Trusting expert- versus user-generated ratings online: The role of information volume, valence, and consumer characteristics

The warranting principle, signaling theory, and theories of informational social influence suggest conditions when either user-generated information, or information originating from traditional experts, might be privileged online. A random sample of 1207 U.S.-based adults with Internet access completed an experiment that manipulated the source, volume, and valence of online movie ratings in order to test predictions derived from these perspectives. Results indicated that ratings volume is positively associated with trust of, reliance on, and confidence in user-generated content, as well as the congruence between one's own and others' opinions; that ratings source and volume interact to impact credibility perceptions, reliance on user-generated information, and opinion congruence, such that people tend to favor experts when there is low information volume, but favor user-generated information under conditions of high information volume; and that people's opinions and behavioral intentions converge with the online ratings information to which they are exposed. In addition, these effects apply more strongly to people more conversant with user-generated content. Results indicate important theoretical extensions by demonstrating that social information online may be filtered through signals indicating its veracity, which may not apply equally to all social media users. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.