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Analyzing electronic word of mouth: A social commerce construct

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  • Ahmad, Shimi Naurin
  • Laroche, Michel

Abstract

Due to the proliferation of Web 2.0 technology, e-commerce has evolved into social commerce. In this social commerce era, consumers are increasingly dependent on each other and look for social support (informational and emotional) online even before making purchases. This study examines the content of consumer reviews, a fundamental construct of social commerce. Topics expressed in consumer reviews (collected from Amazon.com) are explored using a machine learning technique (i.e. latent semantic analysis). This study documents the thematic differences between positive and negative reviews and finds that negative reviews report service-related failures while positive reviews relate more to the product, among other things. Next, the informational support aspect of social commerce is explored by identifying the topics expressed in reviews that are helpful in purchase decisions. The findings demonstrate that potential customers (i.e. those who would like to purchase a product in the near future and currently are reading reviews with the intention to decide whether or not to buy that product) find the negative reviews containing service failure information and the positive reviews containing information on core functionalities, technical aspects, and aesthetics to be more helpful. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

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  • Ahmad, Shimi Naurin & Laroche, Michel, 2017. "Analyzing electronic word of mouth: A social commerce construct," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 202-213.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ininma:v:37:y:2017:i:3:p:202-213
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.08.004
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    3. Jian Wang & Fakhar Shahzad & Zeeshan Ahmad & Muhammad Abdullah & Nadir Munir Hassan, 2022. "Trust and Consumers’ Purchase Intention in a Social Commerce Platform: A Meta-Analytic Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    4. Jin Li & Yulan Zhang & Jianping Li & Jiangze Du, 2023. "The Role of Sentiment Tendency in Affecting Review Helpfulness for Durable Products: Nonlinearity and Complementarity," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1459-1477, August.
    5. Fink, Lior & Rosenfeld, Liron & Ravid, Gilad, 2018. "Longer online reviews are not necessarily better," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 30-37.
    6. Wang, Yichuan & Herrando, Carolina, 2019. "Does privacy assurance on social commerce sites matter to millennials?," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 164-177.
    7. Jimenez-Marquez, Jose Luis & Gonzalez-Carrasco, Israel & Lopez-Cuadrado, Jose Luis & Ruiz-Mezcua, Belen, 2019. "Towards a big data framework for analyzing social media content," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Muriel Araujo Soares & Décio Bittencourt Dolci & Guilherme Lerch Lunardi, 2022. "Interaction Effects between Online Reviews and Product Characteristics on Consumer’s Trust," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 26(sup2022), pages 210114-2101.

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