Effects of Word-of-Mouth and Product-Attribute Information on Persuasion: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective
Herr, Kardes and Kim compared word of mouth with printed product information. In the first experiment, face-to-face word of mouth was more persuasive than the same message in print. In the second, its effect was strong overall but weakened or disappeared when people already had a prior impression of the brand, or when the attribute information was extremely negative. The authors argue that the vividness, perseverance and negativity effects can all be explained by the accessibility-diagnosticity model.
Herr, Kardes and Kim compared word of mouth with printed product information. In the first experiment, face-to-face word of mouth was more persuasive than the same message in print. In the second, its effect was strong overall but weakened or disappeared when people already had a prior impression of the brand, or when the attribute information was extremely negative. The authors argue that the vividness, perseverance and negativity effects can all be explained by the accessibility-diagnosticity model.
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Herr, P. M., Kardes, F. R., & Kim, J. (1991). Effects of Word-of-Mouth and Product-Attribute Information on Persuasion: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 17(4), 454-462. doi:10.1086/208570.