Delineating the antecedents of electronic word-of-mouth-seeking intentions on social media: the case of the Saudi Arabian fashion industry (YouTube vloggers)

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) delivered by vloggers on social media sites (SMSs) has a more powerful influence on consumer product decisions than traditional advertisements. Nevertheless, using SMSs to stimulate vloggers use of eWOMs efficiently remains challenging. Researchers and managers need a more in-depth understanding of the individual factors that influence SMS users’ seeker intentions. There is a dearth of literature examining the impact of cultural and social elements and the visual evidence (videos) on YouTube. Existing studies suggest that Saudi females represent the largest group of fashion vloggers and eWOM seekers on YouTube fashion channels. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors that influence Saudi female eWOM-seeking intentions on vlogger fashion YouTube channels. This study uses the theory of utilitarian and hedonic motivations to explore factors related to the social and cultural elements that influence eWOM-seeking intentions by adopting a two-phase mixed method approach. First, the study implements a qualitative observation ‘netnography’ method to monitor 300 users’ comments on YouTube videos reviewing the fashion industry in Saudi Arabia. The findings of the netnography, in conjunction with findings from literature review, were used to develop a conceptual framework. The conceptual framework includes utilitarian motivations evidence from convenience, availability of information and utilitarian purchase intention. Hedonic motivations were generated through trend discovery, socialising, hedonic purchase intention and innate qualities. Secondly, an online questionnaire tests the relations among variables in the study’s conceptual framework. The data was collected in January and February 2017. A total of 210 usable responses were received. The data were analysed using a partial least squares analysis. The results indicate user purchase intentions prompted by utilitarian motivations had the most influence on eWOM-seeking intentions. Although trend discovery is determined in the netnographic study, the quantitative results show trend discovery as not being statistically significant in relation to hedonic motivation. Saudi females don’t see religion or language as a priority in endorsing vloggers. This study presents an eWOM-seeking intention framework to help managers design digital marketing strategies based on their target societies and SMSs. Managers should pay more attention to utilitarian motivational aspects. Future research could apply the framework used in this study to other industries and other social media users

Consumers' electronic word of mouth-seeking intentions on social media sites concerning Saudi bloggers' YouTube fashion channels: an eclectic approach

This study seeks to investigate the appropriateness of an eclectic model based on factors that influence Saudi consumers' electronic word of mouth (eWOM)-seeking intentions on bloggers' YouTube channels. There is a lack of understanding about eWOM-seekers' motivations for engaging in this behaviour. This study focuses on utilitarian and hedonic motivations and explores the factors related to the social and cultural elements that influence eWOM-seeking intentions. The study implements a two-phase mixed-method approach, including a qualitative and observational netnographic method. An online questionnaire is used to test the relationships among the variables in the study's conceptual framework. A total of 210 usable responses to the questionnaire were received. The data was analysed using the partial least squares (PLS) technique. The findings indicate that the availability of information and purchasing intentions developed through utilitarian motivations have the most significant influence on eWOM-seeking intentions. The managerial implications and limitations of this study and recommendations for future study are given in the conclusion hereto