With whom do consumers interact?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of congruent and incongruent anonymous comments posted to an online health news article on personal risk perception. This association is examined through testing the moderating roles of perceived similarity and approval ratings, and the mediating roles of source credibility and content credibility. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses regarding the impact of comments on personal risk perception were tested experimentally using a news article, comments and approval ratings about the ear picking behavior. Data were collected from 391 young Vietnamese respondents. Findings The influence of online comments (congruent vs incongruent) on personal risk perception was mediated by source credibility and content credibility. Further, data showed a direct effect of online comments on personal risk perception. Interestingly, the direct and indirect effects of online comments on personal risk perception were observed among participants who perceived that anonymous commenters were similar to them. Approval ratings had neither a main nor interaction effect with comments on the dependent variables. Practical implications The results indicate that marketers should consider online comments as a powerful form of social influence, which may alter consumers’ personal risk perception. Originality/value The present study adds to social marketing literature by showing how consumers’ online comments influence personal risk perception in the context of changing media ecosystem.

The impact of economic policy uncertainty, news framing and information overload on panic buying behavior in the time of COVID-19: a conceptual exploration

“…Previous studies also discuss how information overload may affect the buying behaviours of people confronting an uncertain situation (Duong et al, 2020). Islam et al (2021) confirm that people experiencing information overload are more likely to make unwise buying decisions and lose self-control.…”

“…Although economic uncertainty has reduced public confidence in policy makers worldwide and the macroeconomic impacts continue to worsen, the repercussions of the Panic buying behavior COVID-19 pandemic for businesses and societies have not yet been revealed (Bapuji et al, 2020;Barua, 2020), thus paving the way for continued information overload. Research argues that personal risk perception may trigger more interactions among people, especially in the face of huge amounts of information about a specific event (Duong et al, 2020;Li et al, 2020), such as the COVID-19 crisis, that they are unable to adequately analyze due to their perceived risk and fear of losing essential commodities of their daily lives (Duong et al, 2020;Phillips-Wren and Adya, 2020). At times of high uncertainty such as the COVID-19 outbreak, the dissemination of mixed messages and tremendous amounts of health and economic information through social media platforms (e.g.…”

“…The expectation of a delayed recovery, supported by the World Bank's prediction of a slow global economic recovery, also contributes to greater uncertainty (World Bank, 2021). News framing of the causes and solutions of the pandemic plays into this global atmosphere of fear and anxiety (Erku et al , 2020; Prentice et al , 2020; Zhang, 2021), weakening people's ability to effectively identify or avoid threats (Duong et al , 2020). The continued spread of the pandemic has brought information overload, further amplifying people's fear and anxiety about the serious threat posed to public health (Laato et al , 2020b).…”

Influencers on YouTube: a quantitative study on young people’s use and perception of videos about political and societal topics

“…Thereby, some sources are perceived as more trustworthy than others: People prefer the recommendations and opinions of friends and family. Indeed, online comments of users affect news processing and credibility perception of news content and sources (Duong, Nguyen, & Vu, 2020;Waddell, 2018aWaddell, , 2018b. Referring to the communication channels, the use of a particular communication channel apparently depends on the type of friend (strong versus weak ties) and the communication subject (school subject versus no school subject) (Van Cleemput, 2010).…”

Feeling inspired and nostalgic: associations between media context-induced positive emotions and behavioral change among vaccine-hesitant individuals in the late stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…However, much of the literature has focused on investigating the adverse effects of user-generated comments posted to health promotion videos on attempts to change behaviors (Dubé et al , 2015; Lu and Sun, 2022). More specifically, substantial research has found the detrimental effect of oppositional and negative comments on persuasion outcomes of health promotional messages (Duong et al , 2019; Kim et al , 2021). Subsequently, recommendations to advertisers and social marketers have been centered on engaging in social media listening and monitoring to address public sentiments or limiting users’ ability to provide divisive and opposition comments (Kim et al , 2021; Walther et al , 2010).…”