MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
LAC HONG UNIVERSITY
DINH HUNG
A RESEARCH ON DETERMINANTS INFLUENCING
THE ACCEPTANCE OF ELECTRONIC WORD OF
MOUTH OF CONSUMERS IN HO CHI MINH CITY
Major: Business Administration
Code : 9340101
DISSERTATION SUMMARY
DONG NAI - 2020
This dissertation is completed at LAC HONG UNIVERSITY
1. Science Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. DOAN THANH HA
Reviewer 1: .........................................................................................................
Reviewer 2: .........................................................................................................
Reviewer 3: .........................................................................................................
The dissertation will be defended at Lac Hong University
At ………………………, date …………………………….
The dissertation can be found at the library:
- Library of Lac Hong University
- National library
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CHAPTER 1 – RESEARCH OVERVIEW
1.1 THE REASONS FOR CHOOSING THIS TOPIC
In the process of making buying decision, the source of information that consumers often use is consulting
from relatives or friends (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004). The direct way of communication to consult on goods is called
traditional word-of-mouth (WOM). WOM is seen as a reference channel for goods of value to consumers and they
believe in this source of information rather than information from advertising. WOM information is usually only spread
in a small group and has a narrow scope of influence. In WOM communication, the form of communication is face to
face interaction and the source of information is relatives or friends, so consumers can easily accept WOM information.
Previous studies have shown a relate between purchase intent and WOM information acceptance (Glynn Mangold,
Miller & Brockway, 1999; Allsop, Bassett & Hoskins, 2007).
The statistics around the world show that before buying, consumers view information related to goods on
average at 10.4 different sources; 92% of consumers read reviews of goods before making a purchase; 63% of
consumers buy from websites that have additional user reviews; Consumer goods reviews have 12 times more
confidence than product descriptions provided by the producer (Charlton, 2015). In Southeast Asia, on average, 88% of
consumers place the greatest trust in recommendations from family and friends. In Vietnam, this figure is a bit larger, at
89%, in addition, about 70% believe in eWOM information circulated online (Nielsen, 2015).
Compared to WOM, eWOM is easier to spread and has a much larger influence, due to the above The Internet
allows people to send eWOM information online in various forms and at low cost. However, different from WOM,
eWOM information is generated and spread by anyone and therefore consumers need other grounds for acceptance.
receive eWOM information (Cheung & Thadani, 2010). Previous studies on the issue of Electronic Oral Transmission -
eWOM shows that the Acceptance of eWOM information is the most important factor affecting the intention of
purchasing goods of Consumers (Duhan, D. Johnson, S. Wilcox, 1997; Li & Zhan, 2011; Fan et al. , 2013). Therefore,
the research Factors affecting the acceptance of eWOM information are increasingly urgent need.
In essence, eWOM information is non-commercial advertising information and therefore the communication
eWOM is the process of convincing recipients of eWOM information to believe in and use eWOM to support the
decision-making process purchase of goods (Babić Rosario et al., 2016). In addition, according to research by
Greenwald (1968) shows that there are relationship between the acceptance of informational content and persuasion
through communication. Effectiveness of thecommunicative persuasion can be measured by the acceptability of the
information content.
Due to the easily-generated and contagious nature of eWOM information, consumers may encounter the
information overload effect when referencing too much information eWOM. However, there is little research on the
effects of the information overload to eWOM information acceptance (Luo et al., 2013). A consequence of information
overload is that the consumer may rely on other signals of eWOM information rather than on the content of the eWOM
information in reference - it could be ratings or consumer consensus of a certain commodity review. Information about
ratings or consensus reflects the influence aspect of eWOM (Cheung et al., 2009; Chou, Wang & Tang, 2015).
On the other hand, due to the high persuasion of eWOM information, market makers are inclined to using fake
eWOM information (called fake eWOM) makes consumers mistakenly refer to it aseWOM information is generated by
a particular consumer. The presence of fake eWOM information increases the exposure skepticism and reduce
consumer confidence when consulting eWOM information before making a purchase. So how consumers react to
eWOM information when they suspect it is a fake eWOM information? Will they accept receive fake eWOM
information if the content of this information is sometimes high quality? However, there is little research available on
the effect of eWOM information skepticism on the adoption of eWOM information (Sher & Lee, 2009).
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Studies on eWOM information in Vietnam often focus on examining the effect of eWOM comes to purchase
intent, purchase decision or brand image (Vo & Ky, 2015; Le, 2017; Anh, 2018; Nam & Giao, 2019; Khoa, 2019).
Studies on eWOM's information acceptance only consider the effects of the acceptance of eWOM information to
purchase intent (Chi & Nghiem, 2018; Tuan, 2020), to brand trust (Thao & Tam, 2017).
According to the author's understanding, in Vietnam, there is no research on the factors affecting information
acceptance eWOM takes into consideration the effects of information overload, the influence of society and the
skeptical of accepting eWOM information. With the aim of evaluating the current research on the problem acceptance
eWOM information to fill gaps in research, contribute to new knowledge, the author chooses the topic “A Research on
Determinants Influencing the Acceptance of Electronic Word of Mouth of Consumers in Ho Chi Minh City” is a
research topic for our thesis.
1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW
The review of the empirical studies of the thesis will review the studies applying the Information Adoption
Model - IAM. Research on IAM often appears in the documents one of the following three kind of forms:
- Using the original Information Adoption Model – IAM.
- Editing the IAM model (for example adding Moderator variables, changing the causal variables within
original IAM model).
- Building integrated models (combined with other theories or models).
Also, there has been only a handful of studies on skepticism about eWOM, for example researchs of Sher &
Lee, (2009); Wang & Chien (2012).
1.2.1 Studies applied the original IAM Model
1.2.2 Studies modified the IAM Model
1.2.3 Studies integrated the IAM Model with other theories or models.
1.2.4 Studies on skepticism.
1.2.5 General comments on related studies.
1.2.6 Identifying research opportunities on the issue of accepting eWOM information
As Internet-based interactive systems developed, so did the problem of online communication. However,
previous studies on information acceptance have not underestimated the impact of social networks to the consumer's
acceptance of information and thus does not fully reflect the influencing factors.
In addition, according to the author's understanding so far, there are not many studies on the behavior of users
when information overloaded – the situation of users accessing too much eWOM information so they can be affected
by information overload - the incoming information volume is much larger than the user can process/receive. In that
situation, the user has difficulty in processing information to make a purchase decision because there are too many
selectively, this could lead to them ignoring useful information and only processing/reading low-quality information
and reducing the usefulness of the eWOM information, as a result consumers are more likely to make buying decisions
not as optimal as expected.
In addition to the positive element of generating eWOM information for users, abuse this information can have
negative effects. Specifically, companies may themselves generate fake eWOM credentials for promotion encourage
users to buy goods and when discovered, the goods can be boycotted or not as reliable as before. However, there are
not many studies investigating the factors related to the existence of fake eWOM information. Therefore, the
dissertation will focus on understanding these factors to add to knowledge about the cause accept eWOM information.
Thereby, understand to the understanding of the consumer buying behavior to support businesses effectively implement
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online marketing. Therefore, the content in the next section is about these aspects are underestimated and suggest a
model that might reflect better.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Through the results of the literature review, the author found that previous studies on eWOM in Vietnam have
not has research and evaluation of factors related to the existence of fake eWOM information (Fake eWOM); the fake
eWOM can increase consumer skepticism about this kind of useful information and if businesses abuse this kind of
information, consumers will no longer believe in real eWOM information. So, the thesis will focus on researching
factors related to skepticism in order to supplement general understanding why do consumers accept eWOM
information, the proposed research question is as follows:
Question 1 : Determine the relationship between informational factors, normative factors and the factors of
skepticism to the acceptance eWOM information of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City?
After determining the relationship between informational factors, normative factors and factors of skepticism to
the acceptance eWOM information of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City, the next issue is the degree of impact of these
factors to the eWOM information acceptance. The measure of the impact of the factors is equal empirical evidence as a
basis for being able to draw administrative implications related to research issues. Hence, the question recommended
follow-up studies are as follows:
Question 2 : Measuring the impact of the relationship between information factors, social factors and factors of
skepticism about eWOM information acceptance of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City?
Quantitative research results measure the impact of information factors, normative factors and factors of
skepticism about eWOM information acceptance of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City will be used as the basis for
proposing administrative implications for the business. The problem is what administrative implications can be
proposed based on the results research. Therefore, the next research question is suggested as follows:
Question 3 : What are the administrative implications to propose based on the research results?
1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.4.1 General Objective
Study the impact of information factors, normative factors, and factors of skepticism on consumers's
perceptions on different aspects of information, affecting the consumer's acceptance of eWOM information in Ho Chi
Minh City. Proposals for using eWOM information to develop information channels on the multimedia such as social
networks, business websites, consumer consulting sites, ... to do effective online marketing is based on an
understanding of the nature of the eWOM and reasons for accepting this information.
1.4.2 Specific Objective
Objective 1 : Identify the relationship between informational, normative, and skeptical factors to the eWOM
information acceptance of consumer in Ho Chi Minh City
Objective 2 : Measure the impact level of relationships between information factors, normative factors and
skeptical factors of the eWOM information acceptance of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City.
Objective 3 : Propose administrative implications for business managers and government officers on the basis
of research results on the influence of information factors, normative factors and skeptical factors of the eWOM
information acceptance of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City.
1.5 SUBJECT OF THE STUDY, SURVEY SUBJECTS AND SCOPE:
- Subject of study: the acceptance of eWOM information of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City and the influences of
informational factors, normative factors, and the factors of skepticism on the eWOM information acceptance of