Resumo

Along with the growth of e-commerce, the importance of word-of-mouth (WOM) has increased. The growing speed in the market has resulted in a greater importance of WOM as a source of information that works in favor of the consumers (Tavakol, Sardari, & Ghazizadeh, 2015). Previous research has shown that loyalty is a factor that has a positive effect on WOM communication (Akbari, Kazemi, & Haddadi, 2016), therefore but loyalty is important to take into consideration because it also has a connection and influence on a company’s relationship with customers.

This study intends to further expand the research on the connection between word-of-mouth (WOM) and customer loyalty, observing the effect of action loyalty on WOM of e-consumer in a cross-country analysis, between Brazilians and Swedes. This study aims to further expand the research on the connection between WOM and customer loyalty. The research question that will be used is "How do word-of-mouth and loyalty interact in an e-commerce environment between Swedish and Brazilian consumers?"

This study is supported by research by Roy et al. (2014) from the point of view of the theme when the authors examine the relations between each of the stages of fidelity: cognitive, affective, cognitive, and action loyalty. In this study, the proposition of the relationship between WOM and action loyalty is used.

We use a quantitative method by collecting answers from a survey, with consumers living in Sweden and in Brazil. The hypotheses test was realized by regression analysis.

Although the countries surveyed have different stages of industrialization and economic development, each with unique characteristics in relation to their national cultures, there is no evidence of differences on WOM in the moderating effect of action loyalty.

We found the effects of action loyalty on e-WOM and Country on e-WOM. However, antagonistically, we found no effect of action loyalty on WOM when moderated by the country of the e-consumer. Due to the growing e-commerce in society today, it is of importance that companies are aware of it since it can lead to the companies becoming more profitable. It is especially important for companies to build relationships with customers online in order to gain their loyalty.

Akbari, M, Kazemi, R., & Haddadi, M. (2016). Relationship marketing and word-of-mouth communications. Marketing and branding research, 3(1), 63-74. Roy, S., Butaney, G. T., Sekhon, H., & Butaney, B. (2014). Word-of-mouth and viral marketing activity of the on-line consumer: the role of loyalty chain stages theory. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 22(6), 494-512. Tavakol, N., Sardari, A., & Ghazizadeh, M. (2015). Evaluating the effect of adopting electronic banking on word-of-mouth advertising by mediating role of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Trading Strategies, 21(3), 49–60.