Persuasive social eWOM in webrooming: mediational role of motivation to touch

Purpose The purpose of the study is to investigate how persuasive electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) influences consumer purchase intention in the context of webrooming behavior, with a specific focus on the mediating role of consumers ‘motivation to touch (MTT)’. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-method approach was employed, where the study first conducted a qualitative study through semi-structured interviews of participants who have a tendency to research products online and refer to reviews before making an actual purchase. Insights of thematic content analysis from this phase supported a subsequent cross-sectional survey of 265 respondents active on social media, which was utilized to test the hypotheses and validate the proposed model using the PLS-SEM technique. Findings Source credibility, argument quality, source attractiveness and source perception were identified as the dimensions of persuasive social eWOM. Additionally, the mediation analysis revealed a partial mediation effect of MTT on the relationship between persuasive social eWOM and purchase intention. Originality/value Our research offers rich implications to e-tailers, facilitating them to derive persuasive eWOM and to understand the specific psychology of consumers prompting them to engage in webrooming.