The Impact of online word-of-mouth on Consumers' Purchase Intention in Social Commerce

Compared with traditional online shopping, consumer decision-making in social commerce is more susceptible to online word-of-mouth which can be published by people with weak relationship (stranger), moderate relationship (opinion leader), and strong relationship (friend). It's meaningful to study how word-of-mouth impacts consumer' s purchase intention. In this paper, we designed an S1-S2 paradigm (reviewer review) using Event-Related Potentials(ERPs) technique to investigate this problem. On the basis of the given information (reviewer and review), participants had to decide whether to buy the product. The Late Positive Potential (LPP) component was successfully evoked and the order of LPP amplitudes from large to small was opinion leader-friend-stranger. It indicates that participants consume more and more emotional processing resources in this order. The order of conformity rates from high to low was friend-opinion leader-stranger, inconsistent with the order of LPP amplitudes. It shows that emotional resources only play a part in decision-making process. The final decision made by the participants is more relevant to the degree of intimacy. Our findings suggest merchants that they can promote their products through opinion leaders to attract customers' attention and increase the proportion of friends' comments, thereby motivating consumers to make purchase decisions.