The Acceptance of Product Recommendations from Web-Based Word-of-Mouth Systems: Effects of Information, Informant and System Characteristics

The study examines the consumer’s acceptance of product recommendations from web-based word-of-mouth systems (WWOMS). Conceptualizing WWOMS as an informant-mediated persuasive environment that comprises many communication elements and drawing on the accessibility-diagnosticity model and the theories of informant-mediated communications, this study identifies the critical roles of WWOMS information diagnosticity and WWOMS informant expertise and trustworthiness and their antecedents in influencing the consumer’s acceptance/rejection of WWOMS recommendations. It also examines the effects of unique WWOMS mechanisms such as helpfulness indicators and informant status indicators. An experiment was carried out to test the propositions empirically. Theoretically, this study fills the current knowledge void regarding the consumer’s processing and usage of information and recommendation from WWOMS. It also enhances the word-of-mouth literature by contributing new insights of electronic WOM. Practically, the paper sheds light on how to design WWOMS to promote recommendation acceptance and electronic transactions.