The Influence of Sender Trust and Advertiser Trust on Multistage Effects of Viral Advertising

A viral advertising message has two different sources: the advertiser as the message creator and a sender as the message distributor. This study examined the influence of sender trust and advertiser trust on four stages of viral advertising effects. Results from a field experiment demonstrated that sender trust and advertiser trust have differential influences on effect stages. Significant interaction effects show that if a viral ad is sent by a trusted sender, the influence of advertiser trust becomes non-significant or reduced, suggesting that a viral ad from a trusted sender can overcome the handicap a less trusted advertiser might have.