The impact of electronic word of mouth on consumer purchase intention: a mediating effect of attitudes towards information acceptance among generation Y / Wan Farha Wan Zulkiffli

The innovation of Internet has led to revolution of consumer behavior and purchase intention throughout the consumer decision making process. It provides a huge opportunity for businesses to anticipate the increasing value of online retail. Particularly in Malaysia, the number of Internet users has given rise in terms of patterns of getting information among users. As the social media becomes a vital part of people’s daily life, the influence of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) surpasses the influence of traditional face-to-face WOM communication on consumers’ decision making. The purpose of the present study is to examine the impact of persuasiveness of eWOM messages and consumer’s attitude to use information which turn into behaviour intention in the online context among Malaysian young consumers. The theoretical framework in the present study extended the Information Acceptance Model (AICM) through the integration of Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and related part of Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Convenience sampling was employed to select sample among young generation who at least have one social media account. Data were collected using self-administered survey. A total of 440 effective samples were collected and the analyses were carried out using both descriptive analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM). The results of the structural modelling provide evidence that there is a linkage persuasive of eWOM messages and consumer purchase intention. It is interesting to note that the attitude towards information acceptance partially mediates the relationship between persuasive of eWOM messages and consumer purchase intention. Through these findings, it can be deduced persuasiveness of eWOM messages through it dimensions influence the attitude towards information acceptance and creates consumer purchase intention. Thus, this study is beneficial for both online business sector and government sector to understand Malaysian online consumer attitude and behaviour intention as well as gain clearer picture of young consumer’s need that can be used to encourage them to purchase online.