Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2017 93 Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Impact of social relationships on electronic word of mouth in social networking sites: a study of Indian social network users Smita Sharma* Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi, Sector 11, Dwarka, New Delhi 110075, India Email: smitasharma298@gmail.com Email: smita@lbsim.ac.in *Corresponding author Asad Rehman College of Commerce and Business Administration, Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman Email: arehman@du.edu.om Abstract: This study focused on the understanding of consumers’ use of social networking sites as a vehicle for electronic word of mouth. The hypotheses examined the impact of social relationship variables-social capital, tie strength, attitude homophily, background homophily, trust, normative influence, and informational influence on electronic word of mouth behaviour in social networking sites. For testing the hypothesised relationships between the predictors and electronic word of mouth behaviour variables, structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied on the data collected from social networks’ users. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted, followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). It was concluded that social capital, background homophily, normative influence, informational influence emerged to be strong significant predictors of electronic word of mouth, and attitude homophily and trust were found to be partially significant. Only tie strength was not found to be a significant predictor. Keywords: social networking sites; social relationships; electronic word of mouth communication; consumer engagement; marketing communication. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Sharma, S. and Rehman, A. (2017) ‘Impact of social relationships on electronic word of mouth in social networking sites: a study of Indian social network users’, Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp.93–115. Biographical notes: Smita Sharma has 15 years of experience in academics, management and marketing. She is currently working with Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi as Associate Professor in the area of marketing. Her research interest lies in new age media, social networking, brand extension, advertising effects, etc.