The influence of information discrepancy, distractions, and media multitasking on the evaluation of social media influencer credibility.

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2024-08-14
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en
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The current study investigated how discrepancies between social media sources affected engagement with and evaluation of sources. Likewise, the impact of distractions and MMT on these processes were considered. A total of 127 participants aged 18 to 29 completed the online experiment. Subjects indicated their MMT behavior and encountered either agreement or disagreement between a high- and low-credibility source. Additionally, a portion of participants encountering disagreement were distracted by WhatsApp notifications. Subjects were tested on source memory, perceived source credibility, and purchase intentions of a fictitious health product. Results indicated that participants noticed expertise differences between influencers in the discrepant information condition. To conclude, the study finds support for the D-ISC model in that participants perceived expertise differences between high- and low-credibility sources when presented with discrepant information. Distractions and MMT did not worsen sourcing abilities on social media. Therefore, cognitive processes during sourcing on social media seem to be nuanced and context dependent.
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