For one or many? Tie strength and the impact of broadcasted vs. narrowcasted advice

Abstract

Consumers’ and marketers’ growing reliance on digital and social media has significantly influenced the nature of communications. Importantly, new communication mediums have made it easier for communicators to provide recommendations to a single individual (i.e., a one-to-one communication known as narrowcasting) as well as to large numbers of individuals (i.e., a one-to-many communication known as broadcasting). The current research assesses the impact of advice scope (either narrowcasted or broadcasted advice) on consumers’ likelihood of taking advice. Across two experiments, we demonstrate that the acceptance of broadcasted or narrowcasted advice is dependent upon tie strength between the advisor and the advisee. Furthermore, we highlight the role of psychological reactance in consumers’ response to narrowcasted and broadcasted advice. Our results extend prior research on consumer advice utilization and identify situations where broadcasted advice may be more persuasive than narrowcasted advice.

Keywords:

• Advice
• persuasion
• advice scope
• tie strength
• recommendations

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank Cait Lamberton for her insight and help with this research.

Notes

1. Although literature on tie strength focuses on individuals, prior work in marketing is clear that consumers view brands and organizations as relational partners with whom relationships are cultivated (e.g., Bhattacharya and Sen 2003; Fournier 1998; Harrison-Walker and Neeley 2004). Therefore, brands and organizations might also be considered weak ties for consumers.

2. Participants viewed a page that showed a title, directions, and one multiple select question. The question asked about important factors consumers consider when making a purchase. The directions on the page clearly stated that participants should not answer the multiple select question shown on the page. Conversely, to demonstrate attention, participants were asked to click on the title at the top of the page. When the title was clicked, it turned green. Once the title was green, participants were asked to click continue. If a participant did not follow directions, they were taken to a new screen which prompted them to ‘Please Read the Directions’. If they failed a second time, they again saw a note highlighted in red and all caps to ‘Please Read the Directions’.