網路論壇口碑強度、雙面訊息與口碑順序對說服效果之影響－－產品涉入之干擾效應

Persuasive Effects of Argument Strength, Message Sidedness and Order of Word-of-Mouth in On-line Forums: The Moderating Role of Involvement

網路的普及帶動消費者言論的自由傳播，網路論壇中個人的評論與使用經驗已成為消費者重要的參考資訊。不同於人際口碑著重傳播者特性的探討，網路口碑在可匿名發表的情況下，難以明確判斷傳播者的身分，使得訊息在說服過程的角色更形重要。在訊息特性中，過去研究常就論點的強弱或是正、負面探討消費者認知的差異，然而在網路論壇中，消費者可能同時接觸正面與負面意見，根據雙面訊息與順序效果的觀點，消費者對於只提供正面觀點的訊息並不一定較同時包含正、負雙面論點的訊息有更高的說服效果，此外，消費者的認知亦可能受正、負面訊息出現的順序所影響，而訊息順序的效應，尚可能因消費者產品涉入程度不同而有差異。本文旨就論點強度、單面／雙面訊息與訊息順序等特性，探討網路論壇口碑的說服效果，其中，說服效果是以口碑知覺可信度、品牌態度與口碑傳播意圖為探討範圍，並考量消費者產品涉入程度是否影響口碑特性的說服效果。本研究採取實驗法，搜集網路論壇一真實品牌口碑，依據口碑論點強度（高與低）、單面／雙面訊息與正、負面口碑出現順序（正正、正負、負正）共分為六個實驗組。實驗結果顯示，口碑知覺可信度對消費者品牌態度的轉變與口碑傳播意圖具有正向的影響，強化口碑的論點將有助於提升消費者之知覺可信度，對於高產品涉入者的影響尤為顯著。相較於單面訊息，提供雙面訊息並未顯著增加口碑知覺可信度。最後，在正、負面口碑順序方面，採取先負後正的口碑順序，對低產品涉入者品牌態度的提昇具有較佳的效果。

Through on-line forums, the Internet enables customers to engage in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communications. Different from traditional WOM of which research focuses on the effects of sources of WOM, eWOM needs more studies on the persuasive effects of characteristics of messages on consumers' attitudes and communication intentions. This study investigates whether the argument strength, message sideness and order of eWOM can affect consumers' perceived credibility, brand attitude and eWOM communication intention and how these effects are changed by consumer involvement. Several hypotheses are proposed, and an experiment is conducted that addresses these questions in the context of online consumer forums. The resulting analysis suggests that the argument strength may lead to perceived credibility of eWOM, especially for consumers with high product involvement. Further, the message sideness and the order of eWOMs only influence the low-involvement consumers' perceived credibility and the brand attitude, respectively. Finally, the brand attitude and the communication intention of eWOM are enhanced as the perceived credibility increases.