information Article Understanding the Effects of eWOM Antecedents on Online Purchase Intention in China Muhammad Bilal 1 , Zeng Jianqiu 1 , Suad Dukhaykh 2, *, Mingyue Fan 3 and Aleš Trunk 4   Citation: Bilal, M.; Jianqiu, Z.; Dukhaykh, S.; Fan, M.; Trunk, A. Understanding the Effects of eWOM Antecedents on Online Purchase Intention in China. Information 2021, 12, 192. https://doi.org/10.3390/ info12050192 Academic Editor: Davide Buscaldi Received: 25 March 2021 Accepted: 14 April 2021 Published: 28 April 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication, Beijing 100876, China; bilal_ashraf@bupt.edu.cn (M.B.); 13718688489@139.com (Z.J.) 2 Management Department, College of Business, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia 3 School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China; fanmy@ujs.edu.cn 4 International School for Social and Business Studies, 3000 Celje, Slovenia; ales.trunk@yahoo.com * Correspondence: sdukhaykh@ksu.edu.sa Abstract: Drawing on social identity theory, this study aims to examine the impact of antecedents of eWOM on the online purchase intention (OPI) of fashion-related products. In addition, social media usage moderates the relationship between eWOM and OPI. A structured questionnaire was completed by a sample of 477 Chinese WeChat users. An online survey was conducted in two metropolitan cities (Beijing and Shanghai). The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) generated by AMOS 22. The findings of this study found that all five antecedents of eWOM, such as fashion involvement, sense of belonging, trust, tie strength, and informational influ- ence, positively related to the OPI of fashion products in China. Furthermore, eWOM significantly mediates the relationship between fashion involvement, sense of belonging, trust, informational influence, and OPI. The current study is considered the first to examine the role of eWOM in stimulat- ing OPI through social media usage for fashion-oriented products in China. As such, it enriches the online buying literature by exploring the OPI mechanism through eWOM antecedents and validating the importance of social media factors in the development of online buying intention compared to previous studies. Furthermore, it provides several theoretical and practical implications, along with future opportunities. Keywords: fashion involvement; sense of belonging; informational influence; electronic word-of- mouth (eWOM); social media; online purchase intention 1. Introduction Social media has rapidly become one of the world’s leading platforms for distributing information between marketers and consumers worldwide [1,2]. With the fast development of social networking sites, smartphone acceptance, internet speed, and wireless network coverage, social media users can now interact with their friends and accelerate the exchange and retrieval of information via their mobile phones and tablets [3,4]. According to the statistical data reported by the end of December 2018, nearly 98% of people in China have access to the Internet via smartphones and other social networking sites; out of those, 48% of people purchase online fashion products [5]. Many online fashion retailers use the power of social media to sell and promote their products [6]. Githii, S. et al. revealed fashion products as the most popularly purchased goods online [7]. This fact encourages researchers to examine different fashion products via online shopping because it is a novel phenomenon for many consumers. The rapid development of social media has changed how information is collected and provided to consumers with an online social domain to discuss and share information on fashion products and services, specifically by electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) [8,9]. eWOM is defined as “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual or former customers about a product or company that is made available to a multitude Information 2021, 12, 192. https://doi.org/10.3390/info12050192 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/information