A Meta-analysis of Antecedents and Consequences of eWOM Credibility: Investigation of Moderating Role of Culture and Platform Type

For your marketing

Possible founder application

Useful for thinking about trust signals and why a testimonial's source, context, and platform matter. It synthesizes consumer eWOM literature, not B2B SaaS review outcomes specifically.

Reported result

What the study found

Review- and reviewer-related characteristics were positively associated with eWOM credibility, which in turn related to purchase intention, eWOM adoption, and product attitude. Culture, product type, and platform type moderated relationships.

Research question

What the authors investigated

Which message- and reviewer-related factors shape eWOM credibility, and how does credibility relate to consumer responses?

Design

Meta-analysis of 51 primary studies comprising 124 effect sizes, examining cultural and platform moderators.

Sample and setting

Published empirical studies of electronic word of mouth across cultures and platform types.

Scope and transfer

Limitations to keep in view

The authors could not conduct comprehensive meta-analytic structural equation modeling or test all moderators simultaneously because primary studies reported limited statistical data; national cultural dimensions may miss within-country variation.

Research sources

ScienceDirect publisher abstract retrieved with Firecrawl; included-study count and stated limitations were checked on the page.