The effects of electronic word-of-mouth (e-wom) on consumers online purchase behaviors: İnvestigation of cultural diversity

Recently, due to the development of electronic commerce, consumers have begun to prefer to shop on the Internet. In this context, the behavior of consumers on the internet has become an important issue both academically and administratively. At the same time, electronic word-of-mouth communication (EWOM), which is considered as one of the most influential informal media on consumers, has quickly taken its place on the agenda. Therefore, the impact of electronic word of mouth communication on consumer behavior in the online environment needs to be determined. In addition, as consumers in different cultures can create different behaviors, there is also a need to investigate the effects of electronic word-of-mouth communication on online consumer behaviors among different cultures, however there are not much studies on this subject. In this study, the effects of electronic word of mouth communication on online consumer behaviors were determined by forming Turkish and Vietnamese consumer sample. A total of 468 responses were collected from 236 Vietnamese consumers and 232 Turkish consumers through the survey method. As a result of this study, it was found that electronic word of mouth communication has significant effects on online consumer behaviors in both samples. In addition, the two samples were compared with each other then it can be concluded that, culture and electronic word of mouth communication and online buying intention together affect on online buying behavior in general. Based on the results, recommendations were given to the enterprises and a few suggestions were made for future studies.