Australasian Marketing Journal 21 (2013) 6674

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Australasian Marketing Journal

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/amj

The relationship between electronic word-of-mouth motivations

and message characteristics: The senders perspective
Kenneth B. Yap , Budi Soetarto, Jillian C. Sweeney
UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia, Australia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 30 September 2011
Revised 15 August 2012
Accepted 12 September 2012
Available online 9 November 2012
Keywords:
Word-of-mouth
Cognitive
Affective
Motivation
Financial services
Electronic word-of-mouth

a b s t r a c t
This study investigates how particular motivations are associated with different eWOM message characteristics. This is examined from the senders perspective in both positive and negative eWOM contexts.
Responses from a sample of 201 consumers who had posted an online message about a nancial service
in the last 12 months were collected through an online survey. Results showed that cognitive and affective characteristics of messages were linked to different motivations to engage in eWOM, which further
differed across positive and negative messages. Managers should encourage consumers to share more
positive factual information and sort online reviews based on the subject matter, rather than just the positivity of a message.
2012 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
It is well-documented that word-of-mouth (WOM) can inuence consumers decisions (e.g. Day, 1971; Harrison-Walker,
2001; East et al., 2008). The persuasiveness of a WOM message
may depend on, among other things, the way a sender words a
message through logical and emotional appeals or characteristics
(Mazzarol et al., 2007; Sweeney et al., 2012). However, what
remains unknown is what drives the sender to design their message with such characteristics. The present study attempted to
address this research gap in an online environment.
The task of identifying and assessing WOM content has in the
past been challenging as WOM has often been privately communicated, such that managers are neither privy to what is being said,
nor how it is being said. As WOM communication is becoming
increasingly transparent in online discussion forums, social networking sites, consumer review sites and blogs (Riegner, 2007), it
is now possible to identify and examine individual electronic
word-of-mouth (eWOM) messages and gain richer insight into
how customers feelings and experiences about a service are represented to others. The present study made use of this new source of
WOM.

Corresponding author. Address: UWA Business School (M263), The University

of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. Tel.: +61
864885876; fax: +61 964881004.
E-mail addresses: kyap@biz.uwa.edu.au (K.B. Yap), bsoetarto@gmail.com
(B. Soetarto), jsweeney@biz.uwa.edu.au (J.C. Sweeney).

Much of the research on WOM examines the receivers perspective and little has addressed the generation of WOM (HarrisonWalker, 2001). To advance our knowledge in this area, a suitable
point of departure is the investigation of WOM from the senders
perspective, in particular their motivation to initiate WOM communication and the characteristics of the WOM message. Specically, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship
between motivations and message characteristics across both positive and negative eWOM.
2. Literature review
2.1. The power of word-of-mouth (WOM)
Westbrook (1987, p. 261) dened WOM as informal communication directed toward other consumers about the ownership,
usage, or characteristics of particular goods and services and/or
their sellers. Researchers have found WOM is more effective than
advertising and promotional activities in inuencing consumer
decision making, including changing attitudes (e.g. Katz and
Lazarsfeld, 1955; Day, 1971) or increased patronage (e.g. Arndt,
1967; Holmes and Lett, 1977). However, little is known about
the characteristics that make a persuasive WOM message as
researchers have, almost without exception, measured WOM in
terms of its frequency and the number of people who receive it
(e.g. Westbrook, 1987; Bowman and Naryandas, 2001). Such an
aggregated approach to measuring WOM, in that individual messages are often not examined for its content and wording, has been

1441-3582/$ - see front matter 2012 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2012.09.001

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helpful in studying overall WOM activity, but limits our understanding of the richness and subtleties in individual WOM messages (Mazzarol et al., 2007). Consequently, a more
disaggregated measure of WOM in which the individual WOM
message is the unit of analysis, was used in the present study.
2.2. The cognitive and affective characteristics of WOM messages
Anderson (1998) recognised the importance of examining WOM
content and suggested positive WOM can vary in its vividness,
pleasantness and novelty, as well as the extent to which it conveys
a senders experiences. A number of authors have emphasised the
importance of the message characteristics on the message persuasiveness, including both rational and emotional aspects (Allsop
et al., 2007; Mason and Davis, 2007). Semin (2000, p.597) stated:
. . . talk does not simply involve producing words. It requires
choosing words from a lexicon to create sentences that are also linguistically structured. . . with the purpose of communicating an
intention to someone else. It is a production with a social end. A
number of authors support Mason and Davis (2007, p.505) assertion regarding communication . . . it is more than words; it really
is how you say it. For example, the importance of words, content,
body language, and expressiveness has been emphasised in WOM
messages (Dichter, 1966; East et al., 2008). In this study we specifically explore the cognitive and affective characteristics of eWOM
since these are core communication dimensions (e.g. Allsop et al.,
2007; Mason and Davis, 2007; Sweeney et al., 2012). In this study,
we dene cognitive characteristics as the rational component of a
message that typically refers to product attributes including performance, response to problems, and price-value perceptions
(Sweeney et al., 2012). Affective characteristics refer to the messages depth, intensity and vividness and reect the language used
and the degree of storytelling or depth of information involved in
the message (Mazzarol et al., 2007; Sweeney et al., 2012). eWOM
messages can be described in terms of cognitive and/or affective
characteristics. Examples of this in the nancial services context
are shown in Table 1.
The link between cognitive and affective WOM message characteristics and subsequent attitudes and behaviour of the receiver
has been demonstrated in several studies (e.g. Karmarkar and
Tormala, 2010; Sweeney et al., 2012). For example, receivers have
higher service and value expectations following the receipt of a
message high in cognitive content in particular, as well as affective
content (Sweeney et al., 2012). Recipients of eWOM are also more
likely to be persuaded in the case of higher informational quality
and message clarity (Karmarkar and Tormala, 2010). Such research
provides the impetus to investigate what generates cognitive and

affective characteristics, which is a research gap the present study

aims to address.
2.3. Motivation to engage in electronic WOM (eWOM)
Past studies have suggested a range of motives for engaging in
WOM (e.g., Dichter, 1966; Sundaram et al., 1998). Hennig-Thurau
et al. (2004) adapted Dichter (1966) and Sundaram et al.s (1998)
motivations to an online context, proposed (and empiricallytested) several reasons why a consumer might engage in eWOM
communication, six of which are of interest in the present study,
namely:
1. Positive self-enhancement reects a consumers need to share
their consumption experience to augment their own image as
intelligent shoppers.
2. Social benets occur when a consumer transmits a WOM message for identication and social integration purposes.
3. Advice seeking concerns the need to acquire tips and support
from others to better understand and use a product or service.
4. Concern for other consumers relates to genuine offers to help
other consumers make better purchase decisions.
5. Helping the company relates to a consumers desire to help a
company as a result of a particularly pleasing consumption
experience.
6. Venting negative feelings relates to a dissatisfying consumption
experience that results in the consumer wanting to release frustration and anxiety through negative WOM.
2.4. Link between motivations and message characteristics
Research on WOM communication (Wetzer et al., 2007), written communication (Karmarkar and Tormala, 2010; Schellekens
et al., 2010) and messages posted online (Schau and Gilly, 2003;
Kozinets et al., 2010) suggests that communication motives may
be linked to the wording of a message. Wetzer et al. (2007) argued
that the specic goal that a consumer strives for in communication
may be reected in the content of the message. For example a consumer will talk differently if they want to take revenge from when
they seek social connections, and indeed this difference is largely
due to varied underlying emotions (e.g. anger and disappointment). This is neither to say that consumers are aware that their
communication goals are facilitated by the way they use the language, nor that they are manipulative in the way they talk. However, we do argue that consumers use language as a means to
structure and represent reality in a particular way, in order to
inuence the belief processes of the recipient (Semin, 2000). Often

Table 1
Examples of cognitive and affective characteristics of eWOM messages.
Valence

Cognitive

Affective

Cognitive and affective

Positive

Not only was the promotional interest rate

attractive, having assessed other nancial
products, the comparative rate for this product
was extremely competitive.

Believe me, I cannot recommend this bank

enough. I had soooo many pathetic experiences
with other banks; it makes this bank really stand
out. This is what ALL banks should be like.

You are not wrong about this investment

company. I think the fund managers there are
geniuses and make others look pretty bad. There is
a wide selection of investment options for
different risk proles or investment objectives. I
recommend this company without any hesitation

Negative

Do not deal with this bank. . .it has too many

fees. It has fees for application, maintenance,
and discharging the loan. Every direct debit
transaction incurred a fee

I feel ripped off! The bastards raised their interest

rates faster that you can say BAM!! I hate most
banks, but this one is the worst of the lot! If it were
not for helping my friends business, I would not
give them a single cent!

Let me tell you: this company is always one of the

rst ones to raise their interest rates and has had
at least four interest rate rises above the one by
the Reserve Bank. It is so disappointing dealing
with them because the advertising portrays them
as community-friendly. I denitely would
encourage you to do your research. . .this bank
may not be as friendly as you think.

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individuals colour their messages through their own opinions and

subconscious motivations whether in the context of face-to-face or
online communication (e.g. Douglas and Sutton, 2003; Mason and
Davis, 2007). While researchers have investigated how motivational goals affect language abstraction (e.g. Douglas and Sutton,
2003) and how different motivations impact communication
behaviours (e.g. Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004), no research to our
knowledge has investigated how an individual with a particular
motive might word an eWOM message in terms of cognitive and
affective characteristics.
Thus, the research purpose is to examine the relationship between motivations to engage in eWOM communication and the
cognitive and affective characteristics of such a message.

3. Conceptual development
The proposed conceptual model suggests a senders motivation
to engage in eWOM communication inuences the degree of cognitive and affective characteristics of the message (Fig. 1, Part 2).
We use six of Hennig-Thurau et al.s (2004) eWOM motivations
to examine the link between motivations and cognitive and affective message characteristics.

3.1. Positive self-enhancement

A desired outcome commonly associated with positive selfenhancement is to present oneself as an intelligent or discerning
shopper (Sundaram et al., 1998; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004). It is
reasonable to suggest someone with this motive would craft a
message containing information that may signal connoisseurship
(Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004) and intimate a rst-hand account
from an expert point-of-view (Schindler and Bickart, 2005). We
also anticipated that such a message would be worded in emphatic
and persuasive language. Past studies found people who wish to
improve their credibility as experts tend to use words that express
certainty and condence in judgement (very, sure, denitely,
and condently) (e.g. McEwen and Greenberg, 1970; Karmarkar
and Tormala, 2010). A well-articulated or vividly-worded message

may also be in keeping with an impression of sophistication,

suggesting:
The greater the positive self-enhancement motivation, the
greater the: (H1a) cognitive and (H1b) affective characteristics
of the eWOM message.

3.2. Social benets

Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004) associated this motivation with a
persons need for identication and social integration in a community. This motive can manifest in different ways. For example, a
consumer may initiate eWOM communication to signify his/her
presence in the community. Alternatively, a consumer may post
a message to appease gatekeepers who decide who gets accepted
or ignored in the community (McWilliam, 2000). Since concerns
about presentation are similar to those of positive selfenhancement, we anticipated that the more an eWOM message
was used to gain social acceptance, the greater would be its cognitive and affective characteristics. Beuchot and Bullen (2005) found
that someone aiming to make interpersonal connections is likely to
disclose details in their online communication, while Luminet et al.
(2004) found people share an emotional negative experience by
explaining the circumstances of the negative event and describing
their own reactions to the event, suggesting:
The greater the social benets motivation, the greater the:
(H2a) cognitive and (H2b) affective characteristics of the
eWOM message.

3.3. Advice seeking

Consumers motivated by advice seeking seek to maximise personal utility by prompting advice or information from others to
better understand and use a product or service (Sundaram et al.,
1998; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004). We expected someone who initiates eWOM communication to seek advice is likely to offer significant detail in their message. A person with this motive initiates
eWOM communication either by giving their current views on
the service or explaining their predicament, both of which imply
the message is likely to contain product-specic information to
contextualise their request for help. In addition, it is likely the advice-seeking message will contain emotive language as a means of
relating to others and gaining empathy before asking for help
(Luminet et al., 2004; Wetzer et al., 2007). Wetzer et al. (2007) suggested expressions of regret, disappointment, and uncertainty may
be evident in negative WOM communication that is designed to solicit advice, suggesting:
The greater the advice seeking motivation, the greater the:
(H3a) cognitive and (H3b) affective characteristics of the
eWOM message.
Hypotheses 13 were tested on positively-valenced and negatively-valenced eWOM messages separately.
3.4. Concern for other consumers

Fig. 1. Conceptual framework.

The motivation Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004) labelled concern

for other consumers implies an element of altruism, which is a voluntary act beneting others without expecting something in return
(Piliavin and Charng, 1990; Sundaram et al., 1998). Studies have
suggested altruists recognise the best way to be helpful in WOM
communication is to be informative and functional (Sen and
Lerman, 2007; Bronner and de Hoog, 2011). This suggests a

K.B. Yap et al. / Australasian Marketing Journal 21 (2013) 6674

message resulting from a concern for other consumers will have

greater cognitive characteristics. We also suggest the more a
person is concerned for others, the greater will be the affective
characteristics of the eWOM message. Jeffries (1998) found altruistic behaviour tends to be more intense when the altruist perceives
him/herself to be a defender of justice and may articulate a
passionately-worded message to represent the cause. It may also
be that the tone and language used has to be sufciently moving
so the altruists deeds are not in vain.
However, prior to stipulating our hypotheses with respect to
concern for others, some revision of this motivation is needed.
Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004) conceptualised concern for others in
terms of both helping and warning other consumers. Consumers
with a favourable service experience display concern by helping
others make the right decision. Conversely, consumers with an
unfavourable service experience are concerned about warning
other consumers about a service provider. Since Herche and
Engelland (1996) cautioned that a construct is not likely to be
unidimensional if it has both positively- and negatively-worded
items, this motivation was treated as two constructs (helping
other consumers and warning other consumers), suggesting:
For positive eWOM messages, the greater the helping other
consumers motivation, the greater the: (H4a) cognitive and
(H4b) affective characteristics of the eWOM message.1 For negative eWOM messages, the greater the warning other consumers motivation, the greater the: (H4c) cognitive and (H4d)
affective characteristics of the eWOM message.
As WOM is sought for its credibility and independence from
marketer interests, it could be that someone who initiates eWOM
communication with altruistic motives wants to be helpful
through some level of persuasion, without discrediting their intentions by appearing to be emotionally invested in the service provider (i.e. playing it cool). The aim here is to avoid coloring the
message with emotion or vivid language, in an effort to appear particularly objective (Pollach, 2007). Kozinets et al. (2010) observed
that some people who go online to evaluate a product may emphasise product attributes to demonstrate their trustworthiness, suggesting:(H4e) For positive eWOM, the greater the helping other
consumers motivation, the greater the cognitive characteristics
of the message compared to its affective characteristics. (H4f) For
negative eWOM, the greater the warning other consumers motivation, the greater the cognitive characteristics of the message
compared to its affective characteristics of the message.
3.5. Helping the company
The motivation to help a company comes from a positive consumption experience and the individuals goal is to reward the
company by referring it to others. In doing so, the sender is likely
to recap details of their experience and provide sufcient factual
information to substantiate the recommendation. Isen et al.
(1985) and Mano (1997) found consumers who are happy tend
to increase their cognitive deliberation and thoroughness, which
in turn, suggests their eWOM message has greater cognitive characteristics. Such an eWOM message is also likely to be worded
emotively to encapsulate the consumers post-consumption reactions of delight and pleasure (Mano, 1997; Schellekens et al.,
2010). In an attempt to assist the company in a meaningful way,
the sender is likely to convey a strong sense of conviction,
suggesting:

1
In the case of H1-H3 the relative weight of each motivation on cognitive and
affective characteristics was also examined. However, we did not nd supporting
literature to form specic hypotheses on relative weights.

69

For positive eWOM messages, the greater the helping the company motivation, the greater the: (H5a) cognitive and (H5b)
affective characteristics of the eWOM message.

3.6. Venting negative feelings

Conversely, people who are unhappy with a consumption experience may use negative eWOM to convince others to boycott the
offending organisation, intending to seek vengeance and punish
the organisation (Sundaram et al., 1998; Ward and Ostrom,
2006). To gain compliance from others, the communicator is likely
to include clear descriptions or detailed examples, thus enhancing
the logical appeal of their argument (Kowalski, 1996; Schindler
and Bickart, 2005). Such a message is thus likely to have signicant
cognitive content. There is also evidence to suggest someone looking to punish an organisation or vent negative feelings is likely to
word their eWOM message with strong emotional language.
Wetzer et al. (2007) and McColl-Kennedy et al. (2009) found negative WOM messages with venting and vengeance motives are
likely to contain expressions of anger, frustration, and irritation,
suggesting:
For negative eWOM messages, the greater the venting negative
feelings motivation, the greater the: (H6a) cognitive and (H6b)
affective characteristics of the eWOM message.
The highly-emotive nature of venting negative feelings suggests an additional hypothesis. This motivation is likely to manifest
in an eWOM message that has greater affective characteristics than
cognitive characteristics. When enraged, a consumers need for revenge and desire for catharsis is strong and better served by an
emotional message displaying their feelings, rather than a message
that is logical in appeal (Wetzer et al., 2007; McColl-Kennedy et al.,
2009), suggesting:
H6c) For negative eWOM, the greater the venting negative feelings motivation, the greater the affective characteristics of the
message compared to its cognitive characteristics.
4. Research methodology
These hypotheses were investigated within a nancial services
context. Allsop et al. (2007) found WOM occurs frequently in the
nancial services area, with 70% of respondents seeking (and 44%
providing) information and advice on nancial services. Further,
WOM is also particularly effective in credence services such as
the study context, where quality is difcult to evaluate, even after
the service encounter (Zeithaml, 1981).
The data used to test the hypotheses were collected through an
online survey using a national online consumer panel service. Online consumer panels have been commonly used for market research since the emergence of the Internet (Poynter, 2006;
Macdonald and Uncles, 2007).
A questionnaire was developed to measure the constructs of
interest and tested for face validity with three academic marketing
experts and subsequently pre-tested on a sample of undergraduate
students. Subsequently, an email invitation was sent to 7,654 online panel members across Australia, 2293 of whom (30%) responded to the request. The respondents were asked if they had
posted an eWOM message in an online forum. In all, 304 who
had made such a post were invited to continue the survey. Those
who either made the post over a year ago or those who could
not recall the content of the post were ltered out of the sample.
The nal sample size was 201.
Respondents were asked to recall their most recent online posting about a nancial service and report details of the message concerning content and delivery aspects, as well as valence (whether

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the message was more positive or negative). Similar recall approaches have been used by Christophe and Rime (1997) in a study
of social sharing of emotions, Bogomolova et al. (2009) in a study of
service quality ratings, and Sweeney et al. (2012) in a study of
WOM message characteristics. Further, East and Uncles (2008)
have argued retrospective surveys are a useful way of studying
WOM.
The nal sample comprised almost equal numbers of males and
females; while 22% were under 25 years, 42% were aged 2544 and
36% were aged 45 years and older. Half used the internet daily,
while the remainder used it at least once a week. Median internet
usage was 15 h a week. Over 60% of posts had been made in the last
three months and 80% in the last six months, which is considerably
more recent than the interval between incidents and survey
reporting described by Christophe and Rime (1997).
The motivation to post the message was measured by adapting
Hennig-Thurau et al.s (2004) original motivation measures of
eWOM, while the cognitive and affective characteristics of the
eWOM message were measured using the WOM content scales
developed by Sweeney et al. (2012).2 All of the items, which can
be seen in Table 2 below, were measured on ve-point Likert scales
(1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Further, we asked
respondents about the message valence on a 5-point scale (1 = positive, 5 = negative).

5. Findings
5.1. Construct reliability and validity
Common method bias was tested using Lindell and Whitneys
(2001) approach which involves estimating a proxy for CMV
though and re-estimating all correlations between model variables. Since none of the original correlations were signicantly different from their CMV-adjusted values, common method bias was
not likely to confound the results (see Appendix A).
The psychometric properties of the scales were assessed using
exploratory and conrmatory factor analyses. Exploratory factor
analyses of the six sets of motivation items replicated the original
factor structure with the exception of concern for other consumers. In line with expectations, the concern for other consumers
motivation comprised both helping other consumers and warning other consumers representing positive and negative experiences, respectively. These factors had higher reliabilities
(Cronbach alphas of 0.68 and 0.81) than the original four item scale
(0.57 in the present study and 0.58 in Hennig-Thurau et al.s 2004
study). To demonstrate discriminant validity, Fornell and Larcker
(1981) recommended that the AVE (Average Variance Extracted)
for each construct had to be higher than the squared-correlation
between them. Based on this criterion, discriminant validity was
established for the two factors (AVEhelping = 0.73, AVEwarn = 0.82,
squared-correlation = 0.02).
Two factors emerged from an exploratory factor analysis of
Sweeney et al.s (2012) scale of WOM message characteristics: a
4-item factor representing the cognitive dimension (construct reliability = 0.90) and an 8-item factor representing the affective
dimension (combining content richness and strength of delivery;
construct reliability = 0.90). The combined construct rather than
separate constructs had face validity in the online setting, as
2
Given the online context, we expected that Sweeney et al.s (2012) content
richness and strength of delivery message characteristics derived from face-to-face
WOM research would likely represent the same affective dimension. We reasoned
that with only one dimension of communication available in the online forum
context, which is the written word, and not having access to other cues such as voice
inection and body language, that these two characteristics would be
indistinguishable.

strength of delivery is likely to be communicated through rich language using the written word, rather than through intonation,
body language, verbal and visual cues that are part of face-to-face
communication. Based on Fornell and Larckers (1981) criterion,
discriminant validity was established between the cognitive and
affective dimensions as the minimum AVE was 0.53 (affective
characteristics) and the squared-correlation between the two constructs was 0.30.
The measurement properties of each construct in the conceptual model were examined through one-factor congeneric models
(Fornell and Larcker, 1981; Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). Goodness-of-Fit indices, item loadings, construct reliability, and average
variance extracted scores can be seen in Table 2. The loadings for
each variable on its respective construct was statistically signicant and construct reliabilities were all above the suggested 0.70
minimum level (Hair et al., 2006). Convergent validity was demonstrated as the AVE for each construct exceeded 0.50 (Fornell and
Larcker, 1981). Discriminant validity between all of the constructs
pairs was also examined through Fornell and Larckers (1981) test.
As the minimum AVE was 0.61 and the maximum squared-correlation between constructs was 0.48 (Personal self-enhancement and
Helping the company), discriminant validity was supported.3
5.2. Hypotheses Testing
The sample was split into positive and negative eWOM subsamples, according to the valence of the message,4 resulting in a
sample of 92 positive messages (all or mostly positive) and 109
negative messages (all or mostly negative, and mixed positive
and negative). For subsequent analyses, each construct was operationalised through the average value of all the corresponding items
listed in Table 2 (Rodrguez-Pinto et al., 2007). Correlation and
multiple regression analysis were used in both sub-samples to test
the hypotheses relating to relationships between motivations,
message characteristics, and consumer outcomes. Steigers Z-test
was used to examine the relative strength of the relationship between cognitive and affective message characteristics and other
constructs as hypothesised in H4e, H4f and H6c.
Regression analyses were conducted, in which each of the two
message characteristics were regressed on motivations to engage
in eWOM (see Fig. 1). The analysis was also investigated through
correlational analyses.
For positive eWOM messages, the motivations of positive selfenhancement (rcognitive = 0.44, raffective = 0.38), social benets
(0.39, 0.37), advice seeking (0.34, 0.25) and helping the company
(0.54, 0.38) were signicantly associated with cognitive and affective message characteristics (all p < 0.01), supporting H1a, H1b,
H2a, H2b, H3a, H3b, as well as H5a and H5b (see Table 3). The
motivation to help other consumers was associated with cognitive
characteristics (0.41, p < 0.01), but not with affective characteristics (0.12, n.s.), thus supporting H4a but not H4b. In the case of positive eWOM messages, the adjusted R2 when regressing cognitive
characteristics on the full set of motivations was 0.36, but only 0.16
in the case of affective characteristics. Thus the level of cognitive
characteristics was better explained by motivations than the level
of affective characteristics. The results of a Steigers Z-test suggested the association of helping other consumers with cognitive
characteristics was greater that with affective characteristics
(0.41 vs. 0.12, p < 0.01), thus supporting H4e.
For negative eWOM messages, the motivations of positive selfenhancement, social benets and advice seeking were not associ3

Available from authors on request.

We grouped positive and negative eWOM givers as follows: positive included
positive or mostly positive eWOM messages, while negative included negative and
positive negative or mostly negative eWOM messages.
4

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K.B. Yap et al. / Australasian Marketing Journal 21 (2013) 6674

Table 2
Results of conrmatory factor analysis.
Positive eWOMa

Negative
eWOMb

Mean

Mean

Factor

Items

Goodness-of-t
indices (one factor
models)

Item
loading

Construct
reliability

AVE

Personal self-enhancement

This way I can express my joy about a good

buy
I can tell others about a great experience
I feel good when I can tell others about my
buying success
My contributions show others that I am a
clever customer

GFI = 0.99
CFI = 0.99

0.84

0.86

0.61

3.78

0.82

3.10

1.09

I believe a chat among like-minded people

is a nice thing
It is fun to communicate this way
I meet nice people this way

GFI = 0.92
CFI = 0.82

0.86

0.67

3.74

0.80

3.50

0.85

I hope to receive advice from others to help

solve my problems
I expect to receive tips or supports from
other users

GFI = 0.92
CFI = 0.88

0.88

0.78

3.75

0.95

3.77

0.92

I want to help others with my own positive

experiences
I want to give others the opportunity to buy
the right product

GFI = 0.88
CFI = 0.50

0.84

0.73

4.13

0.87

Warn other consumersd

I want to warn others of bad products

I want to save others from having the same
negative experiences as me

GFI = 0.99
CFI = 0.98

0.95
0.87

0.90

0.82

Helping the companyc

In my opinion, good companies should be

supported
I am so satised with a company and its
product that I want to help the company to
be successful

GFI = 0.90
CFI = 0.55

0.88

0.84

0.72

I like to get anger off my chest

I want to take vengeance upon the company
The company harmed me, and now I will
harm the company
My contributions help me to shake off
frustration about bad buys

GFI = 0.87
CFI = 0.82

0.87

0.63

Cognitive Characteristics (I
believe the message I
posted was. . .)

Specic
Clear
Informative
Reliable

GFI = 0.90
CFI = 0.88

0.87
0.85
0.82
0.79

0.90

0.69

4.10

Affective characteristics (I
believe the message I
posted was. . .)

Delivered in a strong way

Delivered powerfully
Delivered in an important manner
Intense
Delivered using strong words
Reinforcing
Elaborate
Explicit

GFI = 0.89
CFI = 0.88

0.84
0.83
0.80
0.75
0.73
0.70
0.60
0.52

0.90

0.53

3.29

Social Benets

Advice seeking

Help other consumersc

Venting negative feelingd

SD

SD

0.84
0.78
0.64
0.84
0.83
0.77
0.90
0.86
0.90

N/A

N/A

0.81
N/A

4.09

N/A

0.87

4.04

N/A

0.87

N/A

0.82

0.81
0.81
0.79

N/A

N/A

3.16

1.02

0.66

4.07

0.62

0.67

3.49

0.71

0.76

Items are measured on a 5-point Likert scale where 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree. N/A denotes not applicable.
a
N = 92.
b
N = 109.
c
Indicates that only positive eWOM is applicable.
d
Indicates that only negative eWOM is applicable.

ated with either cognitive or affective message characteristics. The

exception to this is the association between the motivation of advice seeking and cognitive characteristics 0.34 (p < 0.01) (H3a);
thus H1a, H1b, H2a, H2b and H3b were not supported in the case
of negative eWOM. Both cognitive and affective message characteristics were positively associated with the motivation to warn
other consumers (0.44 and 0.33, respectively, p < 0.01 in both
cases) and to vent negative feelings (0.20, p < 0.05 and 0.42,
p < 0.01, respectively), thus supporting H4c, H4d, H6a and H6b.
In contrast to the positive eWOM case, the adjusted R2 in negative
eWOM was similar when regressing cognitive and affective charac-

teristics on motivations (0.20 and 0.18, respectively). Thus the level

of both cognitive and affective characteristics was equally explained by motivations in the case of negative eWOM; however
the explanation was not as high as for cognitive characteristics in
the case of positive eWOM. The hypothesis that a negative eWOM
message motivated by wanting to warn other consumers would
have greater cognitive characteristics than affective characteristics
was also tested through Steigers Z-test. Results were in the expected direction (0.44 vs. 0.33), but the difference was not signicant, hence H4f was not supported. The venting-affective link
(0.42) was signicantly greater than the venting-cognitive link

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K.B. Yap et al. / Australasian Marketing Journal 21 (2013) 6674

Table 3
Correlations between Motivations and Cognitive and Affective Characteristics of an eWOM Message.
Positive eWOM

Personal Self-enhancement
Social Benets
Advice Seeking
Help Other Consumers
Warn Other Consumers
Helping the Company
Venting Negative Feeling
Adj. R2 for regression equation
N

Negative eWOM

Cognitive characteristics

Affective characteristics

Cognitive characteristics

Affective characteristics

0.44**
0.39**
0.34**
0.41**
N/A
0.54**
N/A
0.36
92

0.38** (H1b)
0.37** (H2b)
0.25* (H3b)
0.12 (H4b)
N/A
0.38** (H5b)
N/A
0.16
92

0.15 (H1a)
0.17 (H2a)
0.34** (H3a)
N/A
0.44** (H4c)
N/A
0.20* (H6a)
0.20
109

-0.14 (H1b)
0.11 (H2b)
0.10 (H3b)
N/A
0.33** (H4d)
N/A
0.42** (H6b)
0.18
109

(H1a)
(H2a)
(H3a)
(H4a)
(H5a)

Comparative hypotheses
(Steigers Z)

0.41 > 0.12** (H4e)

0.44 > 0.33 (H4f)
0.20 < 0.42** (H6c)

Note:
*
p < 0.05.
**
p < 0.01.

(0.20) (p < 0.01), thus supporting H6c. The results of the correlation
and regression analyses are displayed in Table 3, while a summary
of hypotheses testing is given in Table 4.

6. Discussion and implications

6.1. Discussion and theoretical implications
The present study sought to identify how motivations to engage
in eWOM inuence the characteristics of the eWOM message, in
particular cognitive and affective message components following
the centrality of cognitive and affective elements in communication (e.g., Allsop et al., 2007; Mason and Davis, 2007). The ndings
suggest that for positive eWOM messages, personal selfenhancement, social benets, and advice seeking are positively
linked to both cognitive and affective characteristics of the message. Efforts to make personal or social gain from eWOM communication seem to evoke clear factual information that is presented
in a persuasive and emotive manner. However, these social
motives largely do not appear to be associated with the extent of
cognitive and affective characteristics in a negative eWOM
message. However, as expected, messages motivated by warning
others in the negative eWOM case, do generate cognitive and

affective characteristics, particularly the former; although the difference was not signicant. In contrast, venting evoked signicantly stronger affective than cognitive message characteristics.
It seems people are more circumspect in the case of warning than
venting, placing more emphasis on cognitive content (Bronner and
de Hoog, 2011). Helping other consumers was, as expected significantly more linked to cognitive than affective message characteristics in positive eWOM messages, providing additional support for
the notion that those altruistically-motivated to share their positive or negative service experience with others are likely to focus
on factual content in the message content (Sen and Lerman,
2007; Bronner and de Hoog, 2011).

6.2. Managerial implications

The proposed framework emphasises the importance of
understanding the links between motives for initiating eWOM
communication and the cognitive and affective communication
characteristics of eWOM messages (Fig. 1). Managers should be
aware that some of these motivations may give rise to eWOM messages with sufcient cognitive and affective characteristics to impact their business. The impact of cognitive and affective
elements on receiver expectations of, for example, service quality

Table 4
Summary of Hypotheses Testing.
#

Hypothesis

Motivations and message characteristics

H1a Self-enhancement ? cognitive characteristics
H1b

Self-enhancement ? affective characteristics

H2a

Social benets ? cognitive characteristics

H2b

Social benets ? affective characteristics

H3a
H3b

Advice seeking ? greater cognitive characteristics

Advice seeking ? affective characteristics

H4a
H4b
H4c
H4d
H4e
H4f
H5a
H5b
H6a
H6b
H6c

For positive eWOM, helping other consumers ? cognitive characteristics

For positive eWOM, helping other consumers ? affective characteristics
For negative eWOM, warning other consumers ? cognitive characteristics
For negative eWOM, warning other consumers ? greater affective characteristics
For positive eWOM, helping other consumers has a greater effect on cognitive characteristics than affective
For negative eWOM, warning other consumers has a greater on cognitive characteristics than affective
For positive eWOM, helping the company ? cognitive characteristics
For positive eWOM, helping the company ? affective characteristics
For negative eWOM, venting negative feelings ? cognitive characteristics
For negative eWOM, venting negative feelings ? affective characteristics
For negative eWOM, positive effect of motivation of venting negative feelings has a greater effect on cognitive
characteristics than affective

Result
Partial support
eWOM)
Partial support
eWOM)
Partial support
eWOM)
Partial support
eWOM)
Supported
Partial support
eWOM)
Supported
Not supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Not supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported

(only for positive

(only for positive
(only for positive
(only for positive

(only for positive

K.B. Yap et al. / Australasian Marketing Journal 21 (2013) 6674

and value was established in Sweeney et al.s (2012) study. Therefore, the framework in the present study should help managers to
better understand the nature of eWOM communication and assess
the extent to which these motivations inuence message characteristics and ultimately their organisation.
The rapid rise and transparency of social networking sites offers
researchers and managers a signicant opportunity to track eWOM
concerning their organisation. A discussion forum or social networking page initiated by the organisation should enable managers to not only access eWOM communication but also to
promote social interaction among consumers in the hopes of creating socially-driven motivations to initiate eWOM. These sites
should enable consumers to interact with each other socially, ask
questions, provide tips and buying advice on a product or service
and write product reviews. The ndings re-afrm the value of sites
designed for this purpose. At the very least, managers may use online sentiment monitoring tools (e.g. Buzz Monitoring) and assess
the cognitive and affective elements of discussions surrounding
their brands. Our expectation is that as people become part of online communities, particularly with the increase in social networking; group norms and personal social agendas as reected in our
motivation set will play a greater role in determining how eWOM
messages are worded (e.g. Trusov et al., 2009; Kozinets et al., 2010;
Higgins, 2011). As a result, it is increasingly important for managers of social networking campaigns to understand the social norms
of communication in each online community and support a culture
of open and constructive feedback.
In addition, given the greater impact of cognitive message elements on the receivers perceptions on the organisation (Sweeney
et al., 2012), we recommend managers sort reviews by its factual
content or subject matter to improve the value and userfriendliness of the site. An example of this is tripadvisor.com where
hotel reviews are indexed by factual topics (e.g. room service, great
view, subway station, etc.), instead of the valence of reviews.

7. Limitations and future research

The study has some limitations that suggest opportunities for
future research. First, the study was restricted to nancial services
and since this is a service where quality can be difcult to evaluate,
it is uncertain whether this model can be generalised to other
industries in which eWOM activity is also common (Allsop et al.,
2007). For instance, Albers-Miller and Staffords (1999) research
suggests the affective characteristics of a WOM message would
be more inuential in experiential services (e.g. travel and tourism)
than in utilitarian services, due to its hedonic nature. Second, the
testing of the model in the present study was conned to the perceptions of eWOM senders of their message. Clearly, the perspective investigated here is just one half of the WOM
communication dyad and that the other half the perceptions of
eWOM receivers of a message with particular cognitive and affective characteristics needs to be evaluated in future research.
Since receivers must also be motivated to read an eWOM message,
there is an opportunity to match their motivations, perceptions of
the message, as well as potential reactions to the message.
Research in this area will inform managers of the potency in the
wording of an eWOM message.
The present study modied Hennig-Thurau et al.s (2004) concern for others motivation by dividing it into helping other
consumers (for positive eWOM) and warning other consumers
(for negative eWOM). As eWOM can either be positive or negative,
it would be useful for future studies to examine eWOM motives
that are uniquely positive or negative, as well as valence-neutral
motives. Finally, the amount of information consumers receive
from a WOM message may depend on whether it is spoken or writ-

73

ten. Sun et al. (2006) argued written communication offers better

logical order than oral communication. As online communities
facilitate a greater ow of information (Brown et al., 2007), the relative effectiveness of eWOM messages warrants more attention in
future research.
Appendix A
Lindell and Whitney (2001) argue that in a typical survey in
which the same rater responded to the items in a single survey
form at the same point in time, the collected data may be susceptible to CMV. They argue that instead of a marker variable approach to CMV that the second-smallest positive correlation
among the manifest variables can be used as proxy for common
method variance (CMV), which in this study was 0.009. A method
factor is assumed to have a constant correlation with all of the
measured items. Under this assumption, a CMV-adjusted correlation between the variables under investigation, rA, can be computed by partialling rM from the uncorrected correlation, rU. The
rA coefcient can be calculated as:

rA rU  r M =1  rM :
Therefore, in the present study, rA = (rU  0.009)/(10.009). A Zvalue was calculated to assess if a signicant difference existed between the two correlation coefcients (i.e. rU and rA).
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