Is negative eWOM more influential than negative pWOM?

What is it about?

This paper examines the influence of various sources of negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and negative personal word-of-mouth (pWOM) on trust in the Word-of-mouth (WOM), attitude toward the service provider and purchase intention, in Moroccan workers who responded to an online survey. Results show that negative pWOM is more influential than negative eWOM in the form of written Facebook testimonials, written review site testimonials and written testimonials on a corporate website. However, there is a relative ranking of importance among eWOM sources, with review site testimonials found to be more influential than either Facebook or corporate website testimonials. Practicality, the results of this study provide guidance to service marketers in terms of strategies for deflecting negative WOM and allocating service recovery resources.

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Why is it important?

This study is the first to compare the relative influence of negative pWOM and eWOM in service consumption