Organic electronic word-of-mouth perception and the purchasing decision of Hacienda Vimalu customers

Abstract

In the current era of digitalization, the presence of tourism companies on social networks is key to position their brand, be competitive and attract more consumers; however, it has been identified that very few tourism organizations pay attention to their online presence and do not know if their customers actively participate in the recommendations of their services. Faced with this, this research aims to determine the relationship between the perception of organic electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and the purchase decision of the clients of Hacienda Vimalu, a tourism company with a large influx of visitors in the province of San Martín. The study was of a basic type, with a quantitative approach, descriptive-correlational level, non-experimental design and cross-sectional. For data collection, a survey was used with a questionnaire that measures the dimensions of eWOM (credibility, quality and relevance) and the purchase decision, using a Likert scale. The findings show that eWOM is an important factor for Hacienda Vimalu customers' purchasing decision, with 97.22% indicating that it influences their purchasing process. However, 43.06% of customers still remain neutral about the credibility of eWOM, which represents an opportunity to improve perception through strategies that reinforce trust and visibility of verified reviews. The Spearman correlation test showed a significant correlation (p < 0.05) between eWOM and purchasing decision, especially in the dimensions of credibility (56.94%) and quality (87.50%). This suggests that as customers perceive eWOM as credible and of high quality, their purchasing decision is more influenced.