The influence of unverified news and electronic word-of-mouth on customer satisfaction and purchase intention: An empirical study on the food and beverage industry

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In the digital age, unverified news and electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) have become pervasive, raising concerns about their influence on customer behavior and decision-making. This research aims to investigate how unverified news affects customer purchase intention and satisfaction, emphasizing the mediating role of brand image within customer relationship management. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) as the theoretical framework, the study collected the data from 378 undergraduate and postgraduate students in Vietnam. The hypotheses were tested through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS4. There are two significant results. Firstly, unverified news has significantly influenced brand image and trust, leading to customer satisfaction and purchase intention. Secondly, brand image plays a mediating role in the relationship between e-WOM and purchase intention. This research contributes to the marketing literature by demonstrating how unverified news shapes consumer behavior. The findings provide actionable insights for businesses to adapt their marketing strategies, addressing the growing challenges of misinformation to improve brand trust and customer satisfaction in today’s information-driven market.

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    • Figure 1. Proposed research model
    • Figure 2. PLS-SEM results
    • Table 1. Respondent demographics
    • Table 2. Reliability and validity
    • Table 3. Fornell and Larcker’s criterion for discriminant validity
    • Table 4. Heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) ratios for discriminant validity
    • Table 5. Collinearity statistics (inner VIF)
    • Table 6. Results of hypothesis testing
    • Conceptualization
      Ngoc-Hong Duong, Chi Viet Duong
    • Funding acquisition
      Ngoc-Hong Duong
    • Methodology
      Ngoc-Hong Duong, Thien Kim Nguyen Ba
    • Project administration
      Ngoc-Hong Duong
    • Supervision
      Ngoc-Hong Duong
    • Writing – review & editing
      Ngoc-Hong Duong, Bao Tran Tran
    • Data curation
      Chi Viet Duong, Minh Chau Thai
    • Investigation
      Chi Viet Duong, Thien Kim Nguyen Ba, Minh Chau Thai
    • Resources
      Chi Viet Duong, Bao Tran Tran
    • Software
      Chi Viet Duong, Thien Kim Nguyen Ba
    • Writing – original draft
      Chi Viet Duong, Thien Kim Nguyen Ba, Minh Chau Thai
    • Formal Analysis
      Thien Kim Nguyen Ba, Bao Tran Tran
    • Validation
      Bao Tran Tran, Minh Chau Thai
    • Visualization
      Bao Tran Tran, Minh Chau Thai