The Influence of eWOM on Virtual Consumer Communities: Social Capital, Consumer Learning, and Behavioral Outcomes
Kineta H. HungUniversity of Hong KongStella Yiyan LiCity University of Hong KongAdvances in electronic communication technology have popularized the use of new media (as opposed to media advertising), including official and unofficial websites, viral marketing, electronic newsgroups, and blogs that offer consumers instantaneous interactions with advertisers, fellow consumers, and other market players. Among the new media, virtual communities (VCs) especially have become a social phenomenon and changed the way people communicate and relate to one another (Rheingold, 1993). A...