Source Effects in Professional Services Advertising

Abstract

Much has been written recently in the area of professional services marketing. The research in this area, however, tends to be survey research, centering on one professional group—typically in print media. Little, if any, research has compared the effects of television advertising across various professions. This paper draws from the source credibility literature and presents the results of an experiment which assesses the effects a manipulation of both a spokesperson and profession has on the perceived credibility of doctors, lawyers, dentists, and chiropractors. The results suggest that not all professional groups should use the same method of execution in their TV advertisements. TV ads for professional service groups should be based on profession-specific criteria.