A Study on the Influence of Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) on Consumer Purchase Behavior- A Review on Tourism Industry

Abstract

Consumers in the 21^st century are technology savvy; internet users spend most of their time for product information virtually in gaining knowledge through shared opinions and experiences posted through eWOM. These information may help alter the purchase behavior of a potential consumer. The main objective of this study is to summarize the past studies about the influence of eWOM on consumer buying behavior and also discovering the gaps in the present researches. There have been a pool of knowledge available one WOM, however few studies have been conducted on eWOM in context to consumer purchase behavior in the tourism industry. The study offers a comprehensive examination of journals, articles and research papers related to eWOM, underlining the research gap and recommending new directions for future investigation into the hotel and hospitality industry.