Users’ Response Toward Sponsored Social Recommendations On Social Network Sites

At social networking sites(SNS),user-generated contents(UGC),such as a user’s update of her consumption experience of a product or service,are a key potential source of business value and revenue.Many SNS platforms have been trying to commercialize UGC in order to realize their business value.Particularly,a sponsor may pay the SNS platform so that the platform will promote a positive UGC related to the product or service provided by the sponsor by recommending the UGC to other users.Such a UGC then serves as a sponsored social recommendation(SSR)on SNS.However,we have little theoretical understanding about the response of SNS users when they see the SSR promoted by the platform.This thesis investigates the effects of SSR from the perspective of persuasive information processing.I examine the effects of various design features of an SSR on users’ response toward the SSR,the social network platform and the product involved in the SSR through three studies.In the first study,I manipulated the source of SSR(i.e.,tie strength:from a user with a strong tie or from a user with a weak tie)and the background contrast of SSR(i.e.,with vs.without a salient background color).Drawing on the persuasion knowledge model(PKM)and the schema theory,I theorize the effects of background contrast by considering the contingent role of tie strength.Two major findings are revealed.First,when the source of SSR was a weak-tie other,SSR with a background contrast led to less favorable product attitude,lower level of SNS platform satisfaction,and a decreased amount of attention.By contrast,when the source of SSR was a strong-tie other,the negative impact of background contrast disappeared.Second,we proposed that such contingent effect was mediated by users’ use of persuasion knowledge(i.e.,SSR is a form of adverting,which is usually associated with a purpose to persuade).The SSRs with characteristics that made users think them as persuasive ads led to less favorable responses.On SNS,users can click a like button to show their ’like’ of a certain post.Such’likes’ may also be displayed to other users when they see the post and then serve as a form of endorsement.In the second study,I further explored whether or to what extent that displaying ’Mikes’ of SSR can affect users’ persuasive information processing.Based on the schema theory.I proposed that ’likes’ from friends,but not from strangers,can effectively address the negative impact of SSRs.The reason was that users are expected to less likely view SSRs as persuasive ads when their friends endorsed these SSRs.The results of the second study supported the proposed hypotheses.The negative impact of background contrast that found in the first study disappeared when the SSR was presented along with a ’like’ from one of the users’friend.By contrast,the negative impact of background contrast was still held when the SSR was presented along with a ’like’ from a stranger.Because of the commercial and persuasive nature of SSR,sponsorship disclosure is seemed as a requisite to guarantee a fair communication.In the third study,I investigate how users process and respond to persuasive SSRs when different types of sponsorship disclosure are provided.I divided the disclosure into 2 types:sponsor-centered and combined disclosure.Sponsored-centered disclosure only discloses the persuasive intent of the sponsor(e.g.,to attract users’ attention),while combined disclosure discloses the persuasive intent of the sponsor and simultaneously explains to the users that the SSR is recommended to them on the basis of their preferences.The results suggested that the impact of sponsorship disclosure types on users’ response toward SSR was contingent on the tie strength and mediated by users’ use of their persuasion knowledge.First,sponsor-centered disclosure led to a decreased mount of attention in both weak tie and strong tie condition.By contrast,combined disclosure led to an increased amount of attention in the weak tie condition but had no effect on attention in the strong tie condition.Second,in the strong tie condition,both sponsor-centered and combined disclosure led to a less favorable product attitude.While in the weak tie condition,sponsor-centered disclosure had no effect on product attitude and combined disclosure led to more favorable product attitude.This thesis has significant contributions to both research and practice.It examines users’ persuasive information processing of and responses toward SSR under different contexts.More importantly,this research reveals the activation of persuasion knowledge(advertising schema)as the underlying theoretical mechanisms for the effects of various features of SSR on users’ responses.This thesis also helps practitioners to effectively design SSRs that can minimize their negative impacts on users.