Consumers’ electronic word-of-mouth behavioral intentions on Facebook: Does message type have an effect?

Abstract

This study was designed to assess consumers’ electronic word-of-mouth behavioral intentions toward various types of business-to-consumer messages on Facebook, as well as their intentions toward the hospitality companies that initiate the messages. The results suggested that marketing messages (vs. conversational messages) evoke stronger electronic word-of-mouth behavioral intentions toward the messages as well as the companies that initiated the messages. Strong electronic word-of-mouth behavioral intentions toward the messages were found to be predictive of higher electronic word-of-mouth intentions toward the companies that initiated the messages. Gender had no moderating effect on such relationships. The findings provide implications for hospitality managers to develop specific business-to-consumer strategies to engage with Facebook users.