Affiliate eWOM: exploring in the purchase intention of beauty and personal care products

Abstract

Purpose

Particularly in the rapidly expanding beauty and personal care sector, affiliate electronic word of mouth (eWOM) from affiliates has grown to be a dependable and trustworthy source of information. Guided by Signaling Theory, this paper aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis to understand the intricate dynamics of affiliate eWOM within the context of Iranian beauty and personal care products.

Design/methodology/approach

The study polled 330 consumers who have purchased beauty and personal care products in Iran. Data were gathered using a convenience sample, and the partial least square structural equation modeling model was used to examine and assess the hypotheses.

Findings

The results demonstrated a significant impact of information quality, rating, helpfulness and number of reviews, along with user-generated videos and photos, on the customer’s actual purchase and intention to purchase the beauty and personal care products. However, the ranking and recency of reviews do not significantly contribute to the stated relationship.

Originality/value

This research is first of its kind to analyze affiliate eWOM cues in the case of cosmetics e-commerce.

Citation

Ghorbanzadeh, D., Chandra, T., Pallathadka, H., Radie, A.A., Sharipov, S. and Prasad, K. (2025), "Affiliate eWOM: exploring in the purchase intention of beauty and personal care products", International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPHM-06-2024-0062