Role of affect in marketplace rumor propagation
02 Sep 2019-Marketing Intelligence & Planning (Emerald Publishing Limited)-Vol. 37, Iss: 6, pp 631-644
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the role of positive affect and negative affect in rumor sharing behavior among consumers and found that positive affect has a stronger influence on rumor sharing as compared to negative affect.
Abstract: Rumors about products and brands are common occurrence in the marketplace. Often these rumors are shared among consumers using the word of mouth channel. The spread of these rumors is fast and can lead to significant consequences to products and brands. The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics of such rumor sharing behavior among consumers. Specifically, this paper investigates the role of positive affect and negative affect in rumor sharing behavior. Three key rumor characteristics (valence, involvement and credibility) are explored as antecedents to positive affect and negative affect.,The paper collects data from 236 respondents using Amazon MTurk, and conducts a PLS–SEM analysis to explore the role of positive affect and negative affect in rumor sharing contexts.,Both positive affect and negative affect were found to be significant factors leading to rumor sharing, furthermore positive affect was found to have a stronger influence on rumor sharing as compared to negative affect. The study also delineates the role of valence, involvement and credibility in rumor sharing scenarios, all of which have a strong role in shaping positive affect and negative affect.,The study is novel in using cognitive appraisal theory to illustrate the formation of positive affect and negative affect in rumor encounters. The study conclusively illustrates the role of cognitive appraisal and emotional experiences in the rumor propagation context, and advances the marketing scholarship’s understanding significantly.
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TL;DR: The authors found that people are much more likely to believe stories that favor their preferred candidate, especially if they have ideologically segregated social media networks, and that the average American adult saw on the order of one or perhaps several fake news stories in the months around the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with just over half of those who recalled seeing them believing them.
Abstract: Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, many have expressed concern about the effects of false stories (“fake news”), circulated largely through social media. We discuss the economics of fake news and present new data on its consumption prior to the election. Drawing on web browsing data, archives of fact-checking websites, and results from a new online survey, we find: (i) social media was an important but not dominant source of election news, with 14 percent of Americans calling social media their “most important” source; (ii) of the known false news stories that appeared in the three months before the election, those favoring Trump were shared a total of 30 million times on Facebook, while those favoring Clinton were shared 8 million times; (iii) the average American adult saw on the order of one or perhaps several fake news stories in the months around the election, with just over half of those who recalled seeing them believing them; and (iv) people are much more likely to believe stories that favor their preferred candidate, especially if they have ideologically segregated social media networks.
3,959 citations
TL;DR: It appears that trust in HOFN varies with environmental cues (regional pandemic severity) and with individuals' perceived control, providing insight into developing coping strategies during a pandemic.
Abstract: PurposeHealth-related online fake news (HOFN) has become a major social problem. HOFN can lead to the spread of ineffective and even harmful remedies. The study aims to understand Internet users' responses to HOFN during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic using the protective action decision model (PADM).Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected pandemic severity data (regional number of confirmed cases) from government websites of the USA and China (Studies 1 and 2), search behavior from Google and Baidu search engines (Studies 1 and 2) and data regarding trust in two online fake news stories from two national surveys (Studies 2 and 3). All data were analyzed using a multi-level linear model.FindingsThe research detected negative time-lagged relationships between pandemic severity and regional HOFN search behavior by three actual fake news stories from the USA and China (Study 1). Importantly, trust in HOFN served as a mediator in the time-lagged relationship between pandemic severity and search behavior (Study 2). Additionally, the relationship between pandemic severity and trust in HOFN varied according to individuals' perceived control (Study 3).Originality/valueThe authors' results underscore the important role of PADM in understanding Internet users' trust in and search for HOFN. When people trust HOFN, they may seek more information to implement further protective actions. Importantly, it appears that trust in HOFN varies with environmental cues (regional pandemic severity) and with individuals' perceived control, providing insight into developing coping strategies during a pandemic.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed an extension to TAM to analyse the significance of monetary benefits and information reliability on customers' intention to use social media, while information reliability and monetary benefits significantly influence only through perceived usefulness.
Abstract: The present study intends to shed light on behaviour of customers towards usage of social media for purchasing decisions. The study proposes an extension to technology acceptance model (TAM) to analyse the significance of monetary benefits and information reliability on customers' intention to use social media.,The sample was drawn from social media users of north-western region of India (n = 622). The proposed model was tested using exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.,Results indicate that monetary benefits and perceived ease of use have significant influence on customers' intention to use social media, while information reliability and monetary benefits significantly influence only through perceived usefulness.,The findings are valuable to marketers to acknowledge the potential of social media to reach to masses by providing timely and reliable information. The study also reveals that website/app developers should implement a user-friendly interface and reliable content to influence customers' usage behaviour.,The study is a unique attempt to examine the effect of monetary benefits and information reliability with TAM's key constructs in the context of social media adoption. Studies undertaken aforementioned dimensions are mainly concerned with examining direct contribution of social media and its effect on purchase decisions.
6 citations
TL;DR: This article provided a systematic and structured overview of the factors that influence the spread of misinformation by analyzing the four vital elements of information communication, namely, source, message, context, and receiver.
6 citations
References
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TL;DR: Investigation of medical professionals' intentions to trust and share online health rumors as a function of their personal involvement, the rumor type, and the presence of counter-rumors showed that personal involvement compelled intentions to Trust and share.
95 citations
TL;DR: This paper showed that increasing the salience of consumers' uncertainty/certainty when communicating or receiving information can improve uncertainty communication, and investigated the consequences for rumor management and word-of-mouth communications.
Abstract: How does a rumor come to be believed as a fact as it spreads across a chain of consumers? This research proposes that because consumers' certainty about their beliefs (e.g., attitudes, opinions) is less salient than the beliefs themselves, certainty information is more susceptible to being lost in communication. Consistent with this idea, the current studies reveal that though consumers transmit their core beliefs when they communicate with one another, they often fail to transmit their certainty or uncertainty about those beliefs. Thus, a belief originally associated with high uncertainty (certainty) tends to lose this uncertainty (certainty) across communications. The authors demonstrate that increasing the salience of consumers' uncertainty/certainty when communicating or receiving information can improve uncertainty/certainty communication, and they investigate the consequences for rumor management and word-of-mouth communications.
70 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an empirical analysis based on a telephone survey of 217 senior marketing managers in computer hardware and software manufacturing firms showed that the timing of preannouncements is contingent on factors that are product related (purchase cycle length, learning requirements, and switching costs), design related (forecast horizon), and industry related (perceived competitive elasticity).
66 citations
TL;DR: Differences between the 2 lines of research in news transmission include the definitiveness of the consequences of the news and the relationship between communicator and recipient and the influence of these 2 factors on news transmission was investigated.
Abstract: There is ample evidence suggesting (e.g., A. Tesser & S. Rosen, 1975) that people are reluctant to transmit bad news. Research on rumors, on the other hand, suggests that people sometimes are less reluctant to transmit bad news. It is argued that differences between the 2 lines of research include the definitiveness of the consequences of the news and the relationship between communicator and recipient. The influence of these 2 factors on news transmission was investigated in 3 experiments. Results showed that bad news with indefinite consequences was transmitted more often than bad news with definite consequences and that both kinds of bad news were transmitted more often if the recipient was a friend rather than a stranger. Differences in feelings of moral responsibility to transmit the news largely accounted for both effects. The 2 factors did not affect the likelihood of good news transmission.
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined commercial rumors from the perspective of marketing managers and proposed a rumor model based on a variation of the critical incidents technique involving recalled commercial rumors, which conform to rumor theory in terms of the psychological and situational factors underlying rumor transmission, and offer support for their proposed rumor model.
Abstract: This study examines commercial rumors from the perspective of marketing managers. American and French respondents (N = 133) completed a rumor questionnaire intended to assess the prevalence and types of commercial rumors that reach their ear, the severity of rumor effects, the effectiveness of rumor control tactics, and the psychological and situational variables associated with rumor onset and spread. Based on a variation of the critical incidents technique involving recalled commercial rumors, the results conform to rumor theory in terms of the psychological and situational factors (i.e. anxiety, importance, credulity, and uncertainty) underlying rumor transmission, and offer support for our proposed rumor model. The findings also highlight the prevalence and potentially negative impact of rumors in marketing sectors. As an initial attempt to discern cross-cultural differences in commercial rumor activity, preliminary findings suggest differences in effectiveness of marketing communication tactics for r...
51 citations