The effect of electronic word of mouth motives on consumer buying and communication behavior

Consumers communicate with each other on the internet product review forums, discussion groups, and blogs regardless of personal relationships, location and socio-economic status. The increase in the number of virtual platforms and consumers seeking information from these platforms before buying decision, makes it necessary to investigate what will be the effects of eWOM on consumer buying and communication behavior. This study introduces a conceptual model of the effect of eWOM motives on consumer buying and communication behavior and reports key findings from a field study employed with 1200 Turkish consumers. Results provide an understanding of which factors motivate consumers to read online articulations from virtual platforms and how the information obtained from these platforms affects the buying and communication behavior.