Online Word-of-Mouth (or Mouse): An Exploration of Its Antecedents and Consequences

TLDR

The study developed an integrated model to examine antecedents and consequences of online word‑of‑mouth in music‑related communication. Using survey data from college students, online word‑of‑mouth was operationalized as online opinion leadership and online opinion seeking. Innovativeness, Internet usage, and Internet social connection predict online word‑of‑mouth, which in turn drives online forwarding and chatting, while music involvement shows no significant effect; the study discusses theoretical implications and future research.

Abstract

This study developed an integrated model to explore the antecedents and consequences of online word-of-mouth in the context of music-related communication. Based on survey data from college students, online word-of-mouth was measured with two components: online opinion leadership and online opinion seeking. The results identified innovativeness, Internet usage, and Internet social connection as significant predictors of online word-of-mouth, and online forwarding and online chatting as behavioral consequences of online word-of-mouth. Contrary to the original hypothesis, music involvement was found not to be significantly related to online word-of-mouth. Theoretical implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.