2 Related Literature

2.1 PURCHASE INTENTION:

Purchase Intention implies a customer likes to purchase an item or service since he/she finds that
he/she needs a specific item or service, or even mentality towards an item and impression of item. At
the end of the day, purchase intention implies purchaser will purchase an item by and by after she or he
assesses an item and discovers that the item worth purchasing. While shoppers select one specific item,
an official choice on tolerating an item to purchase or dismissing it relies upon customers' intention.
Additionally, an enormous number of outside variables have been perceived, which can influence PI
(Keller, 2001).

An article published in 2018 by Widarto Rachbini looked enormously into what components meet up in
consumer purchase intention. He investigated numerous develops we will research, for example,
trustworthiness, perceived risk, perceived benefits, and group influence. In any case, what contrasts our
exploration from his examination is essentially the way that he while he was centered principally around
Purchase Intention our examination looks more into the changed develops that have an effect
straightforwardly and in a roundabout way on consumer purchase intention just as the effects, they
have on one another. Moreover, the sample size of the populace directed by this researcher was
extremely low about just 200 respondents and thus leaves a ton of space for inclination. We then again
are leading our exploration on a considerably bigger pool of respondents while likewise constraining our
intended interest group to the clients of E-Commerce site clients trying to get precise information on our
build. As expressed in the confinements of the chose investigation the instruments utilized by him, taken
from research information 2017, were not planned inside the setting of Pakistan consequently
numerous components despite everything stayed to be considered, encouraging the requirement for
more examination to be led on this research which we are seeking after.

Another paper by Lena Jingen Liang, 2015 also focused on the consumer purchase intention with mostly
the same constructs however differentiating itself by also looking source credibility, and group influence.
This research itself like the one above was based upon the work done by Widarto Rachbini. The article
looked upon the constructs: perceived risk, perceived authenticity, perceived value, link between price
sensitivity and perceived risk. Immediately this study distinguishes itself by focusing more on the eWOM
impact on consumer purchase intention.

As can be seen from most of the researches previously conducted, they stressed the importance of
eWOM as well as how it impacted purchase intention, consistency in the sort while looking at how
eWOM impacts purchase intention as well. How they differed from one another was mostly in the form
of which sector they operated in. as well as the direction of their research.

Most of the articles tried to encompass as many variables as possible into their research to get as most
information as possible. Some researches were purely based on theoretical information rather than
being for practical applications.
2.2 Electronic Word of Mouth
Traditionally, word of mouth is generally regarded as a strong impact on the customer market,
inparticular the quest for information by consumers and associated with decision taking.
(Brown & Reingen, 1987; Money, Gilly, & Graham, 1998; Silverman, 1997). The World
Wide Web has also introduced drastic changes for companies, under which discussions
frequently actually happen between individuals and not advertisers (Levin et al., 2009).
Electronic Word-of -mouth can indeed be viewed as a method of interaction that provides
customers with information on vendors through the use of services and goods through internet
facilities. (Westbrook, 1987). Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004) defined electronic word of mouth
is favorable and adverse comment generated through prospective, current or former customers
regarding a service or business made accessible via the Internet to a myriad of individuals and
organizations. EWOM is widely known as having a large part to play in affecting and shaping
consumer perceptions and social preferences (Chatterjee, 2001). This plays a significant role in
marketing component advertising (Nguyen & Romaniuk, 2014). According (Lin et. al 2013),
eWOM is playing an essential role in affecting the consumer choices. The authors of this articles
took product involvement and brand image as a moderator in their research which greatly
affects the relationship between electronic word-of-mouth and the intention to purchase a
particular good or service. Moreover, our research is also based on the constructs such as
eWOM and purchase intention. However, this study includes group influence as the moderator
as family, relatives and friends’ preferences greatly matters when making purchasing decision.
Previous study (Jalilvand et.al 2012) has carried out a research eWOM and purchase intention
where brand image is acting as a mediator among these variables. On the contrary, our
research is differentiated by taking perceived risk as mediator where potential consumers are
likely to have some reservations related the product or service. Furthermore, there is another
study (Indiani et.al 2015) which worked on the same construct that is eWOM and purchase
intention. However, it includes other independent variables such as online visibility and website
quality as independent variables. Our research is altered by adding another independent
variable known as source credibility. Alternatively, the articles discussed above has some kind
of drawback as shown by the most previous researcher literature, individuals recognized the
role of eWOM and how its impaired buying behavior, reliability and in kind when investigating
why eWOM often effects purchasing behavior.

3 Hypotheses and research model

Our research focuses on consumer purchase intention. Intention to buy is a judgment as to whether a
buyer can purchase a specific good or administration. Keeping in mind or talking about purchasing a
product or service improves the desire to buy. (Porter, 1974). The intention is considered to be an
attitude that encourages a person to perform a particular behavior (Rezvani et al., 2012). An intention to
purchase can be affected by many factors implicitly or explicitly.
3.1 eWOM and Purchase Intention:
eWOM is a type of interaction in which people who have not met in real communicate virtually by
utilizing the electronic mode of communication (Kawakami & Parry, 2013). The worldwide development
and advancement in technology have entirely altered the way people think and their lifestyle. Past
findings indicate that several factors usually motivated buyers to make a purchase; nevertheless, these
are impacted collectively by eWOM (Alhidari et al., 2015). Some researchers suggested that having an
online customer review on the product or service provides sufficient help to potential customers who
are thinking or in favor to buy a particular product (Sen and Lerman, 2007).

The article published by (Lee et al., 2014) studies the factors affecting the intention to buy. They set
constructs such as product knowledge and promotion impacting the consumer's intention to buy
through eWOM. While our research includes varying constructs such as source credibility, perceived
risk, group influence stimulating consumer purchase intention. Nevertheless, some researchers were
short of time and lack sufficient resources to obtain more accurate results.

H1: eWOM has a positive influence on PI.

3.2 Source Credibility and Purchase Intention:

Source credibility is broadly used to examine the viability of underwriting (Hovland and Weiss 1951;
Taghipoorreyneh and de Run 2016). In particular, a credible endorser by and large shows beneficial
outcome towards buyers' recognition (Goldsmith et al. 2000). Trustworthiness and expertise are two
components that are examined inside source credibility. Data introduced by a credible source (for
example internet-based life influencers) can influence shoppers' convictions, assessments, mentalities
and practices (Wang et al. 2017). Furthermore, influencers who have been seen as specialists will in
general be increasingly influential (Aaker and Myers 1987) and equipped for driving shopper buy
expectation (Ohanian 1991). Till and Busler (2000) focused on that endorser affects both attitude and
purchase intention. trustworthiness speaks to an endorser's pride, authenticity, and genuineness
(Erdogan 1999). Metzger et al. (2003) noticed that an endorser who is seen as exceptionally dependable
and aptitude would prompt purchasers' lack of interest towards the publicizing message, bringing about
higher acknowledgment of the conveyed message. Moderately, internet-based life influencers who are
held with high mastery and dependability are seen as being progressively compelling on their adherents'
practices.

The impact of trust is mediated by risk on the buyer's intention to buy (Kim et, al., 2007). A few trust
scientists have demonstrated an immediate connection among trust and eagerness to purchase online
from Internet sellers (Bhattacherjee, 2002; McKnight et, al., 1998). Kim et, al., (2007) included trust as
basic variable in electronic commerce and furthermore expressed that the shopper will be bound to take
part in a web buy when trust is high (direct impact). They have succesfully inspected the immediate and
roundabout impacts of trust on a purchaser's intention to buy. The customer's trust toward the selling
gathering or substance will likewise build his aim to buy in a roundabout way by decreasing their view of
risk (circuitous impact) (Kim et, al., 2007).

Past researches provide great insights regarding the importance of source credibility but like all the
other researches they have their limitations. Firstly, (Widarto Rachbini, 2018) used only trust to
conclude this finding, limiting the scope of research. However, what differs our research from his study
is simply the fact that he while he was focused primarily on trust our research looks more into the
different constructs that have an impact directly and indirectly on purchase intention as well as the
impacts, they have on each other.

H2: Source Credibility (Trust) positively affects to purchase intention of the customers on the internet

3.3 eWOM, Perceived Risk, and Purchase Intention:

Prior studies have reported that eWOM is considered highly beneficial in mitigating the perceived risk as
consumers can get guidance from people through the internet. (Hung & Li, 2007; Cheung et al., 2009;
Schauet al., 2009). Hung & Li implied that Ewom plays an active role in intensifying the knowledge of the
brand which aids in reducing the customer’s perceived risk related to the product. Moreover, (Wu,
2014) analyzed how purchasers utilize eWom when they are booking facilities online which helps to
eliminate the possible risk in the transaction.

Kim et, al., (2007) expressed that a purchaser's perceived risk is a significant hindrance for online
customers who are thinking about whether to make an online buy and they characterized perceived risk
as a shopper's conviction about the expected unsure negative results from the online exchange. Since
the idea of perceived risk showed up in the showcasing writing, different kinds of risk have been
distinguished (Jacoby and Kaplan, 1972). For instance, Jacoby and Kaplan distinguished seven kinds of
risks: financial, performance, physical, psychological, social, time, and opportunity cost risk. On account
of Web shopping, three kinds of risk are supposed to be prevalent: financial risk, product risk, and
information risk (security and protection) (Bhatnagar et, al., 2000). A purchaser's perceived risk has been
found to impact their online choices (Antony et, al., 2006). It is regular for a client who is making an
online exchange to be hesitant to buy on the web in light of the fact that the feeling of risk might be
overpowering when contrasted with the conventional method of shopping (Kim et, al., 2007).

H3: Perceived Risk mediate between eWOM and Purchase Intention

3.4 Source Credibility, Perceived Risk, and Purchase Intention:

Consumer-generated content (CGC) websites can lose the buyer's interest and their intention to
purchase if the people who create content are not known (Wagenknecht et al., 2016). According to
some researchers, there is a significant association among source credibility components; specifically
trustworthiness and expertise with consumer risk perception such as in virtual spending (Nepomuceno
et al., 2014) and nourishment risk (Hussain et al., 2017). Also, (Yoo and Gretzel, 2009) have mentioned
connections among organized data and credibility, whereas material regarding an individual’s identity
has a specific influence on recipient belief (Reichelt et al., 2014).

Relation between perceived risk and purchase intention is already discussed in the paper.

H4: Perceived Risk mediate between source credibility and Purchase Intention

3.5 Reference Group, eWOM and Purchase Intention:

This investigation means to test the impact of reference group through purchase intention. This
examination sets that buyers use data from reference groups to settle on buy choices. Moreover, the
creator predicts that shoppers will be bound to follow their loved ones than celebrities or influencers
when they choose to buy both high-and low-inclusion items. This is on the grounds that shoppers accept
 that private groups are more solid than public groups. This forecast additionally bodes well considering
the work by Martin and Bush (2000). Along these lines, purchasers who use data from private groups
will have higher buy expectation than customers who use data from public groups.

The past studies conclude the importance of group influence and induce that it plays a mediating role or
dependent role between the eWOM and brand consumer purchase intention. According to Abdolrazagh
Madahi and Inda Sukati (2012) there are different factors effecting the eWOM towards the purchase
intention such as the characteristics of the primary and public group. Although the past research
provides a great insight on group influence regarding the consumer purchase intention but they contain
certain limitations which must be considered while making a full analysis. Secondly the research
examined the respondent’s response biased on limited information provided to them regarding the
eWOM, group influence, source credibility, and perceived risk which may limit their response to risk
associated with the purchase intention. Furthermore, all the researchers backed the mediating role of
group influence on the eWOM and how it effects the purchase intention of the consumers. But what
differs our research from this study is simply the fact that in our research group influence moderates the
relationship between electronic word of mouth and purchase intention.

H5: Group influence moderates the relationship between electronic word-of-mouth and purchase
intention.

Figure 1 Research model

H1

Electronic word-
H3 Consumer Purchase
of-mouth
Perceived Risk Intention

H4

Source Credibility
H2
H5

Group Influence
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