Understanding eWOM of Chinese Governments information service: a perceived value-based perspective

Abstract

Purpose

In a people-oriented society, it is necessary to understand the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) of information service of the government. Government affair microblogs (GAM), which play an important role in orienting online opinions, listening to public voices, establishing government image, is an ideal channel to achieve this goal. In essence, the application of GAM is to improve the communication efficiency between the government and the public. The purpose of this study is to the influence factors of GAM eWOM which will not only benefits the government in better understanding the information dissemination rules of microblogs but also provides directions for the government to improve the information service over microblogs.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the authors investigate and verify the regulating function, herd effect applied on GAM. The authors conduct an innovative empirical study based on perceived value theory, aiming to explore the factors that influence the eWOM of the Chinese Government.

Findings

Experiments on 502 GAM users show that social identification positively affects perceived value while effort cost negatively affects perceived value, and perceived value positively influences the microblogs’ eWOM. The authors also find that the herd effect positively regulates the relationship between perceived value and GAM’s eWOM. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Originality/value

In this research, the regulating effect of herd effect on the relationship between perceived value and GAM’s eWOM has been explored. This study also provides inspirations for future government information service research and administrative measurement.

Citation

Zhang, Z., Chen, H. and Xiao, B. (2019), "Understanding eWOM of Chinese Governments information service: a perceived value-based perspective", Information Discovery and Delivery, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 251-258. https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-08-2019-0058