Marketing is a Battle of Perceptions: A Study of Source Credibility and Purchase Intentions in Online Luxury Marketing

The purpose of this study is to explore the difference in consumer perceptions of the source credibility of online luxury marketing messages based on whether content is presented in a blog post or company website format. This study also examines how this difference affects the element of purchase intention. By applying the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior, this research aims to find relationships between purchase intention and variables such as income, expectation of needs met, consumption habits, and attitudes toward information. Utilizing a posttest-only experimental design, this study presents two groups with stimuli containing information about a luxury car in either a blog post or company website format, followed by a series of questions about the respondents' attitudes toward the information. Results from this study indicated that there were higher perceptions of source credibility in the blog post group. Supporting the theory of reasoned action, the results showed that people with better attitude towards the information had higher perceptions of source credibility. Higher levels of source credibility and higher income levels were positive predictors of purchase intention. While there was no direct of the condition on purchase intention, the results suggested that source credibility mediates the effect between the condition and purchase intention.