소비자의 가치 추구 동인이 블로그 리뷰의 신뢰성 지각에 미치는 영향: 유대강도에 따른 조절효과를 중심으로 = The Effect of Consumers’ Value Motives on the Perception of Blog Reviews Credibility: the Moderation Effect of Tie Strength

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

What attracts consumers to bloggers’ reviews? Consumers would be attracted both by the Bloggers’ expertise (i.e., knowledge and experience) and by his/her unbiased manner of delivering information. Expertise and trustworthiness are both virtues of information sources, particularly when there is uncertainty in decision-making.
Noting this point, we postulate that consumers’ motives determine the relative weights they place on expertise and trustworthiness. In addition, our hypotheses assume that tie strength moderates consumers’ expectation on bloggers’ expertise and trustworthiness: with expectation on expertise enhanced for power-blog user-group (weak-ties), and an expectation on trustworthiness elevated for personal-blog user-group (strong-ties). Finally, we theorize that the effect of credibility on willingness to accept a review is moderated by tie strength; the predictive power of credibility is more prominent for the personal-blog user-groups than for the power-blog user groups.
To support these assumptions, we conducted a field survey with blog users, collecting retrospective self-report data. The “gourmet shop” was chosen as a target product category, and obtained data analyzed by structural equations modeling. Findings from these data provide empirical support for our theoretical predictions. First, we found that the purposive motive aimed at satisfying instrumental information needs increases reliance on bloggers’ expertise, but interpersonal connectivity value for alleviating loneliness elevates reliance on bloggers’ trustworthiness.
Second, expertise-based credibility is more prominent for power-blog user-groups than for personal- blog user-groups. While strong ties attract consumers with trustworthiness based on close emotional bonds, weak ties gain consumers’ attention with new, non-redundant information (Levin & Cross, 2004). Thus, when the existing knowledge system, used in strong ties, does not work as smoothly for addressing an impending problem, the weak-tie source can be utilized as a handy reference. Thus, we can anticipate that power bloggers secure credibility by virtue of their expertise while personal bloggers trade off on their trustworthiness. Our analysis demonstrates that power bloggers appeal more strongly to consumers than do personal bloggers in the area of expertise-based credibility.
Finally, the effect of review credibility on willingness to accept a review is higher for the personal- blog user-group than for the power-blog user-group. Actually, the inference that review credibility is a potent predictor of assessing willingness to accept a review is grounded on the analogy that attitude is an effective indicator of purchase intention. However, if memory about established attitudes is blocked, the predictive power of attitude on purchase intention is considerably diminished. Likewise, the effect of credibility on willingness to accept a review can be affected by certain moderators. Inspired by this analogy, we introduced tie strength as a possible moderator and demonstrated that tie strength moderated the effect of credibility on willingness to accept a review. Previously, Levin and Cross (2004) showed that credibility mediates strong-ties through receipt of knowledge, but this credibility mediation is not observed for weak-ties, where a direct path to it is activated. Thus, the predictive power of credibility on behavioral intention – that is, willingness to accept a review − is expected to be higher for strong-ties.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

블로그의 상품 리뷰가 소비자의 주목을 끄는 데에는 정보 원천인 블로거에 대한 신뢰가 자리잡고 있다. 블로거가 해당 상품 카테고리와 관련하여 충분한 지식 및 경험을 습득하고 있다는 전문성에 대한 믿음, 그리고 어떤 다른 이해 관계에 얽매여 정보를 왜곡하려는 등의 불순한 의도를 지니고 있지 않다는 진실성에 대한 믿음이 있기에 소비자들은 구매 의사 결정에 뒤따르는 불확실성을 줄일 요량으로 블로그의 상품 리뷰를 참조하게 된다.
본 연구는 이러한 점에 착안하여 소비자들이 리뷰 정보를 통해 추구하는 가치 동인이 무엇이냐에 따라 신뢰성의 하위 차원인 전문성 및 진실성에 이르는 경로 계수의 비중이 분화하며, 나아가 유대 강도의 강약에 따라 전문성 및 진실성 기반 신뢰성에 대한 기대치가 분기하게 될 것이라 예측하였다. 아울러, 유대 강도가 태도로서의 신뢰성이 리뷰 수용 의사에 대해 갖는 예측력에 조절 효과를 미쳐 파워블로그 사용 집단에서보다 개인블로그 사용 집단에서 이러한 예측력이 보다 고양될 것이라 가정하였다.
분석 결과, 도구적 정보 니즈를 충족시키고자 하는 유목적적 가치 동인은 정보 원천의 전문성에 대한 기대 의존도를 증폭시키지만, 고립감을 해소하고자 하는 대인간 연결의 가치 동인은 정보 원천의 진실성에 대한 의존도를 높이는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고, 전문성에 대한 기대치는 강한 유대 관계의 개인블로그 사용 집단에서보다 약한 유대 관계의 파워블로그 사용 집단에서 보다 증진되며, 태도로서의 신뢰성이 리뷰 수용 의사에 대해 갖는 예측력은 파워블로그 사용 집단에서보다 개인블로그 사용 집단에서 보다 고양되는 것으로 나타났다.

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