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

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

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THEIMPACTOFNEGATIVEANDPOSITIVEINFORMATIONONSOURCECREDIBILITYINAFIELDSETTING

AdvancesinConsumerResearchVolume10,1983    Pages11-16

THEIMPACTOFNEGATIVEANDPOSITIVEINFORMATIONONSOURCECREDIBILITYINAFIELDSETTING

JoanneM.Klebba,UniversityofCincinnati

LynetteS.Unger,MiamiUniversity

ABSTRACT-

Thispaperexaminestheimpactofpositiveandnegativesourceinformationonthecredibilityoftheadvertisingsourceandonaudienceperceptionsofthecompanyandadvocatedproduct.AfieldresearchstudyofLeeIacocca,CEOofChryslerCorporationindicatesthatthecognitiveandaffectivedimensionsofcredibilityresponddifferentlytopositiveandnegativeinformationandthatthesedimensionsrelatedifferentlytoaudienceperceptionsofproductqualityandsafety.

INTRODUCTION

Theuseofthecelebrityasproductadvocateisrecognizedasaneffectiveadvertisingtechnique.Publishedevidenceindicatesthattestimonialsenhancereadershipscores（Freeman1957,Rudolph1947）,increaseawarenessandinducepositiveattitudechangetowardacompanyanditsproduct（FireworkerandFriedman1977,Kamen,AzhariandKragh1975）.Inaddition,sourcecredibilityinvestigationsgenerallyconcludethatthemorecredibleasource,themorepersuasives/heis（Sternthal,PhilipsandDholakia1978）.

Thewidespreaduseofcelebrityendorsersandtheteestheycommand（sometimesinexcessof$1millionannually）attestindirectlytotheirsuccessasproductspokespersons.Anestimated33%ofalltelevisioncommercialscontainedcelebritiesin1976（BusinessWeek1978）.Yetadvertiserswhousecelebrityendorsersmayencounterthreemajorproblems.First,luredbythegenerouscompensation,manycelebritiesopttoadvocateseveralproducts,apracticewhichcanresultinoverexposureandamuddiedimage.InastudybyMowenandBrown（1981）,resultsindicatedthatsubjectssawtheproductandadvertisementmorefavorablyanddemonstratedgreaterpurchaseinterestwhenacelebrityendorsedoneratherthanseveralproducts.Asecondproblemisthequestionofmatchingtheproducttypewiththeappropriatecelebrity.KanungoandPang（1973）investigatedtheeffectsofadvertisingmodels'sexandfoundthat"fittingness"ofthemodelisadeterminantofperceivedproductquality.FriedmanandFriedman（1979）foundthatendorsertypeeffectivenessisdependentonproducttype.Becauseofthedramaticgrowthintheamountofnegativeinformationinthemarketplace（Weinburger,AllenandDillon1981）,athirdproblemisofcriticalinterest.Marketersmustnowbeconcernedwithnegativeinformationabouttheirproduct,introducedbyregulatoryagencies,consumergroups,competitorsorrumor.Moreover,advertisersusingcelebritiesasadvocatesmustalsobeconcernedwiththeseendorsers'publicreputationsasformedbythepress,specialinterestgroupsorpublicinvestigations.

Thepurposeofthisstudyistoexaminetheimpactornegativeandpositivesourceinformationoncredibilityandtoexploretheeffectofsuchinformationonattitudestowardtheadvocatedproduct.Negativeandpositiveinformationconstitutetheindependentvariablesinthisstudyandthecomponentsofsourcecredibilitycomprisethedependentvariables.

BACKGROUND

Theuseofacompany'sCEOasacelebritytestimonialrepresentsagrowingvariationinthecelebrityendorsementtechnique（Fortune1980）.Mr.LeeIacocca,ChairmanandChiefExecutiveOfficerandadvertisingspokespersonforChryslercorporationisthefocusofthisstudy.PriortoIacocca'sChryslerexperience,hewasalsoPresidentoftheFordMotorCompany.DuringhistenurewithFord,IacoccawasinvolvedinthedevelopmentofthePintoandtheMustangautomobiles.

Inthefallof1979;Mr.IacoccabegantoappearasproductspokesmaninChryslerCorporation'sautomobileadvertising.Inthespringof1980,however,Iacocca'sinvolvementinthedevelopmentoftheFordPintowasbroughtoutinaliabilitysuitbasedondesigninadequaciesinthePinto.ThesuitwasbroughtagainstFordMotorCompany.AlthoughIacoccawasnolongerassociatedwithFordorthePinto,hisinvolvementwiththePintowasnationallypublicizedduringtheliabilitytrial（AdvertisingAge,1981）.Iacocca'sinvolvementwiththePintoisutilizedasthenegativeinformationinthisstudy.Iacocca'searlierassociationwiththehighlysuccessfulMustangconstitutesthepositiveinformationforthestudy.

SUMMARYOFPREVIOUSRESEARCH

Theresearchwhichdealswithnegativeinformationcoverstwoareas:

theeffectofnegativecuesaboutproductsandaboutpersons.Researchersgenerallyconcludethatnegativeproductinformationhasagreaterimpactthanpositiveinformationonattitudestowardproducts.Wright（1974）foundthatnegativeinformationaffectedcarpurchaseintentmorethanpositivecuesunderhightimepressureconditions.Othersfoundnegativeinformationbiasinformationorattitudestowardproducts（Lutz1975;WeinburgerandDillon1980）.Intheareaofcorrectiveadvertisingandaffirmativedisclosure,resultsaremixed.Someresearchers（Hunt1977）havefoundthatintroductionofnegativeinformationintheformofcorrectivecopycandissipatetheeffectsofdeceptiveadvertising.Findingsofotherresearchersindicatenegativeproductinformationisnotnecessarilydetrimentaltoproductattitudesandmayevenenhancecredibility（DyerandKuehl1974;SettleandGolden1974）.

Intheirliteraturereview,Weinburger,AllenandDillon（1981）explainnegativeinformationbiasusinganattributiontheoryframework."Negativeinformationhasthestrongimpactthatitdoesbecauseitstandsoutmorethanpositiveinformationand...wouldthereforehavemoredistinctiveness.Thisapparentlyresultsfromthefactthattherearemorepositivecuesintheindividual'ssocialenvironment.Asaresult,negativecuesattractmoreattentionandarethereforemoreheavilyattributabletothestimulusobject"（p.398）.ScottandTybout（1981）suggestedthatcuevalencealonedoesnotcausedifferentialattentiontonegativeinformationandthatitshouldbestudiedwithinthebroaderframeworkofinformationprocessing.

Thepsychologicalliteratureprovidesampleresearchon"personperception,"theformationofimpressionsaboutpeoplebasedonnegativeandpositiveinformation.Whileatleastoneresearcher（Infante1980）hascautionedagainstconfusingpersonperceptionwithsourcecredibility,areviewofthisliteratureisrelevanttothestudyofimplicationsofnegativesourceinformation.Asinthecaseofproducts,researchersinthepersonperceptionareaalsoacknowledgeanegativeinformationbias.Richeyetal.（1975）foundthatasinglereportofaperson'snegativebehavioroutweighedfivepositivebehaviors.Inotherstudies,Richeyandhercolleaguesintroducedbothpositiveandnegativeinformation,controllingforintensityandordereffect,andfounddisproportionateinfluenceofnegativeinformationinpersonperceptionformation（RicheyandDwyer1970;Richey,McClellandandShimkunas1967）.Inreviewingthepersonnelliterature,Weinburger,AllenandDillon（1981）alsofoundstudiestoindicatethatnegativeinformationinjobinterviewsismoresalientthanpositiveinformationinformingimpressionsofemployeecandidates.

Twostudiesarecenteredontheeffectsofnegativeinformationonparticulardimensionsofsourcecredibility.SerenoandHawkins（1967）studiedtheinfluenceofspeakernonfluency,akindofnegativeinformation,onthesourcecredibilitydimensionsdefinedbyBerlo,LemertandMertz（1969）.Theyfoundthatnonfluencyadverselyaffectedthecompetenceanddynamismfactorsbutnotthetrustworthinessfactor.Inanotherstudy,Richey,McClellandandShimkunas（1967）foundnegativebiasinperceptionsofpersons'moral-ethicalcharacter.Whilethestudydidnotfocusonsourcecredibility,thisparticularareaofpersonalitymightbeequatedwithtrustworthiness,anacknowledgeddimensionofcredibility.

Thevastbodyofresearchonsourcecredibilitymightbedividedintotwoareas:

studiesconcernedwiththeimpactofcredibilityonsocialinfluenceandresearchontheunderlyingdimensionsofcredibility（Sternthal,PhilipsandDholakia1978）.Theliteratureinthefirstareagenerallyconcludesthatthemorecrediblethesource,themorepersuasiveheorsheis（Delozier1976;FireworkerandFriedman1977-HovlandandWeiss1951;KelmanandHovland1953;McGuire1969）.Thisgeneralconclusionhasbeenborneoutinmaineffectsstudies;however,studiesofinteractionsindicatethatlowsourcecredibilityisnotalwaysdetrimentalnorishighcredibilityalwaysanasset（DholakiaandSternthal1977）.Theemphasishere,however,isonthemaineffect,enhancingsourcecredibilitytoincreasethepersuasivenessofadvertisingmessages.AnextensivereviewoftheliteratureonsourcepersuasivenessisprovidedbySternthal,PhilipsandDholakia（1978）.

Thepositiverelationshipbetweensourcecredibilityandpersuasivenesshasoftenbeendemonstratedbymanipulatingthedimensionsofcredibility,thesecondareaofsourcecredibilityresearch.Theliteraturemostoftenrecognizesthreedimensions:

trustworthiness,expertiseandlikability（KelmanandHovland1953）.Researchershaveproposedotherclassificationsofthecomponentsofcredibilityaswell.Rarick（1963）foundevidencefortwodimensions,cognitiveandaffective.Includedinthecognitivecomponentarepower,prestigeandcompetence.Theaffectivecomponentiscomprisedofcharacteristicssuchastrustworthinessandlikability.Berlo,LemertandMertz（1969）includesafety（trustworthiness,friendliness）,qualification（competence,experience）,anddynamism（energy,aggressiveness）intheirclassificationsystem.Thesimilarityandoverlapoftheseclassificati