The Influence of Self-Media Key Opinion Leaders on Sichuan Consumers' Purchase Intention of Electronic Products

Abstract

With the development of the Internet, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication has become popular, and consumer behavior has changed dramatically. After getting attention and interest in the products or services, the consumers will now search eWOM information before purchasing and share the experiences with others after buying in the online spaces, especially in the virtual communities of consumption. Meanwhile, they start to pay attention to the online opinion leaders who can filter the valuable information and provide some recommendations for products or services. Opinion leaders and eWOM affect the consumers and play crucial roles in marketing strategies through the brand level, professional level, user dependency, detail of promotional information, and way of recommendation to consumer purchase intention. With the development of the Internet, more and more individuals who share similar interests gather online and lead to virtual communities, such as the virtual communities of consumption. The three research objectives are; to explore the electronic products online Sichuan consumers’ purchase intention through self-media, to evaluate the effect of influencing factors to purchase intention, and to put forward the critical suggestion on the role of key opinion leaders through self-media.