Online Consumer Misbehavior: The Effects of WOM versus Observational Learning

Word of mouth (WOM) and observational learning (OL), as two types of social interaction, have been generally studied by researchers. And they have significant impacts on consumers’ purchase decision. However, few researches pay attention to their influences on online misbehavior. In this paper, we respectively examined the effect of these variables on consumers’ misbehavior. Moreover, Machiavellianism (Mach) as a kind of intrinsic quality may have an impact on consumers’ choice making, thus it was introduced in this study. Using experimental methods and analysis data from 124 respondents, the results show that (1) the likelihood of consumer misbehavior is lower when the WOM is positive and (2) negative OL could induce observers to learn the misbehavior; (3) Mach has no significant effect on misbehavior, while it acts as a mediating variable: consumers with low Mach are more likely to be influenced by misbehaviors.