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消費者線上口碑與評論研究：國內外相關文獻回顧與討論
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Electronic WOM and Online Review - A Literature Review
1. Introduction
The impact of word of mouth (WOM) on purchasing decisions has been studied for
over half a century (Arndt, 1967; Beal and Rogers, 1957; Brooks, 1957). In the Web 2.0 era,
whether it is the consumer reviews on
Amazon.com,online forums such as Mobile01 that
focus on product reviews and consumer opinions, or the spontaneous product reviews on
social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or Line, electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and
online review have played important roles in diverging from traditional one-way marketing
communication, presenting diverse collective wisdom, and creating online sharing and
searching for positive cycles.
Against such a backdrop, studies related to eWOM and online reviews have multiplied
in the past few years. As related literature accumulates rapidly, this article aims to
consolidate studies on eWOM or online review in domestic and international academia
during the last 15 years to rationalize the developmental context and status of domestic and
international studies on eWOM and online reviews. We first reviewed the achievements of
Taiwanese scholars in studies of eWOM and online review, followed by discussions on the
developmental tracks and issues arising from the empirical analyses conducted on existing
real-time reviews of information on the Internet by the international academia in related
studies. Through a dual-track presentation of both existing domestic and international
studies, in addition to outlining the development forefront of the relevant academia, we also
hope to provide a reference for the domestic research community by offering diverse
research directions.
2. The Definition and Importance of eWOM and Online Review
The evolution of the WOM concept can be understood from its scholarly definitions at
different periods. First of all, the studies of Arndt (1967), Richins (1983), Bone (1992), and
Silverman (2001) showed that from the 1960s to the end of the twentieth century, the term
WOM was confined to describing “word of mouth” among people. However, this type of
WOM was inherently constrained by geographical scope and time sequence, and its
influence inevitably decreased over time.
Chun-Yao Huang
, Professor, Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University
Ping-Yu Liu
, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University