Computers in Human Behavior 31 (2014) 182–189

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Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh

Value co-creation and purchase intention in social network sites:

The role of electronic Word-of-Mouth and trust – A theoretical analysis
Eric W.K. See-To a, Kevin K.W. Ho b,⇑
a
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kon
b
School of Business and Public Administration, University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam 96923, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study uses the theories in trust and value co-creation to analyze how electronic Word-of-Mouth
Available online 2 November 2013 (eWOM) affects purchase intention in social network sites (SNSs). In particular, we develop a theoretical
model by blending cutting-edge research in consumers’ trust, value co-creation, and eWOM to study how
Keywords: these factors interact with each other through a systematic review. From the theoretical analysis, we note
Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) that eWOM has a direct impact on purchase intention, and has an indirect impact on purchase intention
Purchase intention which is moderated by consumers’ trust on the underlying product. eWOM also has an impact on value
Social media
co-creation, and value co-creation has an effect on purchase intention. Consumers’ trust on a product has
Social network sites (SNSs)
Trust
an impact on value co-creation, and the message source in the SNSs moderates the impacts of eWOM on
Value co-creation consumers’ trust on a product, value co-creation, and purchase intention. This study provides a theoret-
ical ground for future empirical research into issues related to the inter-relationship between value co-
creation and eWOM within the SNS context. Practitioners can also develop a deeper understanding on
developing SNS-based customer relationship management strategy from this work.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction book, which has a market value of around $61 billion as at 28

March 2013 (Yahoo!, 2013) and over 1 billion users all over the
Social media is ‘‘a group of Internet-based applications that world (Wikipedia, 2013). SNSs allow individuals to build up per-
build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web sonal Webpages to disseminate their information, and communi-
2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated cate with their friends in real life as well as in the cyber world.
content’’ (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). In the past decade, we witness Firms can do a similar thing with a fans page. SNSs have a huge po-
the rapid development of social media in the cyber world, which tential for marketers to develop the brand image of their products
brings significant impacts to our daily lives. This rapid develop- through using the Word-of-Mouth in cyber world (i.e., electronic
ment stimulates research efforts in studying the impacts of social Word-of-Mouth) in an inexpensive way. Therefore, in recent years,
media to different facets in the society through the theoretical lens some studies have been conducted to investigate into how
of information systems (IS) (for example, Gnyawali, Fan, and Pen- electronic Word-of-Mouth is developed in social media (Cheung
ner (2010), Pai and Arnott (2013), and Ransbotham and Kane & Thadani, 2010).
(2011)) and marketing (for example, Naylor, Lamberton, and West Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) is ‘‘any positive or negative
(2012)). At the moment, there is no formal classification of the statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a
types of Internet-based applications included in social media. product or company, which is made available to a multitude of
However, Constantinides and Fountain (2008) suggest classifying people and institutions via the Internet’’ (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner,
social media into five categories, i.e., (i) blogs, (ii) social network Walsh, & Gremler, 2004), and is a popular research topic in IS and
sites (for example, Facebook and Google+), (iii) content communi- marketing research (Chan & Ngai, 2011; Cheung & Thadani, 2010).
ties (for example, YouTube and Wikipedia), (iv) e-Forums, and (v) In recent years, we observe an increasing number of publications in
content aggregators. Amongst these five categories of Internet- eWOM in IS and marketing journals, as well as in the literature of
based applications in social media, social network sites (SNSs) is other relevant disciplines, such as innovation management (for
the most popular one nowadays. The most successful SNS is Face- example, Cho and Koo (2012), Kawakami, Kishiya, and Parry
(2012), and Parry, Kawakami, and Kishiya (2012)). Most of these
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 (671) 735 2501; fax: +1 (671) 734 5362. publications focused on how eWOM influences receivers’ attitude
E-mail addresses: eric.see-to@polyu.edu.hk (E.W.K. See-To), kevinkho@uguam.
and purchase intention. Based on the statistics from Chan and Ngai
uog.edu (K.K.W. Ho). (2011), at least one third of these publications are not theoretically

0747-5632/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.013
 E.W.K. See-To, K.K.W. Ho / Computers in Human Behavior 31 (2014) 182–189 183

oriented, and there is a call for building more theories in this area This paper is presented as follows. In Section 2, we present our
(Cheung & Thadani, 2010). literature review on eWOM and its relationship with trust and pur-
Prior research studies show that eWOM has an impact on pur- chase intention, and value co-creation. Afterwards, we develop a
chase intention through two channels. First, eWOM has a direct theoretical model to link up these constructs in Section 3. Section 4
impact on purchase intention. While positive eWOM enhances presents our discussion, which discusses the possible empirical
purchase intention, negative eWOM reduces it (Bailey, 2004; Xia methodologies for the research model and the theoretical contri-
& Bechwati, 2008). Second, eWOM influences purchase intention butions of this work. We then conclude the paper at Section 5 by
through its impact on consumers’ trust (Chan & Ngai, 2011). discussing the practical implications of this study, as well as future
According to Barber (1983), trust is a ‘‘rationally based expectation research directions in this stream of research.
that technically competent performance and/or fiduciary obliga-
tion and responsibility will be forthcoming’’. Consumers’ trust
has been shown empirically to be a significant factor affecting pur- 2. Literature review
chase intention (McKnight, Choudhury, & Kacmar, 2002b).
eWOM may also influence purchase intention through value co- 2.1. Electronic Word-of-Mouth, trust, and purchase intention
creation. Value co-creation is the process where ‘‘the consumer
and the firm are intimately involved in jointly creating value that Prior studies in IS and marketing show that eWOM has an im-
is unique to the individual consumer and sustainable to the firm’’ pact on consumers’ trust on a firm and its products. Dellarocas
(Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004a). It is a new research topic in IS (2003) shows that trust on a firm and its products can be devel-
(Gnyawali et al., 2010), marketing (Vargo, Maglio, & Akaka, oped in e-Forums by those eWOM submitted by prior consumers.
2008), and service science and innovation management (Kohler, These prior consumers provide their views or even rate the perfor-
Fueller, Stieger, & Matzler, 2011; Maglio & Spohrer, 2008; Perks, mance and behavior of a firm in their consumer–supplier relation-
Gruber, & Edvardsson, 2012; Wu & Wu, 2011). To the best of our ship. Potential consumers usually use these eWOM to decide
knowledge, there is no prior study investigating into the impact whether they would trust the firm in an electronic transaction.
of eWOM on value co-creation. The literature review in Section 2 Other studies also show that eWOM stated in the seller’s profiles
and theoretical deduction to be presented in Section 3 suggest that in the electronic marketplaces has significant impacts on the clos-
eWOM may have a direct impact, and also an indirect impact ing price of electronic auctions (Ba & Pavlou, 2002; Lee, Im, & Lee,
through consumers’ trust (Abela & Murphy, 2008), on value co-cre- 2000; Rice, 2012; Yoo, Ho, & Tam, 2006; Zhou, Dresner, & Windle,
ation. Value co-creation may also have a direct impact on purchase 2009), which can be interpreted as eWOM has a direct impact on
intention. purchase intention. Most of these studies analyze the impact of
Scant research has been conducted using SNSs as the processing eWOM using regression analyses (for example, Ba and Pavlou
platform for eWOM research (Cheung & Thadani, 2010), despite (2002), Lee et al. (2000), and Yoo et al. (2006)), which use the peer
the fact that more and more firms are using this platform for brand evaluation records as independent variable(s) and regress them
development (Yang, 2012) and prior research shows that SNSs can using the closing price of the electronic auctions as dependent var-
bring economic benefits to the firms (Stephen & Toubia, 2010). iable. Based on the findings from these analyses, it is suggested
Chan and Ngai (2011) have conducted a thoughtful review for re- that when a potential consumer noted that there is a large quantity
search on the relationship between eWOM and social media. Most of positive eWOM about the product sold by a firm, she will devel-
of these studies use blogs (for example, Kozinets, de Valck, Wojn- op a positive expectation about the quality of the product and the
icki, and Wilner (2010)) and e-Forums (for example, Dellarocas service to be provided by the firm. This positive expectation will
(2003)) as the eWOM platforms in their analyses. Due to the rea- lead her to feel confident to purchase this product from that firm.
sons mentioned above, we decide to use SNSs as the platform for Thus, consumers’ trust on a product generated by eWOM leads to
this research to fill the current gap in research involving eWOM an increase of purchase intention (Gefen, Karahanna, & Straub,
and social media. 2003; Kim, Ferrin, & Rao, 2009; Sia et al., 2009), which IS research-
Based on the above reasons, and echo to the call for theoreti- ers have found empirical evidences to establish such claims based
cally oriented research in eWOM (Cheung & Thadani, 2010), we de- on experimental studies developed based on the trust theory (Kim
velop a theoretical model to explain how eWOM affects the et al., 2009; Sia et al., 2009) or an extended version of Technology
purchase intention of online consumers using the theories in trust Acceptance Model, TAM (Gefen et al., 2003). On the other hand, if a
and value co-creation, with SNSs as the platform to develop the potential consumer notes that there is a large quantity of negative
eWOM concerned through a systematic review. In particular, we eWOM about a product sold by a firm, she will develop a negative
develop a theoretical model in this study to address the following expectation about the quality of the product and the service from
four research questions: the firm, which reduces her trust on the product and the firm, as
well as her purchase intention (Bailey, 2004). Lee and Song
RQ1:. How does eWOM in SNSs affect consumers’ trust on the (2010) indicate that messages shown in a complaint Website,
product? which is a haven for negative eWOM, changes potential consumers’
attitude towards the firm. Awad and Ragowsky (2008) also report
that the quality of eWOM in an e-Forum has a positive impact on
RQ2:. How do eWOM in SNSs and the consumers’ trust on a prod- online customers’ trust on a firm, which has a positive impact on
uct formed by eWOM in SNSs affect purchase intention? the online purchase intention.
IS and marketing researchers also report the impact of eWOM
generated in different online platforms, including Websites (Bailey,
RQ3:. How do eWOM in SNSs and consumers’ trust on a product
2004), online forum (Xia & Bechwati, 2008), and blog, emails, vir-
formed by eWOM in SNSs affect value co-creation in SNSs, and
tual community, etc. (Chan & Ngai, 2011), on purchase intention.
how does value co-creation in SNSs affect purchase intention?
This shows that eWOM has impacts on trust and purchase inten-
tion across different online platforms. To sum up, prior studies
RQ4:. How the message source in eWOM moderates the impact of show that eWOM has a direct impact on purchase intention, which
eWOM in SNSs on consumers’ trust on a product, value co-creation, is supported by either regression analysis using the price of the
and purchase intention? product sold as the proxy for purchase intention, or experimental
184 E.W.K. See-To, K.K.W. Ho / Computers in Human Behavior 31 (2014) 182–189

study developed based on the trust theory or an extended TAM research questions proposed in Section 1. The model includes
with trust as an additional construct. Plus, eWOM can develop (if eWOM in SNSs, trust (including disposition to trust, institutional-
it is positive eWOM) or reduce (if it is negative eWOM) consumers’ based trust, and trusting beliefs), value co-creation, and purchase
trust on a product and/or a firm. Such trust developed or reduced intention as constructs, and the message source of eWOM as the
also has an impact on purchase intention of online consumers. moderator. In the following sub-sections, we will explain how
these constructs interact with each other. We shall also develop
propositions based on the model.
2.2. Value co-creation

The concept of value co-creation is developed by Prahalad and

3.1. The relationships between eWOM in SNSs and consumers’ trust
Ramaswamy (2004a,b). They suggest that the value of a service
towards a product and a Service
or a product is not created by the manufacturer/supplier solely,
but co-created by the manufacturer/supplier and the consumer
SNSs, such as Facebook and Google+, have changed the land-
of the product or the service. Grounded on this concept, marketing
scape for firms to develop their brand images and Word-of-Mouth
researchers develop models to investigate into how value is co-cre-
in the cyber world. Nowadays, many firms establish their fans page
ated by the supplier and the consumer. For example, Maglio and
in SNSs (see Table 1 for examples), which they use them to dissem-
Spohrer (2008) apply the value co-creation concept in explaining
inate their marketing information to their consumers (Trusov,
the fundamentals of service science. Wu and Wu (2011) use this
Bucklin, & Pauwels, 2009). On the other hand, consumers can also
concept to develop their service engineering process framework.
form informal groups at SNSs to discuss their adventures with
Dong, Evans, and Zou (2008) study the context of service failure
firms, and their products and services. Consumers and potential
in value co-creation context. Vargo et al. (2008) and Payne, Storba-
consumers of these products and services can receive these mar-
cka, and Frow (2008) develop models to investigate into value co-
keting information (from firms or from other consumers, or both)
creation in service system, and managing value co-creation,
and review the comments from other consumers through subscrib-
respectively. Perks et al. (2012) investigate into the value co-crea-
ing these fans pages in SNSs (i.e., to ‘‘Like’’ the fans page in Face-
tion process in motor insurance industry through the lens of radi-
book, or to ‘‘Follow’’ the fans page in Google+).
cal service innovation. More recently, Ng et al. (2010) investigate
These fans pages in SNSs provide an avenue for consumers to
into business-to-business service using the value co-creation
share their experience of using these products and services with
framework. As this is a relatively new research area, most studies
other subscribers of these fans pages. Thus, such information pre-
published are focused on developing research framework and mea-
sented in the firm’s fans page in SNSs becoming the eWOM of these
surement instruments for studying value co-creation (Dong et al.,
companies (Trusov et al., 2009). As Dellarocas (2003) reports that
2008; Ng et al. (2010)).
eWOM in e-Forum affects the trust of a consumer on a firm and
This stream of marketing research focused on investigating into
its products and services, eWOM developed in SNSs should have
value co-creation based on Foundational Proposition (FP) 6 of Ser-
a similar effect to consumers’ trust on the firm and its products
vice-Dominant (S-D) Logic (Payne et al., 2008), i.e., ‘‘The customer
or services. It is because both eWOM in e-Forum and eWOM in fans
is always a co-creator of value’’ (Vargo et al., 2008). The basis of
page in SNSs are having similar property, i.e., they are the feed-
value co-creation is that a supplier provides a product as an input
backs generated from existing consumers of the product or service
of value co-creation and a consumer co-creates the value of the
concerned. This also echoes to the findings of Awad and Ragowsky
product by applying her skills and knowledge in using the product
(2008) that eWOM has a significant impact on the trust on an on-
(Vargo et al., 2008). Payne et al. (2008) suggest that consumers’
line community, as the fans page in SNSs is an online community
emotional engagement with a brand engages consumers to value
for the consumers of the firm concerned. Here, we suggest that po-
co-creation. As eWOM is a manifesto form of consumers’ engage-
sitive eWOM has a positive impact on consumers’ trust on a prod-
ment, we expect that eWOM has a direct impact on value
uct or service (i.e., strengthen the consumers’ trust). However,
co-creation.
negative eWOM has a negative impact (i.e., weaken the consumers’
trust).
3. Model development Prior studies suggest that trust has five aspects, i.e., disposition
to trust, institutional-based trust, trusting beliefs, trusting inten-
In this study, we conduct a systematic review on the existing tion and trust-related behavior (McKnight & Chervany, 2001). After
literature in eWOM, trust, purchase intention, and value co-crea- thoughtfully review their properties, we include the first three as-
tion as current research lacks a general overall picture of evidence pects of trust into the model. It is because the last two aspects of
in the theory of how eWOM affects purchase intention through trust, i.e., trusting intention and trust-related behavior, are describ-
trust and value co-creation in the SNS environment. Systematic ing social psychological behavior of people which are related to
review is a research method, which investigators research into a their adoption behavior such as purchase intention and willingness
research question based on an extensive literature review. As to transact (McKnight & Chervany, 2001). Similar to other IS re-
suggested by Petticrew and Roberts (2006, p. 21), it is suitable to search (for example, Awad and Ragowsky (2008) and Xia and
conduct a systematic review to probe into this type of research Bechwati (2008)), we already include purchase intention as the
issue. Prior research (Hackett & Dilts, 2004; Sánchez-Fernández & dependent construct in the model. Therefore, it is not necessary
Iniesta-Bonillo, 2007) has used this method or related methods, to include trusting intention and trust-related behavior into the
such as meta-synthesis (Douglas et al., 2008), to develop new model.
research models and theories in different research domains. The first aspect of trust includes in the model is disposition to
eWOM research has reported that it has a direct impact, and an trust. Disposition to trust is the trust of a person on other person
indirect impact through trust based on the research grounded on in a general situation (McKnight & Chervany, 2001). Prior studies
trust theory and TAM, on purchase intention. In addition, we also show that disposition to trust is the antecedent of other two as-
note that eWOM would have an impact on value co-creation, pects of trust in the model, i.e., institutional-based trust and trust-
which will also have an impact on purchase intention. Based on ing beliefs (McKnight, Choudhury, & Kacmar, 2002a; McKnight,
these theoretical backgrounds and the result of the systematic re- Kacmar, & Choudhury, 2003). Thus, we include disposition to trust
view, we develop the theoretical model at Fig. 1 to address the four as one of the independent constructs in the model.
 E.W.K. See-To, K.K.W. Ho / Computers in Human Behavior 31 (2014) 182–189 185

Disposition to
Trust Trusting Beliefs:
(i) Benevolence;
(ii) Competence;
Message source of P1.2 and (iii) Integrity. P2.2
eWOM

P2.1 Purchase Intention

eWOM in SNSs

P3.2 Key:
P3.3
Direct effect

P1.1 Value Co-creation: Moderating effect (i.e., P4)

Institutional-based P3.1
(i) Behavioral
Trust: (i) Structural alignment; and (ii)
assurance; and (ii) Empowerment and
Situational Normality control.

Fig. 1. Theoretical model.

Table 1
Examples of major companies which have fans pages in social network sites.

Companies (Industry) Social Media Site Number of liked or following (as at April 2013)
Coca Cola (Beverage) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cocacola 62,387,000
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Coca-Cola/posts 858,000
Apple (Technology) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-Inc/137947732957611?fref=ts 8,917,000
Google+: https://plus.google.com/113432370509570632298/posts 870
McDonalds (Fast Food) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McDonalds 27,846,000
Google+: https://plus.google.com/106062813186522446847/posts 21,000
Microsoft (Software) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Microsoft 2,353,000
Android (Operating System) Google+: https://plus.google.com/+android/posts 3,354,000

Institutional-based trust is the trust of a person on a sociologi- et al. (2002a) show that disposition to trust and institutional-based
cal structure (McKnight & Chervany, 2001). In the context of SNSs, trust are its antecedents, which have positive impact on it. In the
it is the trust of a person on SNSs in general. Prior research has model, we include three of the dimensions of trusting beliefs as
shown that a person’s trust on SNSs has an impact to her adoption independent constructs, i.e., benevolence, competence, and integ-
intent to use the SNS (Sledgianowski & Kulviwat, 2009). Recently, rity. Benevolence is a person’s belief that the firm cares about
Pentina, Zhang, and Basmanova (2013) show that trust in social her and is motivated to act in accordance to her interest (McKnight
media platform has an impact on the brands using the platform. & Chervany, 2001). In SNSs perspective, it is about the SNS user’s
Institutional-based trust has two aspects, i.e., structural assurance belief that the firm in SNS fans page cares and interested in her
and situational normality. Structural assurance is defined as a per- well-being. Thus, eWOM can strengthen or weaken this belief. If
son who ‘‘securely believes that protective structures are in place eWOM shown in the firm’s fans page in SNS is positive, it implicitly
. . . that are conducive to situational success’’ (McKnight & shows that the firm cares about its consumers (i.e., benevolence)
Chervany, 2001). In SNSs perspective, it is the belief of a SNS user by providing good products or service. However, if eWOM is nega-
that protective measures, such as the legal protection and techno- tive, it shows that the firm does not care about its consumers and
logical design of the SNSs, can protect her from problems in using reduces the SNS user’s belief on its benevolence.
the information in SNSs for decision making process, such as to Competence is a person’s belief that the firm has the ability to
make a purchase decision. Situational normality, on the other provide the products and services in an acceptable way (McKnight
hand, is the trust of a person on the situations that she faces when & Chervany, 2001). In SNSs perspective, it is about the belief of a
interacting with the institution, will be normal. In SNSs perspec- SNS user that the firm is able to deliver the product or service to
tive, it is the trust of a SNS user that makes her feel ease and com- her in an acceptable way, such as to deliver the good to her effi-
fort in using SNSs in making her purchase decision. Based on prior ciently. Such beliefs can be strengthen or weaken by eWOM as
literature, disposition to trust is the antecedent of these two the comments provided by prior consumers of the service as their
aspects of institutional-based trust and has a positive impact on comments will help other consumers to estimate the competence
them (McKnight et al., 2002a, 2003). of the firm.
On the other hand, eWOM shown in the fans page in SNSs may Integrity is a person’s beliefs that a firm makes good faith agree-
have an impact on institutional-based trust. For example, if there ments on the quality of product and service provided to its con-
are a lot of eWOM stated in the firm’s fans page in SNSs, it can cre- sumers (McKnight & Chervany, 2001). In SNSs perspective, it is
ate an impression to a SNS user that other SNS users feel that it is about the SNS user’s belief that the firm keeps its promises as
safe to express their ideas in respect of this firm in the fans page in shown in the SNS fans page regarding its product and service qual-
the SNS. In this case, it may strengthen the institutional-based ity. Thus, eWOM shown in the fans page can strengthen or weaken
trust of that SNS user on the SNS. such belief. If other consumers of the product or service leave
The last aspect of trust included in our model is trusting beliefs. favorable comments (i.e., positive eWOM) in the firm’s fans page,
Trusting beliefs is a person’s specific trust on a firm and her beliefs these comments will strengthen other consumers’ belief that the
that the firm will act according to her benefit (McKnight & firm has the competence to deliver the product or service as
Chervany, 2001). McKnight and Chervany (2001) suggest that pledged. However, if there are a lot of negative comments (i.e.,
trusting beliefs is a multidimensional constructs, and McKnight negative eWOM), such belief will be weaken.
186 E.W.K. See-To, K.K.W. Ho / Computers in Human Behavior 31 (2014) 182–189

To sum up, the trusting beliefs of a SNS user on a firm which 3.3. The relationship between eWOM in SNSs, value co-creation,
uses SNS fans page to develop its eWOM is affected by both the trusting beliefs, and purchase intention
antecedents of trusting beliefs (i.e., disposition to trust and institu-
tional-based trust) and eWOM. Based on the above discussion on In the conceptual model developed by Payne et al. (2008), there
how eWOM interacts with different aspects of trust, we develop are three sets of processes in value co-creation, i.e., customer va-
the following two propositions. lue-creating processes, supplier value-creating processes, and
encounter processes. Payne et al. (2008) suggest that the customer
Proposition 1.1. eWOM in SNS has an impact on the two aspects of learning process in the customer value-creating processes helps a
institutional-based trust, i.e., structural assurance and situational customer to gain a better understanding about the firm and engage
normality. Positive eWOM will strengthen a SNS user’s institutional- in the product or service provided by the firm. Such engagement in
based trust on the SNS; and negative eWOM will weaken the user’s the product or service will influence purchase intention.
institutional-based trust on the SNS. We are also in the view that eWOM affects value co-creation
through its impact on consumers’ trust on a product. Abela and
Murphy (2008) suggest that consumers’ trust has an influence in
Proposition 1.2. eWOM has an impact on the three aspects of trust- FP6 of S-D logic, as a consumer needs to have a sufficient level of
ing beliefs, i.e., benevolence, competence, and integrity. Positive trust on the firm before she agrees to co-create the value of the
eWOM will strengthen a SNS user’s trusting belief of the product sold product with a firm. Hence, trust is a prerequisite of value co-cre-
by the firm which uses the fans page in SNS to develop its eWOM; ation (Abela & Murphy, 2008). As eWOM is a factor affecting con-
and negative eWOM will weaken the user’s trusting belief on the sumers’ trust on a firm and its product, we expect eWOM has an
firm. impact on value co-creation through consumers’ trust on a prod-
uct. Here, the trust which affects the value co-creation is the trust
in the firm, i.e., the trusting beliefs of the firm.
3.2. The relationship between eWOM in SNS, consumers’ trust towards SNS is a neutral platform for value co-creation. A firm creates a
a product, and purchase intention SNS fans page to develop its brand for their products and dissem-
inate marketing information as the input for value co-creation. If
Prior studies suggest that eWOM has an impact on purchase no consumer views and uses the SNS fans page, the fans page will
intention. Park and Kim (2008) report that consumers usually rely have no value at all. When consumers start to use the SNS fans
on comments and information available online to make their pur- page to obtain information about the product and provide their
chase decision. Plus, eWOM in electronic marketplaces, such as comments on it, the consumers’ actions will co-create the value
eBay, has an impact on the closing price of electronic auctions of this fans page. From the firm perspective, a consumer partici-
(Ba & Pavlou, 2002; Lee et al., 2000; Rice, 2012; Yoo et al., pates in the SNS fans page by viewing and posting her comments
2006; Zhou et al., 2009). In particular, positive eWOM in the elec- about the firm’s product generating an opportunity for the firm
tronic marketplaces leads to a higher closing price of auctions, to have a two-way communication with the consumer. This two-
whereas negative eWOM in the electronic marketplaces reduces way communication can improve the understanding between the
the closing price of auctions. As stated earlier, eWOM formed in two parties, and the comments from the consumer can help the
other online platforms has been shown to have impact on pur- firm to enhance its product design, etc. From consumers’ perspec-
chase intention (Bailey, 2004; Chan & Ngai, 2011; Xia & Bechwati, tive, the comments provided by other consumers become the
2008). eWOM circulated in the online community of the SNS fans page
Trust has also been shown to have an impact on purchase inten- subscribers. These eWOM stated in the SNS fans page generates
tion. Gefen et al. (2003) show that trusting beliefs has a significant consumer’s value through aggregating and disseminating their
impact on online purchase intention. McKnight and Choudhury experiences as needed. It is anticipated that positive eWOM stated
(2006) also report that trusting beliefs has an impact on trusting in the SNS fans page enhances the image of the product and
intention, which leads to online consumers’ willingness to pur- encourages the involvement of consumers in value co-creation.
chase. Wen, Prybutok, and Xu (2012) also show that trust can have With these backgrounds, we anticipate that eWOM in SNS fans
an indirect impact to online purchase intention in some situation. page has a direct impact, and has an indirect impact though con-
Based on the argument we stated in the previous sub-section, we sumers’ trust on a product, on value co-creation. We also anticipate
suggest that eWOM shown in the fans page in SNSs and eWOM that value co-creation in SNS fans page has an impact on purchase
in electronic marketplaces have a similar effect to purchase inten- intention.
tion due to their similarity, i.e., both of them are comments and There are some recent studies developing scales to measure va-
feedbacks leave by consumers in an online platform. In addition, lue co-creation. In particular, Ng et al. (2010) suggest measuring
a SNS user’s trusting beliefs of the product sold by the firm which value co-creation as a multi-attribute construct with seven dimen-
uses the fans page in SNS to develop its eWOM is expected to have sions. They use this seven-dimension construct to study the value
a significant impact on online purchase intention. Thus, we have co-creation process of business-to-business service. After review-
the following two propositions. ing the measurement scale which Ng et al. (2010) proposed, we
suggest that two attributes in their model, i.e., behavioral align-
Proposition 2.1. eWOM in SNS has an impact on purchase intention. ment, and empowerment and control, are relevant to the analysis.
Positive eWOM will strengthen a SNS user’s purchase intention on the According to Ng et al. (2010), behavioral alignment is the situation
product which is sold by the firm which uses the fans page in SNS to when ‘‘both customer and firm have to ensure that the right behav-
develop its eWOM; and negative eWOM will weaken the user’s iors are in place to ensure effective and efficient value co-produc-
purchase intention. tion and co-creation’’ and empowerment and control is the
combination of the effects of ‘‘the sense of empowerment to recog-
nize a willingness to change others for effective co-production and
Proposition 2.2. The level of trusting beliefs of the product sold by co-creation’’ and ‘‘establishing a system that allows both (customer
the firm which uses the fans page in SNS to develop its eWOM has and firm) to have a perception of control’’. In SNSs perspective,
a positive impact on a SNS user’s purchase intention on the behavioral alignment is the situation when both the SNS user
product. and the firm can communicate effectively and efficiently to discuss
 E.W.K. See-To, K.K.W. Ho / Computers in Human Behavior 31 (2014) 182–189 187

and develop new ideas in relation with the firm’s product and ser- tion Section. First, researchers can conduct a qualitative study, for
vice in the SNS fans page. Also, empowerment and control in SNSs example, using content analysis, to collect more information from
perspective is the situation when the SNS user feels that she has subjects through face-to-face interviews to develop possible
the control on whether she would make the decision on taking hypotheses to strengthen the research model (Cooper & Schindler,
eWOM in the SNS fans paper into her decision-making process or 2010; Miles & Huberman, 1994). Second, researchers can also con-
not. Based on the above arguments, we develop the following three duct a quantitative study by develop hypotheses to test those
propositions. propositions developed in the model using experiments, and col-
lect survey data using existing or newly developed survey items.
Proposition 3.1. eWOM in SNSs has an impact on value co-creation Those survey data to be collected from experiments can be inves-
process. Positive eWOM in SNS fans page encourages the value co- tigated using those statistical methods, such as structural equation
creation process between the firm and the SNS user; and negative modeling. The last but not least, researchers can also consider
eWOM in SNS discourages the process. using mixed-method research (Bryman, 2007), which is a method-
ology by combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Mixed-
method research has been suggested to be a suitable method for
Proposition 3.2. The level of trusting beliefs of the product sold by customer relationship research (Romano & Fjermestad, 2003),
the firm which uses the fans page in SNS to develop its eWOM has a which eWOM research is obviously a new branch of such research
positive impact value co-creation process. area. We anticipate that, through conducting qualitative, quantita-
tive, or mixed-method research, IS and marketing researchers will
Proposition 3.3. The level of value co-creation process has a positive be able to gain further insights on how eWOM can be used for
impact on a SNS user’s purchase intention on the product. enhancing purchase intention in SNS through affecting trust and
value co-creation processes, and how the message source moder-
ated such impacts. These potential findings will, for sure, help
3.4. The moderating effect of the message source on the SNS fans page the practitioners to develop better SNS platforms for firms and
consumers.
The last research question addresses the moderating effect of
the message source on the SNS fans page (i.e., the person who 4.2. Theoretical contributions of this study
posted eWOM in SNS fans page) on the impact of eWOM in SNSs
on consumers’ trust on a product, value co-creation, and purchase This research investigates into the impact of eWOM developed
intention. Prior research suggest that message source (i.e., whether in SNSs on purchase intention using the theories in trust and value
the message comes from a close friend, an unfamiliar friend, or co-creation. We develop a theoretical model, which can be used for
from the firm) has an impact on the users’ trust on a eWOM studying how eWOM affects purchase intention via consumers’
(Dou, Walden, Lee, & Lee, 2012; Naylor et al., 2012). Other research trust on a product and value co-creation process. We also propose
also shows that messages from different sources have a different the possibility of the existence of a moderating effect of the mes-
level of impact on purchase intention (Yang, 2012). Also, Forman, sage source in SNSs on the impact of eWOM of a product or service
Ghose, and Wiensenfeld (2008) report the impact of the identity in SNS fans page on consumers’ trust on that product or service, va-
disclosure of source in the online community who provided re- lue co-creation, and purchase intention. The model we developed
views in electronic markets. They show that the reviews posted in this study bring impacts on IS and marketing research in four
by sources with identity disclosure are more welcomed by the on- perspectives.
line community as reflected by a higher level of perceived helpful- First, through developing this model, we advance our knowl-
ness. Based on these results, we anticipate that the impacts of edge on how eWOM in SNSs affects purchase intention. This con-
eWOM are moderated by the identity of the sources who post up tributes to the literature by providing new theoretical reasons to
eWOM in the SNS fans page. We anticipate eWOM comes from a fill up the gap of the lack of research in studying the impacts of
close friend will have more impact, compared with an unfamiliar eWOM on purchase intension using SNS as a communication plat-
friend and from the firm, on the development of different aspects form. The theoretical model is capable for explaining such impacts,
of trust, as well as on the effectiveness of value co-creation process, i.e., how eWOM in SNSs directly affects purchase intention, and
and purchase intention. The following is the last proposition of this how eWOM in SNSs affects purchase intention through consumers’
study. trust on a product developed by eWOM in SNSs.
Second, this study is one of the earliest studies exploring the
Proposition 4. The message source of eWOM in SNS fans page relationship between eWOM and value co-creation. Prior research
moderates the impact of eWOM in SNS fans page on consumers’ trust in value co-creation focuses on the development of theoretical
on a product, value co-creation, and purchase intention. models in understanding the interaction between manufacturers
Table 2 summaries the findings of prior research and how they and consumers in value co-creation process. There is a lack of re-
are related to our propositions. search in studying how those factors affecting consumers’ perspec-
tive in value co-creation. This study contributes to the value co-
4. Discussion creation literature by developing a model, which future research
can be conducted to collect empirical data for measuring how
4.1. Empirical methodologies eWOM in SNSs affects the value co-creation process in consumers’
perspective. In the next step of this research project, we plan to
Based on prior literature, we propose the theoretical model at collect such data to measure how consumers’ trust on a product
Fig. 1, which consists of 4 sets of propositions, for IS and marketing developed by eWOM in SNSs affects value co-creation. Our result
researchers to develop their studies for investigating the roles of in this aspect will have a long-term impact to IS and marketing re-
eWOM in affecting purchase intention directly, as well as affecting search by providing the foundation for developing empirical re-
purchase intention though institutional-based trust, trusting be- search on value co-creation. Third, this study advances our
liefs, and value co-creation, and moderated by the message source. understanding on how value co-creation affects purchase inten-
We suggest that researchers can develop different approaches to tion. While prior theoretical research suggests that value co-
investigate the four research questions we developed in Introduc- creation encourages consumers to engage in the new products
188 E.W.K. See-To, K.K.W. Ho / Computers in Human Behavior 31 (2014) 182–189

Table 2
Key findings from eWOM, trust, value co-creation, and purchase intention research for supporting the propositions.

Proposition Representative citations in supporting the proposition

Impact of eWOM on trust (propositions 1.1 and 1.2)
– Positive eWOM enhances trust Awad and Ragowksy (2008), Dellarocas (2003)
– Negative eWOM reduces trust Bailey (2004), Lee and Song (2010)
Impact of eWOM on purchase intention (proposition 2.1)
– eWOM has an impact on purchase intention Bailey (2004), Chan and Ngai (2011), Xia and Bechwati (2008)
Impact of trust on purchase intention (proposition 2.2)
– Trust generated from eWOM increases purchase intention Awad and Ragowksy (2008), Gefen et al. (2003), Kim et al.
(2009), Sia et al. (2009)
Impact of eWOM on value co-creation (proposition 3.1)
– Consumer-learning process is one of the process in value co-creation (and eWOM is a source for Payne et al. (2008)
consumer to learn about the product)
Impact of trust on value co-creation (proposition 3.2)
– Trust is a prerequisite for value co-creation Abela and Murphy (2008)
Impact of value co-creation on purchase intention (proposition 3.3)
– Value co-creation enhances consumer engagement, which enhances purchase intention Payne et al. (2008)
Message source moderates impacts of eWOM (Proposition 4)
– Impact of information source on trust Dou et al. (2012), Naylor et al. (2012)
– Impact of information source on purchase intention Forman et al. (2008), Yang (2012)

and services developed by suppliers, little research work has been This study has the following practical implications, and limitations
done to find support for this proposition. The model we proposed which we need to address in future research.
provides the foundation for conducting future research which
can use empirical data to support this argument. Our result will 5.1. Practical implications for this study
have an enduring impact on value co-creation research by
strengthening our understanding on the role of value co-creation This study has the following four practical implications. First,
in encouraging consumers to have repeated purchase with a firm’s based on the result of the theoretical study, which suggests how
product and/or service. eWOM developed in SNSs affects purchase intention through trust
The last but not least, we contribute to marketing literature and value co-creation, and how the message source of eWOM mod-
by exploring how the message source in SNSs moderates the im- erates such impacts, Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-commerce
pact of eWOM of a product in SNS fans page on consumers’ trust practitioners can gain an insight on how to better utilize the re-
on a product, value co-creation, and purchase intention. We sources in social media to build up their product images. Second,
hope to find evidence to show that the impact of eWOM is this research will help practitioners to develop a better strategy
moderated by the message source (i.e., whether the person in using SNSs as a platform to improve their value co-creation pro-
who provides the eWOM is a staff of the firm, a friend of the cesses with their consumers based on the theoretical model
consumer, or an unknown person in the SNS community, etc.). developed.
With a better understanding on how the identity of the partici- Third, practitioners can also gain an insight on how to apply the
pants in SNSs affects the impact of eWOM in SNS, marketers can concept of value co-creation in SNS in encouraging consumers to
develop better models in conducting target marketing using SNS have repeated purchase with their products and services. Defi-
fans pages. nitely, this can increase the sales volume and the revenue for the
To sum up, the results of this study will bring long-term im- firms. The last but not least, the insight on the moderating role
pacts to both the literature and practitioners in understanding of the identity of the participants in SNSs on the impact of eWOM
the roles of eWOM in SNSs in value co-creation and purchase in SNS is an important proposition for marketers, as well as practi-
intention. Our results will serve as foundations for future research tioners. This result can help them to design a better way to dissem-
in this area and, in particular, value co-creation. inate their marketing messages through SNS and develop the
positive eWOM for the firms and their products and services.

5. Conclusion 5.2. Limitations and future research directions

In this theoretical study, we develop a model using a systematic Similar to other research, this study also has some limitations.
review, which can be tested using empirical methods such as As a theoretical study, we propose a theoretical model by amal-
structural equation modeling, content analysis, or mixed-method gamating existing theories and models related to eWOM, trust, va-
research, to explain how eWOM developed in SNSs affect the pur- lue co-creation, and purchase intention through logical deduction.
chase intention. We suggest that eWOM can affect purchase inten- While we are confident that the proposed model is logically valid,
tion through several channels, including (i) direct impact; (ii) it is possible that some other constructs, such as those constructs
moderates by different aspects of trust (i.e., institutional-based in TAM (for example, perceived usefulness of the SNS), may have
trust and trusting beliefs); and (iii) moderates by the value co-cre- interactions with some of the existing constructs in the model.
ation process. We also suggest that the message source of eWOM However, we are in the view that we already included those most
in SNS fans pages also moderates the impact of eWOM on the con- important constructs into the model based on our comprehensive
structs mentioned. This research echoes the call for theory building literature review.
in eWOM research proposed by Cheung and Thadani (2010) and For future research directions, we suggest researchers to con-
strengthens our understanding on how eWOM affects purchase sider conducting qualitative and quantitative research to probe
intention in SNS through value co-creation. In particular, this study into those research questions proposed in the model, as we have
is one of the earliest one providing the theoretical justifications on suggested in Section 4.1. As explained, we anticipate that mixed-
why eWOM would have an impact on value co-creation, and why method research will be a good method to explore into this new
value co-creation would have an impact on purchase intention. facet of marketing and IS research.
 E.W.K. See-To, K.K.W. Ho / Computers in Human Behavior 31 (2014) 182–189 189

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