Facial emojis have increasingly permeated electronic word of mouth (eWOM), but the persuasive consequences of this phenomenon remain unclear. Drawing on emotions as social information (EASI) theory, this research reveals that facial emojis influence persuasion (e.g., product choice) by affecting emotional arousal and perceived ambiguity. While the effect through emotional arousal is generally positive, the effect through ambiguity depends on the emojis’ function in eWOM: facial emojis that replace a verbal expression increase ambiguity and therefore reduce persuasion, whereas those that reiterate a verbal expression decrease ambiguity and therefore enhance persuasion. Both the emotional-arousal and ambiguity pathways determine the net persuasive effect. This research also explores two situations (high verbal context richness and eWOM from strong ties) where replacing facial emojis can increase persuasion. Finally, the authors show that facial emojis’ persuasive power is generalizable to online brand communications, influencing key management outcomes such as click-through rates for digital ads.

面部表情符号越来越多地渗透到电子口碑 (eWOM) 中，但这种现象的说服力结果仍不清楚。借鉴情绪作为社会信息 (EASI) 理论，这项研究揭示了面部表情符号通过影响情绪唤醒和感知模糊来影响说服力（例如，产品选择）。虽然通过情绪唤起的效果通常是积极的，但通过歧义产生的效果取决于表情符号在网络口碑中的功能：面部表情符号取代口头表达会增加歧义，从而减少说服力，而重复口头表达的面部表情符号会减少歧义，从而增强说服力. 情绪唤醒和歧义途径都决定了净说服效果。这项研究还探讨了两种情况（高语言上下文丰富度和来自强关系的网络口碑），在这两种情况下，替换面部表情符号可以增加说服力。最后，作者表明面部表情符号的说服力可推广到在线品牌传播，影响关键管理结果，例如数字广告的点击率。