THE IMPACT OF NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE INFORMATION ON SOURCE CREDIBILITY IN A FIELD SETTING.docx

1、THE IMPACT OF NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE INFORMATION ON SOURCE CREDIBILITY IN A FIELD SETTINGAdvances in Consumer Research Volume 10, 1983 Pages 11-16THE IMPACT OF NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE INFORMATION ON SOURCE CREDIBILITY IN A FIELD SETTINGJoanne M. Klebba, University of CincinnatiLynette S. Unger, Miami U

2、niversityABSTRACT - This paper examines the impact of positive and negative source information on the credibility of the advertising source and on audience perceptions of the company and advocated product. A field research study of Lee Iacocca, CEO of Chrysler Corporation indicates that the cognitiv

3、e and affective dimensions of credibility respond differently to positive and negative information and that these dimensions relate differently to audience perceptions of product quality and safety.INTRODUCTIONThe use of the celebrity as product advocate is recognized as an effective advertising tec

4、hnique. Published evidence indicates that testimonials enhance readership scores (Freeman 1957, Rudolph 1947), increase awareness and induce positive attitude change toward a company and its product (Fireworker and Friedman 1977, Kamen, Azhari and Kragh 1975). In addition, source credibility investi

5、gations generally conclude that the more credible a source, the more persuasive s/he is (Sternthal, Philips and Dholakia 1978).The widespread use of celebrity endorsers and the tees they command (sometimes in excess of $1 million annually) attest indirectly to their success as product spokespersons.

6、 An estimated 33% of all television commercials contained celebrities in 1976 (Business Week 1978). Yet advertisers who use celebrity endorsers may encounter three major problems. First, lured by the generous compensation, many celebrities opt to advocate several products, a practice which can resul

7、t in overexposure and a muddied image. In a study by Mowen and Brown (1981), results indicated that subjects saw the product and advertisement more favorably and demonstrated greater purchase interest when a celebrity endorsed one rather than several products. A second problem is the question of mat

8、ching the product type with the appropriate celebrity. Kanungo and Pang (1973) investigated the effects of advertising models sex and found that fittingness of the model is a determinant of perceived product quality. Friedman and Friedman (1979) found that endorser type effectiveness is dependent on

9、 product type. Because of the dramatic growth in the amount of negative information in the marketplace (Weinburger, Allen and Dillon 1981), a third problem is of critical interest. Marketers must now be concerned with negative information about their product, introduced by regulatory agencies, consu

10、mer groups, competitors or rumor. Moreover, advertisers using celebrities as advocates must also be concerned with these endorsers public reputations as formed by the press, special interest groups or public investigations.The purpose of this study is to examine the impact or negative and positive s

11、ource information on credibility and to explore the effect of such information on attitudes toward the advocated product. Negative and positive information constitute the independent variables in this study and the components of source credibility comprise the dependent variables.BACKGROUNDThe use o

12、f a companys CEO as a celebrity testimonial represents a growing variation in the celebrity endorsement technique (Fortune 1980). Mr. Lee Iacocca, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and advertising spokesperson for Chrysler corporation is the focus of this study. Prior to Iacoccas Chrysler experie

13、nce, he was also President of the Ford Motor Company. During his tenure with Ford, Iacocca was involved in the development of the Pinto and the Mustang automobiles.In the fall of 1979; Mr. Iacocca began to appear as product spokesman in Chrysler Corporations automobile advertising. In the spring of

14、1980, however, Iacoccas involvement in the development of the Ford Pinto was brought out in a liability suit based on design inadequacies in the Pinto. The suit was brought against Ford Motor Company. Although Iacocca was no longer associated with Ford or the Pinto, his involvement with the Pinto wa

15、s nationally publicized during the liability trial (Advertising Age, 1981). Iacoccas involvement with the Pinto is utilized as the negative information in this study. Iacoccas earlier association with the highly successful Mustang constitutes the positive information for the study.SUMMARY OF PREVIOU

16、S RESEARCHThe research which deals with negative information covers two areas: the effect of negative cues about products and about persons. Researchers generally conclude that negative product information has a greater impact than positive information on attitudes toward products. Wright (1974) fou

17、nd that negative information affected car purchase intent more than positive cues under high time pressure conditions. Others found negative information bias in formation or attitudes toward products (Lutz 1975; Weinburger and Dillon 1980). In the area of corrective advertising and affirmative discl

18、osure, results are mixed. Some researchers (Hunt 1977) have found that introduction of negative information in the form of corrective copy can dissipate the effects of deceptive advertising. Findings of other researchers indicate negative product information is not necessarily detrimental to product

19、 attitudes and may even enhance credibility (Dyer and Kuehl 1974; Settle and Golden 1974).In their literature review, Weinburger, Allen and Dillon (1981) explain negative information bias using an attribution theory framework. Negative information has the strong impact that it does because it stands

20、 out more than positive information and.would therefore have more distinctiveness. This apparently results from the fact that there are more positive cues in the individuals social environment. As a result, negative cues attract more attention and are therefore more heavily attributable to the stimu

21、lus object (p. 398). Scott and Tybout (1981) suggested that cue valence alone does not cause differential attention to negative information and that it should be studied within the broader framework of information processing.The psychological literature provides ample research on person perception,

22、the formation of impressions about people based on negative and positive information. While at least one researcher (Infante 1980) has cautioned against confusing person perception with source credibility, a review of this literature is relevant to the study of implications of negative source inform

23、ation. As in the case of products, researchers in the person perception area also acknowledge a negative information bias. Richey et al. (1975) found that a single report of a persons negative behavior outweighed five positive behaviors. In other studies, Richey and her colleagues introduced both po

24、sitive and negative information, controlling for intensity and order effect, and found disproportionate influence of negative information in person perception formation (Richey and Dwyer 1970; Richey, McClelland and Shimkunas 1967). In reviewing the personnel literature, Weinburger, Allen and Dillon

25、 (1981) also found studies to indicate that negative information in job interviews is more salient than positive information in forming impressions of employee candidates.Two studies are centered on the effects of negative information on particular dimensions of source credibility. Sereno and Hawkin

26、s (1967) studied the influence of speaker nonfluency, a kind of negative information, on the source credibility dimensions defined by Berlo, Lemert and Mertz (1969). They found that nonfluency adversely affected the competence and dynamism factors but not the trustworthiness factor. In another study

27、, Richey, McClelland and Shimkunas (1967) found negative bias in perceptions of persons moral-ethical character. While the study did not focus on source credibility, this particular area of personality might be equated with trustworthiness, an acknowledged dimension of credibility.The vast body of r

28、esearch on source credibility might be divided into two areas: studies concerned with the impact of credibility on social influence and research on the underlying dimensions of credibility (Sternthal, Philips and Dholakia 1978). The literature in the first area generally concludes that the more cred

29、ible the source, the more persuasive he or she is (Delozier 1976; Fireworker and Friedman 1977- Hovland and Weiss 1951; Kelman and Hovland 1953; McGuire 1969). This general conclusion has been borne out in main effects studies; however, studies of interactions indicate that low source credibility is

30、 not always detrimental nor is high credibility always an asset (Dholakia and Sternthal 1977). The emphasis here, however, is on the main effect, enhancing source credibility to increase the persuasiveness of advertising messages. An extensive review of the literature on source persuasiveness is pro

31、vided by Sternthal, Philips and Dholakia (1978).The positive relationship between source credibility and persuasiveness has often been demonstrated by manipulating the dimensions of credibility, the second area of source credibility research. The literature most often recognizes three dimensions: tr

32、ustworthiness, expertise and likability (Kelman and Hovland 1953). Researchers have proposed other classifications of the components of credibility as well. Rarick (1963) found evidence for two dimensions, cognitive and affective. Included in the cognitive component are power, prestige and competenc

33、e. The affective component is comprised of characteristics such as trustworthiness and likability. Berlo, Lemert and Mertz (1969) include safety (trustworthiness, friendliness), qualification (competence, experience), and dynamism (energy, aggressiveness) in their classification system. The similarity and overlap of these classificati