Browsing by Author "Ribeiro, Ana Cristina Rodrigues"
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- The influence of EWOM on the real estate marketPublication . Ribeiro, Ana Cristina Rodrigues; Abrantes, José Luís Mendes LoureiroCommunication between consumers, word-of-mouth, strongly influences behavior and purchase intention. Currently, the digital facility allows for quick communication and easy search for information. Bearing in mind that the real estate market today has more demand than supply, it is crucial to understand how to communicate with these consumers. The present study aims to understand the decisive factors for the message to influence consumers’ purchase intention in the Portuguese real estate market. Its importance is in discovering the role of word-of-mouth and influencing communication, as this could affect new generations of buyers in the real estate market. Since this type of purchase is a difficult decision for the consumer who seeks information online, understanding how to communicate in the real estate market in the digital age is essential. After a literature review on the concepts related to electronic word-of-mouth, a qualitative and quantitative study was carried out, with samples for convenience. In the qualitative research, the study presents ten real estate professionals interviewed. Their responses, together with the literature review, helped build a survey for the quantitative part, which had 156 valid answers. The qualitative component has a thematic analysis, with the NVIVO software’s help, and the quantitative research with the IMB SPSS Statistics. Quantitative data allowed for descriptive, factorial, and cluster analysis. This data made it possible to draw three profiles of electronic word of mouth. The results showed that the market has more demand than supply, and centrality is essential. Consumers are currently more informed, and, in general, price is a decisive factor, followed by location and access. The recommendation continues to be the primary source of clients for agencies, which promotes the role of word-of-mouth, physical or digital. Professionals also recognized the vital role of digitization and online presence for brand credibility. Conclusions show that electronic word-of-mouth influences the purchase decision when the information comes from people with close ties, such as family or acquaintances. In addition to the basic characteristics of the properties, the opinion of family members and acquaintances has an impact on most people. The study evidence the influence of social ties on purchase intention and the need for credibility. Regarding the practical implications for professionals, the study also allowed the definition of three customer profiles, one less affected by electronic word-of-mouth and, therefore, more susceptible to relational and traditional strategies. The second is more likely to share information and, thus, able to become a disseminator of opinions and possibly be impacted by targeted digital strategy. Moreover, finally, the group that seeks information out of-group may be affected by digital and face-to-face recommendations. Finally, as limits to the study, it was pointed out that there are only three positive responses to using influencers. Therefore, it is impossible to measure their importance. For future research, we suggested the study of influence marketing in the real estate market and the consumer tendency to live outside the big cities.