Full length article Consumers' online information adoption behavior: Motives and antecedents of electronic word of mouth communications Safdar Hussain a, b , Wang Guangju a , Rana Muhammad Sohail Jafar a , Zahida Ilyas c , Ghulam Mustafa b , Yang Jianzhou a, * a College of Economics, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China b Pir Mehr Ali Shah, Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, 46000, Pakistan c Department of Applied Psychology, Lahore College for Women University, Jail Road, Lahore 54000, Pakistan article info Article history: Received 27 April 2017 Received in revised form 18 July 2017 Accepted 13 September 2017 Available online 31 October 2017 Keywords: Argument quality eWOM credibility Information Usefulness Online opinions Perceived risk abstract Electronic word of mouth influences the consumer buying behavior through the online exchange of customer opinions and experiences about commodities using social networking sites. Reviews or com- ments posted on the Internet by consumers and experts are based on their personal experiences and the evaluation and expert analysis of a product. The current study explains an overview of key elements of eWOM communication antecedents, addresses eWOM motives to analyze food products purchasing factors associated with consumer engagement. We found certain factors of eWOM that should be considered in decision making according to the model for information adoption. It revealed that con- sumers’ need for social interaction, economic incentives, and self-worth reinforcement are the primary drivers of eWOM involvement. However, argument quality was found to be more appealing then eWOM source credibility for food product purchasing. Practitioners should make their strategies to follow the credibility standards, trustworthy vehicles, perceived values, informative and digital channels for the enhancement of eWOM communications. eWOM communication is an emerging area, further research can be focused on the meta-analysis of relative factors, such as responses, moderators, and credibility to eWOM communication. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Owing to the explosive growth of the Internet and e-commerce over the last few decades, the concept of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has received considerable attention for e-marketing. Before the advent of the Internet, word of mouth (WOM) was the most useful tool for marketing research and was known as the most influential source for the exchange of information. It was well established that WOM had more influence on consumer behavior than other marketing strategy or advertising campaign (Breazeale, 2009; Maxham III and Netemeyer, 2002). WOM plays a central role in marketing studies; however, traditional WOM interactions have limitations such as boundaries and are effective only for particular communities (Bhatnagar & Ghose, 2004). Therefore, with the introduction of cyber technologies, eWOM became paramount to interpersonal communications. When food marketers design Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategies, they seek online information adoption behavior, so the current study solves this important issue for practice. Many studies have been purposed the models of consumer decision-making process and these models consist of different stages to analyze how individuals search the information, alterna- tives evaluation, problem recognition, pre-purchasing assessment, choices, consumption and post-consumption to make a better de- cision. eWOM process starts when consumers recognize the need or desire in the actual state because problem recognition and advertising is the best source to help for customers to recognize their problems and fulfill the needs (Quester et al., 2007). After the problem recognition consumers look for the information from an internal or external source. At this stage, eWOM allows consumers to compare the alternatives about product or services after infor- mation seeking. Also at the final stage of purchase decision which includes product or services choice, brand choice, and retailer se- lection, eWOM reduces risk perception has a great impact on consumers' decision. eWOM continuous to effect consumer * Corresponding author. E-mail address: yjianz2015@163.com (Y. Jianzhou). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers in Human Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.09.019 0747-5632/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Computers in Human Behavior 80 (2018) 22e32