Electronic Word of Behavior: Conceptual Framework and Research Design for Analyzing the Effect of Increased Digital Observability of Consumer Behaviors in a Movie Streaming Context

In this research in progress-paper, we introduce the notion of ‘Electronic Word of Behavior’ (eWOB) to describe the phenomenon of consumers’ product-related behaviors increasingly made observable by online social environments. We employ Observational Learning theory to conceptualize the notion of eWOB and generate hypotheses about how consumers influence each other by means of behavior in online social environments. We present a conceptual framework for categorizing eWOB, and propose a novel research design for a randomized controlled field experiment. Specifically, the ongoing experiment aims to analyze how the presence of individual-specific behavior-based social information in a movie streaming service affects potential users’ attitude towards and intentions to use the service.