eWOM: the effects of online consumer reviews on purchasing decision of electronic goods

Internet has become the primary source of information for a large number of consumers and it has dramatically changed the consumer behaviour. One of the main changes in modern consumer behaviour has been the transition from a passive to an active and informed consumer. Internet enables customers to share their opinions on, and experiences with, goods and services with a multitude of other consumers. Online consumer reviews are used by prospective buyers of related products who are interested in obtaining more information from people who have purchased and used a product of interest. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is one of the most important information sources when a consumer is making a purchase decision. The arrival and expansion of the Internet has extended consumers' options for gathering product information by including other consumers' comments, posted on the Internet, and has provided consumers opportunities to offer their own consumption-related advice by engaging in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). eWOM can be defined as all informal communications directed at consumers through Internet-based technology related to the usage or characteristics of particular goods and services, or their sellers. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of, one type of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), the online consumer review, on purchasing decision of electronic products. This empirical study also focuses on the relationship between reviews and purchasing behaviour. An instrument was prepared to measure the proposed constructs, with questionnaire items taken from prior studies but adapted to fit the context of e-commerce. The survey was applied to academicians in Turkey through internet. The data was analyzed using the SPSS package. The results show that consumer reviews have a causal impact on consumer purchasing behaviour and they have an effect on choosing the products by consumer. Finally, the results and their implications are discussed

Recommendation, collaboration and social search

This chapter considers the social component of interactive information retrieval: what is the role of other people in searching and browsing? For simplicity we begin by considering situations without computers. After all, you can interactively retrieve information without a computer; you just have to interact with someone or something else. Such an analysis can then help us think about the new forms of collaborative interactions that extend our conceptions of information search, made possible by the growth of networked ubiquitous computing technology. Information searching and browsing have often been conceptualized as a solitary activity, however they always have a social component. We may talk about 'the' searcher or 'the' user of a database or information resource. Our focus may be on individual uses and our research may look at individual users. Our experiments may be designed to observe the behaviors of individual subjects. Our models and theories derived from our empirical analyses may focus substantially or exclusively on an individual's evolving goals, thoughts, beliefs, emotions and actions. Nevertheless there are always social aspects of information seeking and use present, both implicitly and explicitly. We start by summarizing some of the history of information access with an emphasis on social and collaborative interactions. Then we look at the nature of recommendations, social search and interfaces to support collaboration between information seekers. Following this we consider how the design of interactive information systems is influenced by their social elements

Collaborative recommendations with content-based filters for cultural activities via a scalable event distribution platform

Nowadays, most people have limited leisure time and the offer of (cultural) activities to spend this time is enormous. Consequently, picking the most appropriate events becomes increasingly difficult for end-users. This complexity of choice reinforces the necessity of filtering systems that assist users in finding and selecting relevant events. Whereas traditional filtering tools enable e.g. the use of keyword-based or filtered searches, innovative recommender systems draw on user ratings, preferences, and metadata describing the events. Existing collaborative recommendation techniques, developed for suggesting web-shop products or audio-visual content, have difficulties with sparse rating data and can not cope at all with event-specific restrictions like availability, time, and location. Moreover, aggregating, enriching, and distributing these events are additional requisites for an optimal communication channel. In this paper, we propose a highly-scalable event recommendation platform which considers event-specific characteristics. Personal suggestions are generated by an advanced collaborative filtering algorithm, which is more robust on sparse data by extending user profiles with presumable future consumptions. The events, which are described using an RDF/OWL representation of the EventsML-G2 standard, are categorized and enriched via smart indexing and open linked data sets. This metadata model enables additional content-based filters, which consider event-specific characteristics, on the recommendation list. The integration of these different functionalities is realized by a scalable and extendable bus architecture. Finally, focus group conversations were organized with external experts, cultural mediators, and potential end-users to evaluate the event distribution platform and investigate the possible added value of recommendations for cultural participation

Values, attitudes, and goals of future Hungarian food engineers

Over the last few decades Hungarian higher education has been radically transformed, and this transformation was implemented to counter the backwardness that previously plagued the education system. Agricultural education in particular was part of this transformation process, which included the disciplines of food science and related technology. This attempt at transformation yielded only a partial success; student numbers shot up, but there was no subsequent general improvement in the efficiency of higher education. This article is based on two surveys carried out in 1997 and 2007. The students’ values can be characterised as pluralistic and heterogenous. Based on longitudinal research, a shift can be seen toward materialistic and hedonistic values. The motivation for choosing the Faculty of Food Science is varied in nature, mirroring the food industry’s often critical current situation. High schools’ professional orientation is weak. Although the Faculty’s Budapest location is attractive, in the long run this is not sufficient to replace carefully planned promotional work. By structural equation modelling a significant relationship can be proven between the students’ values, their types of knowledge, and their expectations for future types of work.higher education policy, human resource management, food science education, social psychology, empirical research, Agribusiness, Labor and Human Capital,

Influencers’ Blogging Patterns and Their Power of Shaping Consumer Purchase Decision: An Analysis from the Consumer’s Perspectives

Objectives: In conducting this thesis, the author primary aims to provide a thorough analysis on typical Influencer’s Blogging patterns that are capable of impacting consumer purchase decision. Secondly, the author intends to shed more light on the identification of the causal relationship between blogger’s recommendation and consumer behavior. Last but not least, author wish to contribute a more holistic information to the research bank about Influencer Marketing, with discussion on both major and minor issues relating to the procedure, conducts and ethical matter of this globally prevalent marketing tactics. Summary: This study benefits International Business research by addressing a global issue of Influencer Marketing strategy application. Related published articles are reviewed and findings were configured using qualitative data collection. In details, two focus group with participants are millennials with exposure to blogs and influencers were conducted. Results was then compared and contrasted to identify commonly perceived blogging patterns practiced by influencers of the field, as well as to pinpoint the scale and weight of consequent recommendations on consumer purchase decision. Discussion chapters follow to explain additional conclusion in accordance with reviewed literature. Main findings are stated along with limitation acknowledgement, international business implication and suggest for future research. Conclusions: Of all patterns mentioned in different research papers, influencers tend to adopt same application standard on content production, blogging frequency, tricks and treats, audience integration and reputation maintenance. Among five patterns, the most impactful one directly affects consumer decisions is content production. Also, the intangible relationship between influencer’s recommendation and purchase decision is solidified. With a proven existence of the correlation, analysis on other minor factors is being put on tray, generating managerial implication for mutual benefits to all of the stakeholder in the industry, namely the brands, the bloggers and the consumers