Consumers’ Trust in Persuasion: Objective Versus Biased Elaboration Likelihood in China’s E-Commerce Advertising

Abstract

Based on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), this study examined the role of consumers’ initial trust in the persuasion process in e-commerce advertising in China. The results of two experiments revealed two significant moderators of the central route for processing of information: the disposition to trust (negative moderator) and institution-based trust (IBT; positive moderator). Specifically, low disposition to trust strengthened the influence of argument quality on consumers’ product attitude and purchase intention. The same effect occurred under conditions of high IBT. However, when it came to the peripheral route, the effects of disposition to trust and IBT were not significant.