Feature-based and Perceived Credibility of Websites

Jisu Huh
Assistant Professor
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Minnesota
206 Church Street S. E.
Minneapolis , MN 55455
Phone: (612) 626-5527
Fax: (612) 626-8251
Email: jhuh@umn.edu

ABSTRACT

The Web as a product information source has drawn tremendous attention from consumers and various stakeholders. An array of websites is available to help consumers find information and the best deals on products and services. While these sites have the potential to save time and money by directly comparing alternatives and to educate people about new products and services, consumers still have the task of assessing the credibility of these websites. If information provided on the Web were not credible or not perceived as credible, it would be unlikely that the information would benefit consumers.

There are two streams of research on website credibility. One stream of research looks at content only to see specific features that may influence credibility (feature-based credibility) and the other looks at consumers’ perceptions of credibility of the Web (perceived credibility) in general but doesn’t look at why individual websites are rated as they are. Feature-based credibility research is useful to assess current industry practices from the expert perspective and help identify cues available for consumers to use to distinguish credible information. Experts recommend that consumers look for certain key disclosures or “cues” to assess a site’s credibility (e.g., a site’s identity, the currency and authoritativeness of its information, its sponsors and business relationships, and its privacy practices). However, this approach cannot measure whether and how consumers actually use recommended cues of credibility and how consumers perceive credibility of the website. While the two approaches complement each other, research on linking feature-based credibility and perceived credibility of websites is almost nonexistent. Also unexplored is whether and to what extent, feature-based and perceived credibility predict message effects on consumers.

To fill the gap, my ongoing research project attempts to combine the two streams of prior research. Specifically, through a combination of content analysis, and quantitative and qualitative consumer research, this research project would address five related research questions: (1) w hat features that consumers may use to assess information credibility are available on websites?; (2) how would credibility of websites be evaluated based on website features?; (3) how do consumers assess credibility of information on websites?; (4) do consumer perceptions of website credibility correspond to objectively measured, feature-based credibility?; and (5) would feature-based and perceived credibility be differentially associated with consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral responses?

A preliminary research using a qualitative content analysis of 32 life insurance comparison websites attempted to connect feature-based credibility with performance in finding lowest price policy, by documenting the prevalence of cues to credibility and relating various cues to credibility to the quality of the price comparison information dispensed. The results suggested that expert-recommended cues of credibility are often not present on websites and, when they are, do not seem to predict a site’s ability to deliver the lowest price quotes for life insurance policies. A combination of quantitative and qualitative consumer research will be conducted to expand the preliminary findings and to answer research questions stated above.

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