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Effects of linguistic style on persuasiveness of word-of-mouth messages with anonymous vs. identifiable sources

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Abstract

Online word-of-mouth messages can use either powerful or powerless linguistic styles and come from either anonymous or identifiable sources. Do differences in linguistic power affect the persuasiveness of such messages, and if so, how? We propose that the effects of linguistic style depend on the identifiability of the source. In three experiments, consumers receive word-of-mouth messages varying in linguistic style (powerful vs. powerless) and source identifiability (anonymous vs. identifiable). Across the experiments, an anonymous source paired with a powerful style and an identifiable source paired with a powerless style violate expectancy, stimulate cognitive elaboration, and enhance persuasiveness. Furthermore, need for cognition moderates this joint effect. Thus, an anonymous (identifiable) source can attract interest and gain influence by using a powerful (powerless) linguistic style. These findings shed new light on the persuasiveness of online word-of-mouth messages and show how companies can flexibly design effective word-of-mouth campaigns.

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Notes

  1. For robustness, we also performed a two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) by including the control variables (age, gender, income, and education) in the model. The results were robust (interaction between linguistic style and source identifiability: F (1, 140) = 7.48, p = .007).

  2. We conducted a two-way ANCOVA by including the control variables (knowledge of, familiarity with, and experience of Japanese Restaurants, Evaluation APP, and Social Media) in the model. The results were robust (F (1, 98) = 7.51, p = .007).

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Funding

This study is supported by research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71472124 and 71840009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai, 20030, China

    Jie Chen, Wenjian Fan & Junlong Wei

  2. Shanghai University of Engineering Science, 333 Longteng Road, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Zunli Liu

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  1. Jie Chen
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  2. Wenjian Fan
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  3. Junlong Wei
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  4. Zunli Liu
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Correspondence to Jie Chen.

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Chen, J., Fan, W., Wei, J. et al. Effects of linguistic style on persuasiveness of word-of-mouth messages with anonymous vs. identifiable sources. Mark Lett 33, 593–605 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-021-09602-7

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