Investigating the impact of viral message appeal and message credibility on consumer attitude toward the brand

• Authors: Majid Esmaeilpour , Farshad Aram
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Due to the rapid growth of the Internet and use of e-commerce in the recent years, viral marketing has drawn the attention of manufacturing and service organizations. However, no research has been conducted to examine the impact of message appeal and message source credibility on consumers’ attitude with mediating role of intellectual involvement of consumers and their risk taking level. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of appeal and message source credibility on consumers’ attitude with mediating role of consumers’ intellectual involvement and their risk taking level. The population of this study includes consumers of mobile phones (Samsung, Sony, Nokia, LG and iPhone) in the Bushehr city (Iran). As the population of the study is unlimited, 430 questionnaires were distributed using available sampling method, and 391 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Using structural equation modeling, we analysed the data through smart PLS software. The results show that the appeal and credibility of the message source impact the consumer attitudes toward the brand. We also found that the intellectual involvement of consumers plays the mediating role in the relationship between message appeal and consumer attitudes toward brands. In the relationship between message source credibility and customer attitude towards the brand, the level of risk taking of people has no mediating role.

Keywords

EN

viral marketing; message appeal; message source credibility; consumer attitude; the level of intellectual involvement; the level of risk taking

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Management & Marketing
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 470-483

Dates

published

2016-07-01

online

2016-08-10

Contributors

author

Majid Esmaeilpour

• Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

author

Farshad Aram

• Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/mmcks-2016-0010