英文摘要 |
This study examines the signals of product quality transmitted on social network sites. We use the cues friend and like as measurements to determine their influence on perceived product quality and the moderating role of familiarity, perceived risk, and review valence. The hypotheses were tested using two Facebook field experiments. We first compared the effects of information provided by friends, friends of friends, and advertisements. The results indicate that social signals affect perceived product quality, which produces intentions to purchase. The effect of friend cues is positively moderated by perceived familiarity and risk. Nevertheless, like does not make a noticeable difference on perceived quality for varying perceived familiarity and risk. We then studied the effect of information valence by differentiating between positive and negative reviews. The results indicate that the power of signals produced by friends’and derived friends’cues does not differ under negative review situations; the same result was found for like volume. The judgment of negative reviews overshadows both friendship type and rating volume effects. |