Abstract
Consumers are relying more on eWOM to guide their purchasing decisions. This is because comments or reviews shared by fellow consumers are deemed to be trustworthy and reliable. An industry that has seen a spike in eWOM is the online retail industry, where consumers confidently share their opinions online. This makes it important for online retailers to understand the impact that eWOM has. Therefore, this study uncovered the drivers of information adoption based on the Information Adoption Model in an emerging market such as South Africa. In addition, the study revealed the role that gender played in information adoption. A total of 542 usable questionnaires were retained for data analysis. The results indicated that each relationship in the model was statistically significant and positive. Furthermore, the results revealed that, overall, argument quality is the strongest predictor of perceived information usefulness. However, respondents indicated that not all comments or reviews are supported by sufficient reasons. This indicates that online retailers need to be cognisant of the eWOM being spread and, where necessary, provide additional context to some comments or reviews. The results of the moderation analysis revealed that, of all the relationships in the model, gender moderates the relationship between source credibility and information usefulness, with the greatest effect being observed among men. This indicates that, when online retailers target men, they need to ensure that the positive eWOM being spread is from a credible source (e.g. an opinion leader), as this has a direct impact on whether or not the consumer perceives the information as useful.