The effects of source expertise and trustworthiness on recollection: the case of vaccine misinformation

Nowadays, word-of-mouth is a very important component of e-commerce activity because consumers are very sensitive to other people’s opinions. Depending on the companies’ politics, these opinions can be incentivized or non-incentivized. One of the major dilemmas consists in establishing which kind of word-of-mouth has more influence on customers’ perceptions. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationships between perceived argument quality (PAQ) and perceived source expertise (PSE), on the one hand, and electronic word-of-mouth adoption intention on the other hand, for an incentivized message compared to a non-incentivized message. We processed answers from two different random groups by using adapted PAQ and PSE inventories of questions. The constructs, latent variables and items were analyzed in IBM Amos software, and our findings confirm the hypotheses regarding the relationship between the attributes of the message (argument quality and source expertise) and message credibility. Additionally, we found a significant positive relationship between message credibility and electronic word-of-mouth adoption intention. Our research also explores the moderating role of the message type (incentivized vs. non-incentivized) in the relationships above, and we discovered that the message type significantly moderates the relationship between perceived argument quality and credibility, but the type of message does not moderate the relationship between message credibility and eWOM adoption intention.

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Driving Brand Engagement Through Online Social Influencers: An Empirical Investigation of Sponsored Blogging Campaigns

Journal of Marketing ◽

10.1177/0022242919854374 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 83 (5) ◽

pp. 78-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Christian Hughes ◽

Vanitha Swaminathan ◽

Gillian Brooks

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Empirical Evidence ◽

Empirical Investigation ◽

Social Media Platform ◽

Firm Strategies ◽

Brand Engagement ◽

Response Data ◽

Source Expertise ◽

Online Engagement ◽

Media Platform

Influencer marketing is prevalent in firm strategies, yet little is known about the factors that drive success of online brand engagement at different stages of the consumer purchase funnel. The findings suggest that sponsored blogging affects online engagement (e.g., posting comments, liking a brand) differently depending on blogger characteristics and blog post content, which are further moderated by social media platform type and campaign advertising intent. When a sponsored post occurs on a blog, high blogger expertise is more effective when the advertising intent is to raise awareness versus increase trial. However, source expertise fails to drive engagement when the sponsored post occurs on Facebook. When a sponsored post occurs on Facebook, posts high in hedonic content are more effective when the advertising intent is to increase trial versus raise awareness. The effectiveness of campaign incentives depends on the platform type, such that they can increase (decrease) engagement on blogs (Facebook). The empirical evidence for these findings comes from real in-market customer response data and is supplemented with data from an experiment. Taken together, the findings highlight the critical interplay of platform type, campaign intent, source, campaign incentives, and content factors in driving engagement.

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What Matters in Social Accounts? The Roles of Account Specificity, Source Expertise, and Outcome Loss on Acceptance

Journal of Applied Social Psychology ◽

10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00616.x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 40 (5) ◽

pp. 1203-1234 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Francis M. Frey ◽

Anthony T. Cobb

Keyword(s):

Social Accounts ◽

Source Expertise ◽

What Matters

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Understanding and Evaluating Source Expertise in an Evolving Media Environment

Social Software and the Evolution of User Expertise ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-2178-7.ch003 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 37-51 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Rebekah A. Pure ◽

Alexander R. Markov ◽

J. Michael Mangus ◽

Miriam J. Metzger ◽

Andrew J. Flanagin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Information Dissemination ◽

Information Production ◽

Media Environment ◽

Source Expertise ◽

Wide Range ◽

Substantial Investment ◽

Traditional Sense ◽

Credible Information ◽

The One ◽

Types Of Information

Recent technological changes have created a radically different information environment from the one that existed even a few decades ago. Rather than coming from a small number of sources, each with a substantial investment in the information production and delivery processes, information is increasingly provided by a wide range of sources, many of which can readily provide and deliver information to large audiences worldwide. One consequence of this evolution in information production is an almost incomprehensibly vast information repository in the form of the Web and other online resources. A variety of social media have extended this information and source fecundity even further by connecting individuals to one another and by providing significant opportunities to share myriad types of information generated by users themselves. This shift in information dissemination challenges longstanding models of the provision of credible information by suggesting circumstances under which sources that are not understood as “experts” in the traditional sense are in fact in the best position to provide the most credible information.

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Expert cues: how expert reviewers are perceived online

Journal of Service Theory and Practice ◽

10.1108/jstp-11-2019-0240 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (4/5) ◽

pp. 531-556 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Anna Naujoks ◽

Martin Benkenstein

Keyword(s):

Design Methodology ◽

Online Reviews ◽

The Other ◽

Future Research ◽

Review Author ◽

Content Type ◽

Source Expertise ◽

Different Types ◽

Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore different types of source expertise and how they influence perceived message quality. Consumers face the challenge to identify valuable online reviews. Source expertise as a signal of message quality can be displayed differently, depending on website layout, operator and review author.Design/methodology/approachTwo scenario-based experiments were conducted questioning 135 and 275 participants. They investigate the effect of different types of expert reviewers on perceived message quality and also examine the interplay of source expertise and source trustworthiness.FindingsThe findings reveal that the different types of expert reviewers differ in perceived expertise and their impact on perceived message quality. Claims of expertise induce the highest perceived expertise compared to the other expert types and non-experts, but are perceived as less trustworthy.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should examine the influence of the expert types across different product and service categories and could also include moderating influences that reflect how consumers process expert cues differently.Practical implicationsCues that signal high expertise and high trustworthiness are likely to deliver the most valuable online reviews. This should be incorporated in the website's layout to help consumers find valuable information.Originality/valueThe approach of this research is novel in that it undertakes comparisons between three types of expert cues and non-experts. It also addresses the interplay of source expertise and trustworthiness and examines the effect on message quality.

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AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIVE EFFECTS OF SOURCE EXPERTISE, TRUSTWORTHINESS, AND LIKEABILITY

Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal ◽

10.2224/sbp.1991.19.4.305 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 305-314 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Bradley S. O'hara ◽

Richard G. Netemeyer ◽

Scot Burton

Keyword(s):

Theory Of Reasoned Action ◽

Discriminant Validity ◽

Reasoned Action ◽

Source Characteristics ◽

Source Expertise ◽

General Support ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship

The discriminant validity among expertise, trustworthiness and likeability was assessed, and the relationship of these three variables with constructs from the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) was examined. The discriminant validity between these three source characteristics was supported. In addition, general support was found for hypotheses regarding their relationships to variables in the theory of reasoned action.

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Social credibility online: The role of online comments in assessing news article credibility

Newspaper Research Journal ◽

10.1177/0739532918761065 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 18-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ivanka Pjesivac ◽

Nicholas Geidner ◽

Jaclyn Cameron

Keyword(s):

Genetically Modified Organisms ◽

Online News ◽

News Article ◽

News Story ◽

Online Journalism ◽

Source Expertise ◽

Internet Users ◽

News Credibility ◽

Twitter Users

This 2 × 2 experimental study (N = 196) tested the effects of source expertise and opinion valence in readers’ comments on the credibility of an online news story about genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Source expertise had a significant influence on perceptions of article credibility; articles were judged more credible when public comments embedded in the story were from expert sources (e.g., scientists) rather than nonexpert sources (e.g., Twitter users). Effects were larger on high-frequency news users, regardless of whether comments were for or against GMOs. Results suggest that Internet users mainly use the peripheral or heuristic route of information processing to evaluate online news credibility. The importance for online journalism of social heuristics via opinions of other people is discussed.

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