Abstract
Electronic word-of-mouth (ewom) is one important information source that influences consumer purchase intentions. Previous works showed that the potency of ewom information, which does not match prior attitudes, tend to be limited. This paper investigates the limitation effects for the ewom information of product attributes from the viewpoint of two layers of consumer prior attitudes: toward products and toward their attributes. The experiment was designed in two parts: (1) subjects evaluated digital cameras using press releases from the makers to form each layer of prior attitudes, and (2) subjects changed their purchase intentions toward the cameras based on the ewom information of the product attributes. A two-way ANOVA with prior attitude toward the products and their attributes as the two factors was performed on the data set from questionnaire surveys of 152 university students. The results supported three hypotheses that reflected the limitation effects of two layers of prior attitudes.
