Abstract
A viral advertising message has two different sources: the advertiser as the message creator and a sender as the message distributor. This study examined the influence of sender trust and advertiser trust on four stages of viral advertising effects. Results from a field experiment demonstrated that sender trust and advertiser trust have differential influences on effect stages. Significant interaction effects show that if a viral ad is sent by a trusted sender, the influence of advertiser trust becomes non-significant or reduced, suggesting that a viral ad from a trusted sender can overcome the handicap a less trusted advertiser might have.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 100-114 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Advertising |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was funded by a grant from the American Academy of Advertising Doctoral Dissertation Award to the first author.