Nostalgia and negotiation: The electronic word ‐ of ‐ mouth and social well ‐ being of older consumers

As older people turn to the internet for consumption and social connection, it is imperative to understand how online consumption behaviors, such as generating and absorbing electronic word ‐ of ‐ mouth (eWOM), influence feelings of belonging. This study therefore explores how organic conversations around brands, products, and services influence older consumers' social well ‐ being. A 6 ‐ month netnography was conducted in a social media platform geared toward older consumers where eWOM activity was created relating to books, household items, technology, furniture, financial services, clothing, and leisure activities. The findings reveal four types of eWOM — nostalgic, seeking reassurance/advice, providing reassurance/advice, and negotiation, which create experiences of social well ‐ being. This research contributes to the marketing literature by (1) exploring the implications of eWOM on consumer well ‐ being (2) investigating how the social value of eWOM interacts with social well ‐ being, and (3) developing pioneering knowledge of older consumers generating and absorbing eWOM.


| INTRODUCTION
Within an ever-evolving digital society, there is a rise in consumers using digital channels to recommend and review brands, products, and services and practitioners gaining consumer insights by analyzing these digital footprints (Cao et al., 2011;Guo et al., 2017;Verma & Yadav, 2021).As a result, a torrent of academic literature has been published to understand, investigate, and conceptualize electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and its positive effects on a company's profit and brand value (Babić Rosario et al., 2020;Verma & Yadav, 2021).For example, research in eWOM often aims to maximize commercial value by improving customer satisfaction and purchase intention (Akram et al., 2021;Berezina et al., 2016;Wang et al., 2018).It therefore represents a narrow perspective by focusing primarily on the commercial interests of a brand or organization, rather than focusing on the broader sociocultural context in which these online conversations occur.
There are exceptions to this, where a sparse but growing body of eWOM literature explores the value of online conversations for noncommercial purposes.For instance, within a healthcare context, eWOM can be used to improve service provision for the consumer, facilitate the consumer voice, and improve patient-professional relationships (Keeling et al., 2013(Keeling et al., , 2015)).Additionally, eWOM can encourage altruistic behaviors benefiting society such as blood donation (Previte et al., 2019), sustainable clothing purchasing, and mindful consumer behavior (Mohammad et al., 2021).This paper contributes to this literature by focusing on the noncommercial implications of eWOM for the ageing consumer, not in a specific service or altruistic context, but with a broader perspective of how brands, products, and services are discussed on social media platforms and how these discussions influence social well-being.eWOM itself is evolving as when the concept was originally coined, there were mainly brand communities, which later changed to review sites, and now there is an emergence of social media platforms being used for organic conversations around brands, products, and services (Babić Rosario et al., 2020;Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004).There are also differences in the way consumers use these channels with review sites being used for factual information gathering and social media revolving around personal stories and sharing emotions (Liu et al., 2021).Subsequently, eWOM is a product of complex networks, social structures, and interpersonal communication (Kozinets et al., 2010;Mathwick et al., 2008).We therefore define it as "consumer-generated, consumption related communication that employs digital tools" (Babić Rosario et al., 2020, 427), which includes "any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company" (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004, 39).
The accidental and organic creation of and exposure to eWOM for consumers on social media platforms is vast (Babić Rosario et al., 2020) yet there is limited understanding of how these social interactions and contributions influence the consumer.Most papers that do focus on the social value of eWOM do so from a commercial perspective.For instance, social benefits and social bonding are both motivators for creating eWOM content and consequently benefiting the brand (Berger, 2014;Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004).Furthermore, the strength of social ties, trusting social contacts, conforming to others, and accepting information from knowledgeable consumers influences engagement with eWOM on social media and consequent purchase intention (Chu & Kim, 2011;Wang et al., 2018).Despite the ethical responsibility of organizations to consider the well-being of their consumers (Sirgy & Lee, 2008), few papers explore the influence of eWOM's social value on the welfare of the customer.
Extant literature that focuses on eWOM and well-being, does so from an individual perspective and tends to overlook the role of social value.For instance, these papers demonstrate that creating positive eWOM and eWOM perception can enhance psychological, eudaimonic, and hedonic well-being, whilst negative eWOM creation can produce feelings of anxiety (Lee et al., 2020;Li et al., 2022;Wakefield & Wakefield, 2018).Mosteller and Mathwick (2014) allude to social value by establishing that interactions (e.g., rankings) between reviewers and consumers enhances subjective and psychological well-being.We extend this work by exploring how organic eWOM (e.g., conversations around brands, products, and services) on social media influences consumers' social well-being, which is the self-evaluation of one's situation and functioning within society (Keyes, 1998).Social well-being is a valuable construct to combine a noncommercial focus on social value with customer well-being, however, it is yet to be leveraged in the eWOM literature.
Considering the social value of eWOM consumption and the effects that this can have on well-being and welfare, we broaden the perceptions of eWOM by investigating older consumers of digital technology and the internet; an under-researched but equally important consumer group (Carpenter & Yoon, 2015;Nunan & Di Domenico, 2019).Ageing consumers are increasingly partaking in online shopping (Lian & Yen, 2014) and social media consumption (Pera et al., 2020), which improves resilience, well-being, companionship, and happiness (Cotten et al., 2012;Kamalpour et al., 2020;Nimrod, 2012).They are consequently embracing the social value of the internet with the intention of reducing loneliness and social isolation (Wilson, 2018;Wilson-Nash et al., 2023), which are caused by circumstances that occur more with age (e.g., being widowed; Age UK, 2018).Understanding how eWOM influences the social wellbeing of a consumer group prone to social isolation and loneliness creates an interesting and important context for the study.
Subsequently, we enhance the literature on eWOM with noncommercial intentions by broadening the scope beyond health services and altruistic behaviors (Keeling et al., 2013(Keeling et al., , 2015;;Mohammad et al., 2021;Previte et al., 2019) to include a general conversation of brands, products, and services on a social media platform.Second, we enhance the literature on the social value of eWOM and its interaction with well-being (Lee et al., 2020;Li et al., 2022;Mosteller & Mathwick, 2014;Wakefield & Wakefield, 2018) by focusing on social well-being (Keyes, 1998).It is yet to be explored in relation to eWOM consumption, despite the social value that eWOM creates (Berger, 2014;Chu & Kim, 2011;Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004;Wang et al., 2018).We advance the conceptualization of social well-being to incorporate both positive and negative experiences.Instead of merely looking at how eWOM consumption positively influences social well-being, we provide a balanced perspective by further exploring the dark side (e.g., social segregation, unacceptance, noncontribution, and incoherence).
Finally, we contribute to the eWOM literature by exploring the creation of and exposure to eWOM by older consumers, a currently under investigated topic, and discover that nostalgia and negotiation are two novel types of eWOM for this consumer group.Berger, 2014;Chu & Kim, 2011;Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004) toward how eWOM as a social activity impacts commercial outcomes such as purchase intensions, customer satisfaction, and brand loyalty (Akram et al., 2021;Izogo et al., 2023;Wang et al., 2018).The • Homophily has a negative influence on opinion passing and opinion seeking in SNS.

Literature review
• WOM serves specific functions: impression management, emotion regulation, information acquisition, social bonding, and persuasion.
• WOM is primarily self-serving.
• Contextual factors influence the importance of each function.• However, strong-tie eWOM combined with weak-tie eWOM has the most evident impact on perceived value and purchase intentions.
• The absence of weak-tie eWOM may create uncertainty even with positive strong-tie eWOM being present.

Liu et al. (2021)
Hospitality eWOM on review sites and social networking sites, online disinhibition, emotional intensity, and emotional valence Scenario-based experiments • eWOM giving on SNS is self-driven, has the purpose of enhancing one's self-image and attracting attention, with people with interpersonal online or offline relationships as the main audience.
• In comparison, eWOM on review sites is fact-driven, aimed toward reflecting on a consumption experience and is targeted toward peer consumers or service providers.

Akram et al. (2021)
Chinese social commerce environment Social learning theory, hedonic and utilitarian motivations, online purchase intention, eWOM, social value, and customer engagement Quantitative survey (585 respondents) • Utilitarian and hedonic motivations have a positive effect on online purchase intentions.
• eWOM and social value significantly and positively moderate the relationship between hedonic & utilitarian motivations and online purchase intentions.
• Hedonic and utilitarian motivation and online purchase intentions were significantly mediated by customer engagement.
(Continues) literature is yet to explore how the social value of eWOM influences the consumer and their well-being, except for a Li et al. (2022) who explore this in relation to eWOM perceptions in tourism and how it influences hedonic and eudaimonic well-being.Additionally, all empirical papers in Table 1 are quantitative or mixed methods, resulting in a scarcity of studies adding depth to constructs such as social value, relationships, and social ties (Akram et al., 2021;Izogo et al., 2023;Wang et al., 2018).For organizations to be ethically responsible for their consumers (Sirgy & Lee, 2008), there is consequently a necessity for qualitative research to explore the social value of eWOM, explicitly how it influences the well-being of consumers, adding depth and understanding to this construct.
There are several studies on how eWOM influences consumer well-being, however, these rarely acknowledge the social value of eWOM (Lee et al., 2020;Wakefield & Wakefield, 2018).For example, Lee et al. (2020) examine the impact of student eWOM on psychological well-being and Wakefield and Wakefield (2018) reveal that negative brand experiences can result in negative eWOM, which creates consumer anxiety.The constructs that are measured relate to the individual such as psychological, hedonic, and subjective wellbeing (Lee et al., 2020;Li et al., 2022;Mosteller & Mathwick, 2014) disregarding the consumer's situation and functioning within the online social environment.Furthermore, these studies are predominantly quantitative and therefore unable to add depth to well-being as a construct.There is therefore scope to investigate how eWOM influences consumers' social well-being to understand the consumer's welfare in relation to a complex social setting and to advance and develop this construct (Keyes, 1998).
Social well-being is an underdeveloped construct within the eWOM literature but is successful at exploring the influence of social media consumption on well-being (Wilson-Nash et al., 2023).It is divided into five dimensions (Keyes, 1998).Social integration is the appraisal of the quality of relationships and community that individuals experience within society.To be socially integrated means feeling part of society, having common interests with others, and belonging to a community.Social acceptance involves individuals feeling as if they can trust others within society by believing that they are industrious and exhibit kindness.Social contribution is when somebody values their contribution to society by being a vital member and creating something worthwhile within the world.Social actualization is when people believe that society, including its institutions and people, have the potential for a hopeful future.
Finally, social coherence involves wanting to know and understand the social world, as individuals care about the environment in which they live and making sense of life (Keyes, 1998).• The latter may have an impact on relationship trust, satisfaction, and commitment between consumers and firms.

| Older consumers of eWOM
• The impact is also dependent on the credibility of the review source and the frequency of reviews.
reveal differences in eWOM consumption between older and younger consumers creating an argument for further scholarship (Iyer et al., 2017;Li et al., 2022).For instance, Iyer et al. (2017) discover that older consumers processing complex political communications respond to extensive and detailed information, whereas younger consumers prefer shorter and less complex messages.
Furthermore, Li et al. (2022) reveal that eWOM perceptions result in a higher hedonic well-being for older tourists and eudaimonic wellbeing for younger tourists.This establishes that eWOM consumption for older consumers involves seeking pleasure to avoid pain (Kahneman et al., 1999), whereas, for younger consumers it is about optimizing their skills and abilities (Joshanloo, 2016), creating a further reason to research how eWOM influences the well-being of older consumers.
There is an expanding body of literature on older people consuming social media platforms, which is where eWOM behaviors predominantly occur (e.g., Choudrie et al., 2021;Parida et al., 2016;Pera et al., 2020).This consumption involves practical information exchange, accessibility concerns, searching for contacts, and sharing travel stories and has positive influences on older consumers' resilience, well-being, companionship, happiness, and stimulation (Kamalpour et al., 2020;Nimrod, 2012).However, within marketing, only a handful of studies take a transformative perspective and explicitly explore older consumers of social media in relation to health, functioning, well-being, and security (e.g., Wilson-Nash et al., 2023).In these instances, well-being is enhanced by feeling part of a community, directly communicating with people, and providing and receiving peer-to-peer technical assistance (Khoo & Yang, 2020;Pera et al., 2020;Wilson-Nash et al., 2023).All of which are motivators or elements of eWOM, suggesting that older consumers' well-being is enhanced by eWOM activities, but this is yet to be explored through the eWOM lens.
Social well-being, although under-utilized, is an important construct when understanding the influence of eWOM consumption on older people.Mostly because older consumers place value on a sense of accomplishment, self-respect, and warm relationships, requiring an ensemble of people in consumption contexts (Barnhart & Peñaloza, 2013;Sudbury & Simcock, 2009).As a result, consumption behaviors encouraging social interaction, such as gambling and visiting a shopping center, improve the social connection and loneliness of older people (Kim et al., 2005;Loroz, 2004).Social connectedness within commercial senior living services and the hospitality industry increases the social well-being of older consumers (Altinay et al., 2019;Feng et al., 2019), however, there is little understanding of whether online environments have the same effect.This study therefore builds on the work of Wilson-Nash et al. (2023), who explore the influence of using social media on older consumers' social well-being.Instead, we investigate how creating and absorbing eWOM on social media influences older consumers' social well-being by answering the following research question: How does creating and absorbing eWOM in the form of organic conversations around brands, products, and services influence older consumers' social well-being?
The research question required a method that could explore eWOM interactions occurring organically among older consumers.Netnography was chosen due to its previous success in collating information from both the creators and consumers of eWOM (Babić Rosario et al., 2020;Kozinets, 2002).Additionally, it was used previously to develop a framework of consumer well-being in online service communities (Parkinson et al., 2022), and to explore older consumers' social well-being on social media (Wilson-Nash et al., 2023), revealing its ability to decipher the well-being of social media users.Netnography responds to research questions regarding "how particular themes or concepts are revealed through online discourse" or "how people use social media to communicate or educate one another about practices, ideologies, or information they might not gain elsewhere" (Kozinets, 2020, 157).In this study, consumer well-being and the exchange of information via eWOM were revealed through forum interactions and netnographic fieldnotes.
In search of a "relevant, active, interactive, diverse, and rich" field of data (Kozinets, 2020, 229), we collated information from an UKbased social media platform that was developed for grandparents and older people over the age of 50.The aim of the platform was to provide grandparenting, health, and lifestyle advice through different pages, new articles, and blogs.One of the functions was an online forum, which facilitated social interactions amongst older people by providing a space to share stories, discuss mutual interests, and find communal support.Whilst the discussions revolved around diverse topics such as bereavement and ageism, the creation and consumption of eWOM appeared prevalent under threads pertaining to books, household items, technology, furniture, financial services, clothing, and leisure activities.

| Data collection
Data collection involved two parallel processes (i) investigative data operations and (ii) immersive data operations (Kozinets, 2020, 342).The former involved the gathering of textual data from online interactions, which helped us respond to the research question and did not involve the researchers' participation.The main advantage of investigative data operations is that online interactions emerge organically, therefore minimize the influence of researchers' presuppositions on the data collection and analysis (Parkinson et al., 2022).The process commenced by downloading and storing forum posts dated from September 2020 to March 2021.We gathered data from 49 sections of the forum, each focusing on a distinct topic, and searched through the data for eWOM activity, bringing a total of 42,318 posts under 622 threads, which constituted the primary data set of this study.
Immersive data operations, also referred to as keeping netnographic fieldnotes (Kozinets, 2020) involved creating an immersive journal in which researchers' reflections were written, during investigative data operations as well as data analysis.Initial thoughts from exploring the forum were recorded, along with surprising or contradictory evidence and the decisions made regarding the inclusion and exclusion of downloaded data.As non-members of the social media platform attempting to develop familiarity with the data and to reveal meanings and patterns, fieldnotes helped us maintain the required self-awareness and empirical distancing, which is appropriate to the research and analysis (Hubbs & Brand, 2005;Kozinets, 2020).In summary, as Gen Y consumers, sometimes we felt a sense of belonging, familiarity, and warmth within the forum when topics were close to our own conversations.Other times, we felt more isolated and detached from the forum, and were fully aware that we were only there to observe.This would happen when immersing into conversations about specific musicians and bands from the past, lesser known to our generation.

| Data analysis
Following ethical procedures for netnography, and to avoid revealing the identity of the participants, all data were anonymized or pseudonymized including the forum name, usernames, and personal information.To answer the research question and identify connections between eWOM and social well-being, we used a hybrid approach of inductive and deductive thematic analysis (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006) by inductively exploring codes but connecting to preestablished social well-being theory.The process involved two researchers developing preliminary codes before outlining clearly defined themes and subthemes through an iterative and collaborative process of moving between data and theory (Braun & Clarke, 2021).
Four main themes were identified alongside eight subthemes relating to eWOM and eight subthemes relating to social well-being (see Table 2).We found that all themes provided mixed experiences, creating positive and negative experiences of social well-being (see Figure 1).

| Social integration through nostalgic eWOM
Nostalgic eWOM is when older consumers use online forums to express a longing for past consumption behaviors and direct their communication toward other older consumers.This eWOM behavior creates experiences of social integration, a dimension of social wellbeing (Keyes, 1998), as older consumers bond over a common past, including brand, product, and service recollections.In the data, nostalgic eWOM is coded (see Table 2) as sharing emotive memories of brands, products, and services, family traditions (e.g., products used at Christmas), happy memories (e.g., holiday experiences), and personal stories (e.g., services used after the death of a loved one).T A B L E 2 Thematic coding themes, subthemes, and preliminary codes.Evidently nostalgic eWOM about a brand, product, or service prompts recollections from other forum members, establishing a sharing of common interests and encouraging experiences of social integration (Keyes, 1998).
There are examples where older consumers cannot reminisce about the brand, product, or service and are therefore unable to contribute to nostalgic eWOM conversations.In these instances, there are experiences of social segregation where posts are ignored, squashed, or descended upon by other forum members.For example, Shona45 creates a thread about the famous live music brand the "Isle of Wight Festival" by asking "who was there too?"There is much reminiscing and social integration as people compare stories of where they heard and watched the music.Contrastingly, one forum member responds with: "unfortunately, I wasn't allowed as I was too young.Just to rub salt in the wounds, my family were on a day out at Southsea, so I saw all the others on their way."Nobody responds to OtterOver52's comment as she is unable to contribute to the flowing nostalgic eWOM.Moreover, Table 3 presents a conversation on the consumption of classical music and reviews about Classic FM.The nostalgic memories prompt social integration as people bond over their love of these topics, however, when Stormy101 posts about disliking classical music because she did not come from a musical, middle-class background, her comment is rebuffed by BrownRice and ignored by the other forum members, creating an experience of social segregation.
These findings complement the growing body of literature on nostalgic consumption, where consumers create a preference for nostalgic products due to a need for belonging (Loveland et al., 2010) and in response to loneliness (Loh et al., 2021).As a result, nostalgia influences attitudes toward brands, purchase intention, and the quality of the brand-consumer relationship (Youn & Jin, 2017).These findings, however, are the first to indicate that nostalgic eWOM is created by older consumers on social media.We supplement the work of Goker and Ayar (2020) who first introduce nostalgia into the eWOM literature, where nostalgic tendencies mediate the effect of eWOM on travel intentions, with a qualitative account of the characteristics of nostalgic eWOM (e.g., sharing emotive recollections of brands, products and services, family traditions, happy memories, and personal stories) and how nostalgic eWOM creates experiences of social integration.Moreover, in some instances when people are unable to reminisce, social segregation is experienced, which is a proposed novel construct of social well-being.

| Social acceptance by seeking reassurance and advice
Throughout the data, older consumers seek reassurance and advice by requesting eWOM from other older consumers, which reveals Types of eWOM and experiences of positive and negative social well-being.eWOM, electronic word-of-mouth.
T A B L E 3 Examples of data.trust and social acceptance of forum members (Keyes, 1998).In some cases, older consumers request eWOM from others to reduce the concerns they have in either purchasing or using a brand, product, or service.For instance, Hicks007 creates a thread with this question: "I'm looking into buying a pair of biker boots that I really want.I'm 65 and think I might be too old to rock this look!What do you think?The Gabor ones are really nice!"She not only trusts other forum members to recommend biker boot brands, but she asks for reassurance about her age and believes that they will exhibit kindness, which indicates a social acceptance of forum members (Keyes, 1998).Furthermore, if some older consumers have already purchased a product or service, they ask other forum members for reassurance.Hicks007 in the same thread posts a picture of her purchase with the comment: "Oooo, Interestingly, even when older consumers are generating negative eWOM by venting about a brand, product, or service, they are still experiencing instances of social acceptance.For instance, older consumers sometimes share their frustrations of brands and ask for reassurance that others are experiencing similar circumstances.In the following example, Llamadama7 has a poor experience of Interflora and shares her story with the forum members, looking for reassurance: I received a bunch of flowers that were mostly foliage with very few flowers.This bunch has cost the sender a lot of money and was definitely not worth it.When I contacted the flower shop who delivered them, the woman told me the only complaints she gets are about Interflora.The flowers cost £40, the florist only received £20 to make up the bouquet and she also pays a monthly subscription to Interflora.I think it would be better to order directly from the florist.Has anyone else had this experience?
Conversely, some forum posts reveal older consumers seeking reassurance and advice but receiving inadequate responses and consequently experiencing social unacceptance, where they are untrusting of forum members and no longer believe them to be conscientious and kind (Keyes, 1998).For example, Jane1453 creates a thread by asking for help with her Sony mobile: I have an iPad that I love, but because the iPhone was too expensive, I had to buy a Sony mobile.I am struggling to enter my Apple email address on my phone, it just keeps blocking me.How can I solve this?
Sorry if I'm being a bit stupid.
A forum member replies with an inadequate interaction: "I'm not sure an Apple email address exists.Maybe you mean Yahoo, Gmail or iCloud instead?" (Arty5678).After being challenged and having her confidence knocked, Jane1453 does not reply to Arty5678.Six weeks later she creates a new thread and posts the same question again, indicating that her problem was not solved, and it took time to reestablish her trust of forum members.
Additionally, MrsDavey (see Table 3) asks for help on how to Similar to extant eWOM literature on younger consumers, our research indicates that older consumers also seek reassurance and advice to gather information and reduce uncertainty when making purchases (Berger, 2014;Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004;Lee, 2014;Wang et al., 2015).A finding yet to be gleaned from the literature is that this influences older consumers' social well-being, as social acceptance is experienced (Keyes, 1998).Furthermore, older consumers create negative eWOM through venting, a form of emotion regulation identified in empirical studies from those under the age of 65 (Berger, 2014;Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004).However, in this case the venting process enhances social well-being as older consumers are socially accepting of those they are venting to.Finally, social unacceptance occurs when consumers seek reassurance and advice but experience inadequate interactions.This is a novel proposed construct of negative social well-being, which prevents older consumers from receiving technical solutions, product recommendations, and reviews.

| Socially contributing by providing reassurance and advice
The third theme involves older consumers socially contributing to the forum by providing reassurance and advice on brands, products, and services, in response to advice seekers and eWOM creation.By responding to requests for advice and reassurance, older consumers enhance their social contribution, and consequent social well-being, by being active within the social media platform and creating worthwhile responses (Keyes, 1998) A further example illustrates how constructive reassurance becomes a form of social contribution within the forum (Keyes, 1998).
In response to Hicks007's question about biker boots and whether she is too old, many older consumers provide positive reassurance such as "life is too short to worry about what other people think," "you're never too old for biker boots," and "I'm 77 and will never James70s comments about these judgemental posts, highlighting the noncontribution of forum members.
Our findings reveal that older consumers provide information on brands, products, and services through advice, which is similar to previous conceptualizations of eWOM (Berger, 2014;Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004).We also observe large quantities of reassurance and support on a range of topics, encouraging older people to be themselves and avoid stereotypes.This indicates that within older populations, support is prominent in general social media platforms and not just within a transformative or healthcare context (Ballantine & Stephenson, 2011;Johnson & Lowe, 2015).Consequently, social well-being is influenced by social contribution in the form of eWOM, which is yet to be established in the literature.Rather than giving advice to gain control (Peluso et al., 2017), older consumers provide advice and support to improve their social contribution.Contrastingly, when the advice is irrelevant to the advice seeking question or inadequate, social noncontribution is experienced, which is a proposed novel construct of negative social well-being.

| Social coherence through negotiation eWOM
When older consumers generate eWOM on social media, there is often a form of negotiation by providing advice, information, and recommendations.Sometimes this negotiation leads to an agreement, an "agree to disagree" stance, or even a disagreement.In the data, reaching agreement through negotiation eWOM creates experiences of social coherence, as engaging in a healthy debate and navigating through multiple opinions helps consumers make sense of the world (Keyes, 1998).For example, Marie101 creates a thread asking for advice on "how to copy a video file into an email."She writes that her friend recommends the online service Dropbox and asks other forum members for their ideas.In response to Marie101, the conversation demonstrates a simple negotiation with the purpose of solving a specific problem.Although consumers recommend different services (e.g., Dropbox vs. WeTransfer) and make their case, there is no direct conflict.Instead, their focus is on helping Marie101 by outlining the advantages of the brands that they prefer.As this negotiation is calm and nonconfrontational, Marie101 and others comprehend and To which people respond with "no chance, this is the gift that keeps on giving" and "people on here have the freedom to discuss what they want-you don't have to join in if you don't want to." Similarly, the example in Table 3 reveals negotiation eWOM on the BBC TV broadcast of Last Night of the Proms.Most forum members are complimentary of the rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone," however, Nanna60s calls it "sentimental drivel" and receives a torrent of disagreements.She ends the discussion by writing that many people like "sentimental drivel," but she is "not one of those people."When negotiation does not occur and there is a disagreement between forum members, as in these narratives, consumers are reluctant to see the world through anybody else's eyes, subsequently learning less about it and experiencing social incoherence.
Older consumers using negotiation to understand more about brands, products, and services is a novel finding.Extant knowledge of negotiation in eWOM is limited to health dialogue in online forums where consumers navigate patient-professional negotiation (Keeling et al., 2015), negotiate information to help manage their long-term conditions (Keeling et al., 2013), and food intolerances (Babic & de Valck, 2013).In our data, older consumers generate negotiation eWOM about a variety of products, brands, and services, which can transpire as agreements or an "agree to disagree" stance.In these situations, there are experiences of social coherence where older consumers make sense of other forum members' opinions.A further novel finding is that if negotiation is not possible and a disagreement occurs, forum members are more likely to stick to their own opinions and less likely to learn about products and services, leading to experiences of social incoherence.

| DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The proposed framework (Figure 1) displays the theoretical contributions of this research.The primary contribution of this study is to move beyond eWOM research that purely benefits the firm by expanding upon the sparse eWOM literature with noncommercial implications.Our research differs from extant noncommercial eWOM studies that encourage altruistic customer behaviors benefitting society (e.g., blood donation and sustainability; Mohammad et al., 2021;Previte et al., 2019) by exploring how eWOM can influence the consumer.We therefore portray how generic conversations around brands, products, and services on social media platforms are complex social interactions that can enhance consumers' social well-being by creating experiences of social integration, acceptance, contribution, and coherence (see Figure 1).The research builds on the work of Keeling et al. (2013Keeling et al. ( , 2015) ) to indicate that understanding eWOM not only improves customer experience within a healthcare setting but can also improve customer well-being within a generic social media platform where organic eWOM conversations occur.

T
A B L E 1 Literature on the social value of eWOM.utility, consumption utility, approval utility, moderator-related utility, homeostase utility, and motives for eWOM communication Quantitative survey in Germany (2083 respondents) • Consumers interacting with web-based opinion platforms can be segmented into self-interested helpers, multiple-motive consumers, consumer advocates, and true altruists.• Social benefits, economic incentives, concern for others, and extraversion/self-enhancement are the main motives behind consumers' decision to post their opinions online.Chu and Kim (2011) SNS Social relationship factors related to eWOM Quantitative survey in the US (363 respondents) • Tie strength, trust, normative, and informational influence have a positive influence on eWOM behavior.
With seminal eWOM papers basing findings on participants under the age of 65 (e.g.,Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004), the creation of and exposure to eWOM by older consumers is an under investigated and under researched topic.The few papers that do investigate this topic T A B L E 1 (Continued)Li et al. (2022) Tourism Tourism public opinion, eWOM on social media, well-being, individual characteristics, and eWOM perceptionsMixed methods• eWOM perceptions can positively influence one's well-being in tourism-related experiences, with some variation depending on environmental conditions and individual characteristics; for example, hedonic well-being is higher among older tourists and eudaimonic well-being for younger tourists.Izogo et al. (2023) Online shopping in Southeast Nigeria Schema theory, elaboration likelihood model (ELM), customer experience, previous shopping experience(s), perceived credibility of negative eWOM, consumer-firm relationship quality (RQ) Scenario-based experiments • Consumers' previous emotional and cognitive experiences may result in higher perceived credibility of negative eWOM.
For instance, nostalgic eWOM is generated when older consumers write about how brands interweave into their family traditions.In a thread about Denby pottery, many express how the crockery is passed down from generation to generation, with some describing themselves as "a Denby family."Jennifer52 creates and responds to nostalgic eWOM by sharing a positive recollection of the brand: I loved my parents' set of Blue Denby Chinairrespective of the scraping noise of knives and forks.I was pretty sad when they replaced it with something else.Her post indicates how older consumers develop emotive recollections of brands, which create happy memories and nostalgic eWOM.Furthermore, SarahPan75 creates nostalgic eWOM relating to her favorite radio program, Woman's Hour.She writes a recommendation about how the radio program, which has been running for many years, relates to fond recollections of her family.The post indicates how happy memories and family traditions can revolve around an entertainment service, which inevitably generates nostalgic memories and subsequent eWOM: I've been listening to Woman's Hour since 1958.Thanks to a small legacy from my Granny, I was able to listen to WH on a transistor radio when I was a student and as a young mum.I remember Sue McGregor well; she had great knowledge and charisma, and Jenni Murray has kept me educated for the last 33 years.Now my son, who is in his late 30s, listens in the morning and finds the programme interesting and relevant.He likes to discuss with me the topics that have been on that day.So what are you memories of Woman's Hour, what does it mean to you?After SarahPan75 poses her question, this prompts forum members to reply with further nostalgic eWOM.For instance, Bonjour72 recalls a personal story of being in hospital and how Women's Hour helped her through this difficult time.Nostalgic eWOM appears to induce experiences of social integration as the conversation encourages consumers share their common past through memories of the radio program: A bit of steadiness when life has been a complete ruckus.Over the past 14 years I have been in and out of Hospital, and the first thing my daughter does is either bring in a radio or make sure I have Radio 4 on my iPad, with a working set of headphones.It has been a lifesaver for me.
thanks for all your replies.I have bought these biker boots!What are your thoughts?"Due to the previous supportive interactions, Hicks007 is quick to ask for additional reassurance on a purchase she has completed, displaying further trust and acceptance of forum members.Constructive eWOM interactions and experiences of social acceptance are observed across the data.The following example evidence social acceptance as the older consumer trusts that they will receive valid opinions on the service of interest.SharonP poses a question to the forum asking, "what is your favorite television show?"She says that she enjoys watching television in the winter months, but there is little of interest except soap operas and Strictly Come Dancing.After receiving 56 responses on recommendations for TV programs, SharonP writes a clear statement expressing her experience of social acceptance: Thank you to everyone who has replied to my question about tv programmes.Your responses have made me feel that I am not alone.At least I have Sky and have been able to watch some really good films recently.
organize photographs on her iPad-Daffodil42 is keen to acquire the same information.Ilovefood posts clear instructions and a screenshot of how to collate images.MrsDavey sees this as a constructive interaction and trusts the advisor to answer another important question, however, Daffodil42 does not understand and asks Ilovefood to clarify.Ilovefood then provides an inadequate interaction, implying that Daffodil42 did not bother to open the screenshot.Daffodil42 therefore experiences social unacceptance as she no longer trusts forum members to provide constructive advice: "I'm leaving now, I'll sort the problem out myself." Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.21933by Test, Wiley Online Library on [30/10/2023].See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions)on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License accept differing opinions and learn more about the digital world, consequently experiencing social coherence(Keyes, 1998).Additionally, another example illustrates how negotiation eWOM leads to an "agree to disagree" outcome, where there is more evidence of consumers engaging in a debate.The opening question by SmartGran3 on English Heritage invites consumers to express their opinions on the brand, whether they agree or disagree, and to present their rationale:Am I the only one to think that English Heritage should extend the time period of their yearly membership, because the coronavirus has prevented us from visiting for most of the year?They did extend the time period for three months because of the first lockdown but won't be extending tickets for the second.We bought family membership for our son and his family, and they have not had the chance to go.I think EH should be more accommodating.What do you think about this?In response, other older consumers disagree with SmartGran3 and present their reasons as to why the brand should not extend its membership.MiniSue provides her perspective: I'm more than happy to renew my subscription to the National Trust and English Heritage, even though we haven't been able to go.Everything still requires upkeep and maintenance, and staff should still be paid.They rely on funds from the yearly subscriptions as it is their only source of revenue.I also don't expect them to give any extensions.The discussion has an element of confrontation as there seems to be some tension between SmartGran3's original opinion and those of other forum members.This slight tension amongst the negotiation eWOM emanates in consumers not disagreeing aggressively but calmly presenting their perspectives.Consequently, the conversation does not hinder social well-being-on the contrary, it seems to create experiences of social coherence, as older consumers are making sense of what is right and wrong for the brand.When negotiation is not possible, social incoherence is experienced as consumers stop wanting to know more about the world and are content with their own opinions.For instance, on a thread reviewing Harry and Meghan's biography "Finding Freedom," many forum members discuss how they would never purchase or read the book even "if it were being given away."They then discuss their dislike of the royal couple before one forum member, InkJet61, decides to speak up:Wow, what horrible comments there are about two people you have never even met.What is the matter with you all?I bet you were all watching their wedding a few years ago, and now you have turned on them.I think you should be more grown up and stop agreeing with the Daily Mail that this is all Meghan's fault.
Table 1 reveals the evolution of literature focusing on the social value of eWOM.It is evident that scholarship has evolved from investigat- ing what social factors motivate and drive consumers to create eWOM (e.g., social benefits, social relationship factors, and social bonding; Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.21933by Test, Wiley Online Library on [30/10/2023].See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions)on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License