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1. Introduction
Word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is generally acknowledged to play a considerable role in influencing and forming consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions (e.g. [17] Chatterjee, 2001; [18] Chevalier and Mayzlin, 2006; [28] Herr et al. , 1991; [32] Kiecker and Cowles, 2001; [41] Sen and Lerman, 2007; [45] Smith and Vogt, 1995; [54] Weinberger and Dillon, 1980; [57] Xia and Bechwati, 2008). Research has shown that WOM communication is more influential than communication through other sources such as editorial recommendations or advertisements (e.g. [11] Bickart and Schindler, 2001; [44] Smith et al. , 2005; [51] Trusov et al. , 2009) because it is perceived to provide comparatively reliable information ([23] Gruen et al. , 2006). Consequently, this type of communication is considered as having a great persuasiveness through higher perceived credibility and trustworthiness (e.g. [17] Chatterjee, 2001; [21] Godes and Mayzlin, 2004; [38] Mayzlin, 2006). Whereas WOM communication initially referred to the idea of person-to-person conversation between consumers about a product ([17] Chatterjee, 2001; [41] Sen and Lerman, 2007), the worldwide spread of the internet brought up a less personal but more ubiquitous form of WOM communication, so-called online WOM communication (e.g. [13] Brown et al. , 2007; [17] Chatterjee, 2001; [20] Davis and Khazanchi, 2008; [21] Godes and Mayzlin, 2004; [32] Kiecker and Cowles, 2001; [57] Xia and Bechwati, 2008). This new type of WOM communication has become an important venue for consumer opinions ([11] Bickart and Schindler, 2001; [21] Godes and Mayzlin, 2004; [27] Hennig-Thurau et al. , 2004; [38] Mayzlin, 2006) and it is assumed to be even more effective than WOM communication in the offline world due to its greater accessibility and high reach ([17] Chatterjee, 2001). Product reviews that consumers post on the internet constitute one of the most important forms of online WOM communication (Schindler and Bickart, 2005; [41] Sen and Lerman, 2007), and for consumers it is increasingly common to look for online product reviews when gathering pre-purchase product information ([4] Adjei et al. , 2009; [61] Zhu and Zhang, 2010) and forming purchase intentions ([60] Zhang and Tran, 2009). Furthermore, the issue of branding has been deemed as primary capital for many industries. Strong brands can increase customers' trust in the product or service purchased and...