Title: A bibliometric analysis of historical background and future avenues for the spillover effect of electronic word of mouth on purchase intention

Authors: Kavita Verma; Kapil Malhotra

Addresses: Department of Commerce, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India ' Department of Commerce, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India

Abstract: This study aims to conduct an extensive bibliometric analysis to realise the tendency of the influence of e-WOM on customers' purchase intention literature and suggests a road map for further research in this field. By using the specified search string, 595 articles have been retrieved from prestigious journals which are indexed in the Scopus database, and RStudio combined with VOSviewer software was used to analyse and visualise the dataset from 2006 to 2022. The findings reveal a sound insight into annual publication patterns, most contributive authors, journals, institutions, countries, and articles in the e-WOM field. Bradford's Law and Lotka's Law contradict the observed results of the study. Moreover, bibliographic coupling provides the conceptual research framework, and keyword network analysis recommends potential research avenues in this domain. Finally, this review shares a greater knowledge of the theme of consumer behaviour, where e-WOM has an influence on potential customers' purchase intention.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; VOSviewer; literature review; consumer behaviour; electronic word-of-mouth; e-WOM; purchase intention.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2026.150509

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2026 Vol.24 No.1, pp.1 - 27

Received: 19 Jan 2023
Accepted: 02 Jun 2023
Published online: 16 Dec 2025 *

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