Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/52637

KEYWORDS : word of mouth;Sina Weibo;message source;credibility;trustworthy;ELM model

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of message sources on the credibility of electronic word of mouth. Data were collected via internet questionnaires, and 194 eff ective samples were collected to verify the hypotheses of this study. Through three empirical studies on China's Sina-Weibo, We found out which message sources are most trusted by customers. We also used the elaboration likelihood model to examine the change of credibility of eWOM with trustworthy source cues or not. In addition, we investigated the extent of the eff ect from source trustworthiness, as well as professional and familiarity of source. Based on our survey, we found that message source has significant impact on the credibility of electronic word of mouth. According to the results of this paper, we discussed the implications for research and practice.