This research examines whether willingness to communicate acts as a mediator between trust and electronic word-of-mouth. There is a significant relationship between several variables in the proposed model. Trust has a negative and significant effect on eWOM activity and positive eWOM. Willingness to communicate is proven to affect the consumer's eWOM communications in all three dimensions which are eWOM activi旬， positive eWOM, and negative
eWOM. lndividuals that one trusts are usually friends or family and can be easily
contacted. This study also demonstrates from its results that the Intemet is not the main communication platforrn for individuals who know each other personally and communicate frequently face-to-face. Traditional WOM and other forrns of communication that inc\ude phone calls or personal visits are more direct. Intemet users communicate more frequently with individuals that they are less familiar
128 Using Trust and Willingness 10 lnjluence Ihe Spread 01 Electronic Word-oj二Mouth
with. Giving positive comments and praising products on the Internet yields a desired impression and helps build a positive personal image. On the contrary, consurners might consider that they are creating a negative self image if they write negative reviews and complaints. The level of dissatisfaction each consumer faces varies. It is likely that many of the electronic message recipients have not had the exp閃閃閃 thatcaused and stimulated an urge for the messenger to share this inforrnation with others.
Tie strength is shown to have a significant and positive relationship with negative and positive eWOM and eWOM activity. This means that the strength of the social relationship has a direct relationship with the level of communications sharing. The stronger the tie strength between individuals, the more likely they will propagate eWOM on lnternet platforms. The outcome oftie strength and trust with eWOM are unexpected since the directions of influence are different from results in the literature. These results can be used as the basis for further research.
First, the personality of each individual may moderate the amount of usage of Intemet (Guadagno, Okd吟， and Eno, 2008). Guada厚的， Okdie, and Eno (2008) used the Big Five personality measure scale to predict personality differences and Internet usage. lndividuals that are high in openness to experience are more willing to share details of their daily Iife. Also, Swickert et al. (2002)'s study on lntemet use and personality showed that personality is highly correlated with electronic information exchange (email and assessing inforrnation). Thus, Internet users do not have to trust the communicator to be more willi月 tospread eWOM.
6.
1. Managerial ImplicationsThis research provides several insights on how marketers can use eWOM as part of their strategy to attract and hold consumers. Certainly, eWOM should not be generalized to a single target audience. When targeting a mass target market, the sample should be divided among consurners with strong and weak tie strengths. Since there is no signi日cantrelationship between tie strength and trust, it should be further studied how individuals discriminate between the lnternet users they interact with. If we understand how consurners choose others to share their eWOM, then it will be possible to develop marketing tactics which
Chiao Da Management Review Vol. 32 No. 2, 2012 129
encourage communication. Electronic messages are a new tool for the advertising industry. Media providers freely interact with consumers and advertise through the Internet which shortens the distance between consurners and corporations and builds a larger target audience (Hung and Li, 2007).
6.2.
Limitations and Future ResearchAlthough this study provides useful practical insights and a basis for theory
developme肘， there are limitations. First, the sample consists of colJege students and teachers in Taipei City. Since the sample reflects a smalJ portion of our society, the diversity of the sample should be increased and additional hypotheses created. For future research, different groups of lntemet users can be examined for differences in electronic word-of-mouth sharing. Since lnternet usage behavior (e.g., the amount oftime spent on the Web) influences the interest in the lntemet (Awad and Ragowsky, 2008), usage time wilJ likely affect eWOM. Hence, online behaviors can be examined to observe the difference between different groups of lntemet users. FinalJy, it would be worthwhile to examine if there are more constructs (for example, personality, and mood) that wiU effectively complete the model.
7.
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