Is It Possible for “Electronic Word-of-Mouth” and “User-Generated Content” to be Used Interchangeably?

Abstract

The advance of web 2.0 that facilitates contents to be created, shared and exchanged through online platforms has led to profound changes in consumer behavior. Modern consumers appreciate nonprofessional-produced contents as they are perceived to be more trustworthy. As a result, electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) and user-generated content (UGC) have become two of the most frequent researched objects over the last ten years in marketing area. However, extant studies have confounded these two concepts which may cause significant academic problems. In this paper the authors aim to disentangle eWOM and UGC by comparing their fundamental attributes. Findings prove that despite sharing similar attributes, eWOM and UGC are two distinctive concepts with different scope and meaning. It is thus concluded that eWOM and UGC cannot be used interchangeably. The results of this study provide important implications for future research.

Keywords: eWOM, UGC, creation, dissemination, publicity.

DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/65-04

Publication date: February 29^th 2020