KOREASCHOLAR

Research Background Electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) is becoming an important marketing tools in social media era. Consumes are accustomed to sharing information with others in social networking sites (SNSs), such as, Facebook, Twitter, etc. e-WOM is defined as “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet” (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh, & Gremler, 2004, p. 39). As referred by Cheung and Thadani (2012), e-WOM adoption is one of the most important response variables in e-WOM research. The information adoption model is widely used in prior studies and showed that e-WOM credibility and information usefulness have a direct positive effect on e-WOM adoption (Cheung, Luo, Sia, & Chen, 2009; Liu & Zhang, 2010). e-WOM credibility is related to the communicator’s expertise and trustworthiness, information usefulness is related to the contents-related characteristics (such as positive or negative view and volume, etc.). Moreover, receiver’s prior knowledge and involvement to the product/service are proved to have a moderate effect on the e-WOM adoption (Doh & Hwang, 2009; Park & Kim, 2009). Existing e-WOM adoption researches are overly depend on information adoption model and only focusing on the communicator and contents role but neglect the receiver’s role. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between receiver’s attachment styles and e-WOM adoption response. We assumed that receiver’s psychology characteristics will have an important effect on their e-WOM adoption in SNSs, it is the precondition for consider the communicator and content. Thus, attachment theory is used in this study to examine what kind of individuals will adopt the e-WOM information in SNSs. Relevant Theory Attachment theory is used in this study. Attachment theory attempts to explain the affectionate bonds formed between infants and their primary caregivers (Bowlby, 1969) and transfers to other interpersonal relationships later in life (Ainswworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). The early relationship between infants and caregivers can help a child develop an internal working model, which can guide the child’s thoughts, behaviors, and affect other relationships (Weimer, Kerns, & Oldenburg, 2004). These relationships not only include romantic relationships and friendships (Bowlby, 1969) but also include the attachment to possessions, brands, sports teams, and business partners (Grinstein & Nisan, 2009; Kleine, Kleine III, & Allen, 1995). Attachment styles can be formed from two dimensions: attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998). The avoidance dimension refers to the degree that an individual’s view of others is positive or negative, whereas the anxiety dimension refers to the degree that an individual’s view of self is positive or negative. Avoidance dimension is related to the degree that individuals have a need for self-reliance, fear depending on others, distrust partners, and tend to keep emotional and cognitive distance away from partners (Brennan et al., 1998; Collins & Read, 1990).

• Min-Sook Park(Catholic University of Pusan, Repubic of Korea)
• Jong-Kuk Shin(Pusan National University, Republic of Korea)
• Yong Ju(Pusan National University, Republic of Korea)