Factors that affect negative electronic word of mouth marketing communication: A research to determine the views of generation z consumer

Depending on the rapid development in technology, the sources of information, which affect the customers in the purchase process, have been varied. Word of mouth marketing, as the most commonly used source among them, has started to focus on the electronic environments as a result of the rapid spread of the Internet use. In every step of the purchase decision process, individuals give highly value upon the opinions of many people around them such as acquaintances, relatives, friend and peers etc. When it is compared to the other generations, especially the consumers of Generation Z, known as iGen, perceive the electronic environments as a platform on which positive and negative posts are shared. As opposed to the studies on positive word of mouth marketing, the literature related to negative word of mouth marketing is limited. Within this context, the study aims to reveal the factors affecting the intention of negative electronic word of mouth marketing. In accordance with mentioned purpose, 318 Generation Z individuals (born in 1995 and later) were given face to face questionnaire forms and the collected data were analyzed through SPSS 24. In the analysis process, descriptive statistical analysis, validity and reliability analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were used. As a result of the factor analysis, five dimensions, which are found to be affecting the intention of negative electronic word of mouth marketing, have been named in line with the literature as technical skills and social media, family and peer effect, electronic word of mouth marketing experience and electronic mail communication. The study highlights that the technical skills and social media, electronic word of mouth marketing experience and electronic mail communication affect the intention of negative electronic word of mouth marketing while the family and peer effect and have no effects on it.