The Influence of Online Word-of-Mouth: A Comparison of American and Chinese Discussion Boards

The important influence of peer recommendations on consumer purchases has been strongly established. However, the growth of electronic discussion boards has recently created an additional channel for product recommendations and endorsements between people who have never met, and anecdotal reports suggest that such recommendations can be influential in subsequent choice. This study examines and compares recommendations on digital camera electronic discussion boards within US and China based websites. The analysis showed a significant country of origin effect among users of a Chinese web site, in the form of a significantly higher frequency of negative references to brands originating from Japan. Information seeking behaviour was also found to vary between the two sites, with users of the China based website more likely to request information, thus possibly increasing the likelihood of, and influence of, online word-of-mouth for users of this website.