SEGMENTING EWOM ENGAGERS ON ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS BASED ON PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND BEHAVIOUR

Authors : Ayşegül SAĞKAYA GÜNGÖR, Tuğçe Ozansoy ÇADIRCI

Pages : 33-50

View : 44 | Download : 11

Publication Date : 2013-11-29

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The evolution of the Internet has extended consumers’ options for communicating their opinions or experiences without any company filters by engaging in electronic word of mouth (eWOM). One of the mediums in which eWOM is effectively disseminated to multitude of people is online social networks (SNSs). SNSs are different from other channels of eWOM, because of their unique characteristic; source trustworthiness. The received information is from a person which is accepted as contact with the consent of the person. In this study, we tried to understand the eWOM engagers on SNSs by personal characteristics and SNS usage behaviour based segmentation. With a sample size of 244, we conducted an online survey. Data was analyzed by factor analysis first. Then, the factor scores were entered in a cluster analysis using a combined hierarchical and non-hierarchical method. At the end, we defined four segments: viral producers, active communicators, average participators, passive communicators.
Keywords : electronic word of mouth, eWOM, online social networks, personal characteristics, segmentation, internet marketing

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