The Power of Electronic Word-of-Mouth

The increasing popularity of e-commerce and the growth of the internet have revolutionized the exchange of experiences between consumers, so that it is no longer limited to the personal environment, but has reached a new dimension. Electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) has established itself as one of the most influential sources of information for purchasing decisions, as the opinions of other consumers are perceived as a more trustworthy source than costly advertising campaigns, making e-WOM a consumer-dominated marketing channel. One challenge, however, is that not all online reviews have the same influence on consumer purchasing behavior, so consumers base their decision-making on different online review characteristics. Due to previous research gaps on the identification of relevant characteristics of online reviews, the aim of this thesis was to explore this topic with regard to information processing and the purchase decision process.