Digital influences on green economic participation: The role of eWOM in shaping circular consumption among young vietnamese consumers

Abstract

Circular business models (CBMs) are increasingly recognized as a strategic mechanism for advancing sustainable consumption and supporting green economic growth, particularly in emerging economies where rising consumption intensifies pressures on natural resources and waste management systems. Concurrently, the rapid expansion of social media and digital commerce has elevated electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) to a central role in shaping how young consumers interpret, evaluate, and normalize sustainability-oriented business practices. Despite this growing intersection, limited empirical evidence explains how specific attributes of eWOM translate into consumers’ intentions to participate in CBMs, especially in developing-market contexts such as Vietnam. Addressing this gap, the present study adopts a quantitative approach using survey data from 1,142 young Vietnamese consumers to examine how core dimensions of eWOM influence information acceptance and, subsequently, participation intentions in CBMs within the retail sector. A rigorous multi-stage analytical procedure was employed, including reliability testing, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to validate the measurement model, and structural equation modeling (SEM) to assess the structural relationships among latent constructs. The results indicate that all four eWOM attributes positively influence information acceptance, which in turn significantly drives participation intention. Among these factors, relevance emerges as the most influential attribute, suggesting that sustainability-related messages are most effective when aligned with consumers’ personal needs, values, and decision contexts. The findings also confirm the mediating role of information acceptance in translating eWOM quality into behavioral intention. By validating both the measurement and structural models, this study enhances the robustness of IAM-based explanations in the context of circular consumption and extends the literature on digital influence in emerging markets. Practically, the study highlights the importance of designing relevant, credible, and comprehensive sustainability communication strategies. Nevertheless, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional design and non-probability sampling approach.