and t-test
Results
Degree of negative product experience is not significant but neutral vs. Negative experience
Individualism significant
Sensitivity to negativity not significant
Overall valence in each model is significant
Conclusion and Discussion
Negative product experiences and negative product ratings influence consumers’ comment writing behavior
No evidence that degree of negative experience impacts the intention to engage in negative eWOM
Consumers adapt opinions of others
Individualists and conformists react differently to normative information
Limitations & Recommendations
Mood, product knowledge and involvement Culture and age
Manipulation Too fictive
Small population
