Personality effects on WoM and eWoM susceptibilty – a cross-country perspective

Purpose This study utilizes social communication theory as the framework to examine the influence of personality on young word-of-mouth (WoM) and electronic word-of-mouth (eWoM) audiences across the US, France and Germany and explores relationships between personality traits and cultural dimensions. Design/methodology/approach An adaptation of the consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII) scale measured WoM influence in an online review context. After pretesting and validating the consumer susceptibility to online review influence (CSRI) scale in Luxemburg, hypotheses were tested, and research questions were explored in a multi-group structural equation model based on French, German and US samples. Findings Personality traits are negatively linked to CSRI as well as to CSII across the three countries. Overall, the stronger the personality traits, the weaker the online and offline WoM influence seems. In contrast to France, results for the US and Germany show that young people are either more susceptible to WoM or to eWoM influence. Results imply tendencies for a potential interaction effect between power distance and openness to new experience on WoM and partially on eWoM. Practical implications Earned media is more effective among audiences with weaker personality structures. Stronger personalities may prefer to serve as senders of WoM and eWoM (influencers). The non-uniform results between WoM and eWoM susceptibility across the countries favor earned media strategies optimized on a country basis and psychological targeting when communicating online review results. Originality/value This study expands knowledge of individual (personality traits) and country similarities and differences across France, Germany and the US and how they affect earned media (WoM and eWoM) influence.