The motivation structure of electronic word-of-mouth: Effects of personality on the generation of online articulations

Online services and applications extend influencing opportunities to traditional word-of-mouth advertising. Unlike traditional word-of-mouth, the online environment provides certain features, amongst others, anonymity in user-generated content. Further, the personality of online users affects their motivation to actively provide online articulations. This paper focuses on how personality specifically influences active behavior regarding internet use and the related differentiation between offline and online multipliers. The results show that persons with a weak personality are more active as multipliers, due to a lack of social recognition. On the basis of these results, the practical implications, particularly regarding opinion leaders’ role in the online environment, are discussed, as well as an incentive structure presented to address and integrate online multipliers.