The impact of unverified news and electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM) on customer satisfaction and purchase intention in the food and beverage (F&B) industry

Abstract

In the context of the 4.0 revolution taking place strongly globally and the strong development of the internet of things, the Vietnamese market witnessed a strong boom in e-commerce. This type of business is growing strongly and has breakthroughs, having a great impact on all industries, including typical industries as Food and Beverage categories (hereinafter referred to as F&B). That development entails diversification and loss of control of information related to brands/products somehow having impact on consumers. Understanding the impact of unverified information and electronic word of mouth (hereinafter referred to as e-WOM) on customer satisfaction and purchasing trends can help F&B businesses have appropriate solutions for information processing and brand development. Using qualitative and quantitative research methods, we identify the impact on unverified news regarding source credibility, news truthfulness, news credibility and e-WOM on customer satisfaction and purchase intention through brand trust and brand image. The research uses a sample of 300 consumers in Ho Chi Minh City and uses quantitative research methods to analyze. The result of this research shows that unverified news and e-WOM on brand trust and brand image, have an impact on customer satisfaction and purchase intention. Based on the result collected, we point out the limitations and give recommendations for F&B brand. Although having some limitations in terms of data collecting methods, sizes of samples, our study is useful for F&B brands to build suitable strategies, especially in managing and controlling information related to the brand and product, to improve their performance in the context of the Vietnamese market.