RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EWOM IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND CUSTOMERS' PURCHASE INTENTIONS IN EGYPT AND LITHUANIA

Purpose - The present study is an initial attempt to assess and compare relationship of eWOM information in social media and purchase intentions of customers in two culturally different countries: Egypt as a country of collectivistic culture and Lithuania as a country of individualistic culture. Design/Methodology/Approach - A quantitative method was used for the purpose of this study, and a sumof 500 fulfilled questionnaires were obtained; software IBM SPSS was applied for the data statistical analysis and 12 hypotheses' testing. Findings - Despite the fact that Egypt is a country of collectivistic culture and Lithuania is a country of individualistic culture the research hypotheses' testing results reveal that the higher is eWOM information quality, credibility, usefulness, and adoption in social media the higher are purchase intentions of customers in both countries. Nevertheless, in Egyptian respondents' group the positive relationship between eWOM information credibility and purchase intention is the strongest (more than information quality, usefulness, adoption), however, in Lithuanian respondent's group positive relationship between eWOM information quality and purchase intention is the strongest (more than information adoption, usefulness, credibility). Originality/value - Even though the influence of eWOM information is widely researched and discussed in the scientific literature, there is still a lack of researches identifying differences of online customer behavior in culturally different countries. The aim of the present research was to analyze the link between eWOM information credibility, quality, usefulness, and adoption as well as their relationship with customer behavior and purchase intentions in two culturally different countries - Egypt and Lithuania.