Who is guided by the Stars? Is Online-Review Influence a Question of Personality, Age, and/or Nationality?
(A2019-9872)

AUTHORS

Tatjana König, HTW Saar; Maria Hellenthal, University of Applied Sciences Saarbrücken

KEYWORDS

electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWoM); Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence; personality traits

ABSTRACT

E-WoM influence has been intensely researched with respect to volume, valence, product, platform, industry characteristics, and validity aspects (e.g. You et al. 2015; De Langhe, Fernbach and Lichtenstein 2016). However, limited insights exist with regards to individual and national differences of e-WoM users (Park and Lee 2009). Our paper analyzes the influence of personality traits on Consumer Susceptibility to Online-Review influence (CSRI). Study 1 uses a multi-group SEM based on a three-country sample (18-29-year-olds from the U.S., Germany, and France; N > 660) and finds extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability to be negatively linked to CSRI across the three countries. Study 2 expands the age range to 18-75 years-olds in Germany and discovers an interaction effect between age and emotional stability on CSRI. Overall, it seems that the stronger the personality traits, the weaker the susceptibility to influence – be it from online (eWoM) or offline (WoM) sources.

REFERENCES

The authros appreciate support of their study from the "Initial Research Funding" at HTW Saar