온라인 커뮤니티 인지적 정보특성이 신뢰와 구전효과에 미치는 영향

Abstract

This study is about the Online Community Information Characteristics, Word of mouth effect, Credibility and the Regulatory focus and the Online Community Information Characteristics were examined around the Consensus, Vividness and the Interactivity, which are the Cognitive Information Characteristics and what impact such information characteristics have on the Word of mouth effect and the Credibility was examined. In addition, the relations between the regulatory effect of the Regulatory Focus on the Online Community Information Characteristics and the Credibility, and the mediating effect of the Credibility on the Online Community Information Characteristics and the Word of mouth effect were verified through the empirical study. In the operational definition of the variables in this study, the Consensus is 'the degree of sharing, agreeing and having same opinion on the online community information' and the Vividness is 'the degree that the online information is specific and realistic as much as it is clear and arouse the imagination.' In addition, the Interactivity is defined as the degree that the consumers exchange the information actively and influence each other in the online community' and the Credibility is defined as 'the degree that information provided in the online community can be trusted without being distorted'. The Word of mouth effect can be divided into the word of mouth diffusion and the word of mouth accommodation, out of which the word of mouth diffusion is defined as 'the degree that the information obtained in the online community is intended to recommend or deliver to the others' and the word of mouth accommodation is defined as 'the degree that the attitude on the objects of the information is changed and the purchase desire and the image are improved after obtaining the information in the online community. The Regulatory focus, which is a regulatory variable, can be divided into the promotion focus, which is the active and challenging characteristic to achieve the specific goal according to the characteristics of the consumer, and the prevention focus, which the consumer prefers safety and takes defensive behavior to avoid the negative results. The questionnaire survey was performed according to the convenience sampling with the adults older than 20s residing in Jeju region considering the gender, occupation and the level of education, distributing total 362 questionnaires corrected through the preliminary survey. In the results of the study, first, the Vividness and the Interactivity out of the Online Community Information Characteristics had significant impact on the word of mouth accommodation and diffusion. This shows that if the vivid information is provided and the members of community interact each other so that they can receive same impression as the information receiver experienced directly when the information is provided in the online community, the word of mouth accommodation and the word of mouth diffusion can occur. Second, the Credibility had significant impact on the Word of mouth effect, which means that of the Credibility of the community itself or the Credibility on its members is felt, the word of mouth accommodation and diffusion of the emotion felt in the community or of the information occur. Third, it was analyzed that the Consensus, Vividness and the Interactivity, which are the Online Community Information Characteristics, have significant impact on the Credibility. Fourth, only the Interactivity shows the mediating effect on the Credibility of the Word of mouth effect out of the Online Community Information Characteristics and the Word of mouth effect. Fifth, the Regulatory focus, which is one of the consumer characteristics, can be divided into the promotion focus and the prevention focus according to the propensity of the consumer, among which the consumers having the propensity of promotion focus think positive aspects and receive less external impact than those who having prevention focus when obtaining the information or purchasing the products. Therefore, the hypothesis that the consumers having promotion focus can receive the greater impact by the Online Community Information Characteristics and the Credibility than those who having prevention focus was suggested but that hypothesis was dismissed. The theoretical implications through this study are arranged as follows. First, if the online community information has Consensus Vividness and Interactivity, it can grant the Credibility. This result is conformed with existing researches and it was confirmed that to grant the Credibility to the information receiver, the Consensus, Vividness and the Interactivity are important for the information provided to the receiver. Second, as the false information like the comment by the hired stooges are made, the online community information that do not have Credibility cannot obtain the Consensus, and such information cannot generate the word of mouth accommodation or diffusion. Therefore, to have the Word of mouth effect, the Consensus on the information should be provided and the Credibility should be secured. Third, if the online community information provide the Vividness or the interaction in the community is made actively, such information have impact on the Word of mouth effect. Fourth, beside of the online community information, if the Credibility on the online community itself is possessed or the Credibility on the community members is formed, the word of mouth accommodation and diffusion occur. Therefore, the Credibility on the online community and the community members are given to the community member, the Word of mouth effect on the information provided in the community can occur. The practical implications of this study are as follows. First, the Word of mouth effect, which the information is provided easily to the diverse receivers in the wide range of area is made by the information receivers' accommodation and diffusion of the word of mouth on the information. Through this study, the Consensus, Vividness and the Interactivity, which are the portal site community information characteristics, should be secured to obtain the Credibility of the online community and the specific working-level efforts are needed. Second, the online community users who recognize that there are faslse information like the comments by the hired stooges will not agree with the information without having Credibility and accordingly, the word of mouth accommodation and diffusion do not occur. In addition if the information receiver feels the Vividness and the Interactivity from the online community information, the word of mouth accommodation and diffusion are made. Therefore, if the hand-on staffs provide the information as if the receiver experiences directly not simply proving information allowing interacting with the information receiver or members interact among them, the greater Word of mouth effect can be represented. Third, the Word of mouth effect can be made if all the information should give Credibility to the information receivers. Therefore, if the reliable information is provided to the information receivers reliable, the information receivers will accommodate and diffuse the word of mouth for that information.