Empirical evidence has demonstrated that customers often share diverse, and sometimes even conflicting, eWOM information on various social platforms, bringing new challenges to eWOM management. Based on the platform symmetry theory, this work explores how customers’ positive or negative service experience alters their choice of social platforms for eWOM communications. Using five studies, across restaurant and hotel services, we find that customers tend to share positive eWOM on symmetrical social platforms (e.g., WeChat) but negative eWOM on asymmetrical social platforms (e.g., TikTok, Weibo). Self-enhancement and emotion regulation motivations mediate the impact of service experiences on customers’ social platform preferences. Such an effect, however, is attenuated when the service is hedonic (vs. utilitarian) by nature. This work expands the existing literature on eWOM sharing and social platforms within the hospitality industry and offers valuable insights for service providers regarding effective eWOM management in the social media era.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体平台上的服务体验和客户的电子口碑行为：平台对称性的作用

经验证据表明，客户经常在各种社交平台上分享多样化的、有时甚至是相互冲突的电子口碑信息，这给电子口碑管理带来了新的挑战。基于平台对称理论，这项工作探讨了客户的积极或消极服务体验如何改变他们对电子口碑传播社交平台的选择。通过针对餐厅和酒店服务的五项研究，我们发现客户倾向于在对称社交平台（例如微信）上分享积极的电子口碑，但在不对称社交平台（例如 TikTok、微博）上分享负面的电子口碑。自我增强和情绪调节动机调节服务体验对客户社交平台偏好的影响。然而，当服务本质上是享乐性的（相对于功利性的）时，这种效果就会减弱。这项工作扩展了酒店行业内有关电子口碑共享和社交平台的现有文献，并为服务提供商提供了有关社交媒体时代有效电子口碑管理的宝贵见解。