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Data were collected from loan officers using a computerized process-tracing program to help shed some light on how source credibility impacts the judgments made by loan officers. Loan officers did not structure loans more restrictively regardless of whether they were in the positive or negative character condition or whether they approved or denied the loan. Negative source credibility affected decision process effort but did not produce the tradeoff between loan approval and loan structure that is suggested in the literature. Although significantly more (fewer) loans were denied when character information was negative (positive), a majority of loan officers in the negative character condition approved the loan. While most loan officers were aware of negative source credibility, they did not react by denying loans or adjusting loan structure.

Purpose: Many Internet users search for health information but they struggle with assessing the quality of the information they find. By drawing on a multi-modal approach to data collection, this study aims to understand further the nuanced cognitive processes that people utilize as they acquire and evaluate online health information.

Design: We used a mixed-methods approach that includes surveys, interviews, and observations of 76 diverse adults of all ages in the Chicago area completing various health information-seeking tasks.

Findings: Most participants begin their information-seeking process on search engines. We identified the most popular credibility-assessment strategies used on the search engine results’ pages (SERP) as well as on websites. We also explored how the process of executing such strategies reveals greater and lesser savvy among users.

Research Limitations: While the sample size and methods limit its generalizability, this study included a larger and more diverse group of participants than most observational work, which results in data about a wider range of behaviors than is typical of such research.

Social Implications: Our findings showed that most of our participants could use additional education regarding credibility assessment of online health information. Additionally, since a great deal of credibility assessment occurs on SERP, search companies bear a particular responsibility for ensuring the quality of the information their results highlight.

President Obama embraced social media and remains one of the most followed persons on Twitter. The focus of this study is twofold: to assess how the President’s use of Twitter affected (a) Millennials’ perception of Obama and (b) Millennials’ interest and likelihood to participate in the political process. Study findings provide support for a model derived from information processing theory. Results also suggest that message orientation (or perceived favorability) predicted source credibility, which stems from message content as well as the Twitter medium by which the message was delivered. Implications for study findings – including optimal strategies for cultivating a social media presence – are discussed.

Purpose — To provide an overview of recent research that examined how search engine users evaluate and select Web search results and how alternative search engine interfaces can support Web users' credibility assessment of Web search results.

Design/methodology/approach — As theoretical background, Information Foraging Theory (Pirolli, 2007; Pirolli & Card, 1999) from cognitive science and Prominence-Interpretation-Theory (Fogg, 2003) from communication and persuasion research are presented. Furthermore, a range of recent empirical research that investigated the effects of alternative SERP layouts on searchers' information quality or credibility assessments of search results are reviewed and approaches that aim at automatically classifying search results according to specific genre categories are reported.

Findings — The chapter reports on findings that Web users often rely heavily on the ranking provided by the search engines without paying much attention to the reliability or trustworthiness of the Web pages. Furthermore, the chapter outlines how alternative search engine interfaces that display search results in a format different from a list and/or provide prominent quality-related cues in the SERPs can foster searchers' credibility evaluations.

Research limitations/implications — The reported empirical studies, search engine interfaces, and Web page classification systems are not an exhaustive list.

Originality/value — The chapter provides insights for researchers, search engine developers, educators, and students on how the development and use of alternative search engine interfaces might affect Web users' search and evaluation strategies during Web search as well as their search outcomes in terms of retrieving high-quality, credible information.

This chapter investigates the status of urban youths’ knowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic and related prevention measures; their sources of information about COVID-19 and their trust in sources of information about COVID-19; credibility of urban youths’ sources of information about COVID-19; related prevention measures and the effect of the above on urban youths’ attitudes towards the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19. An online survey and three focus group interviews were conducted to collect data. Results indicated that although the majority of young people in urban Uganda were knowledgeable about COVID-19, they also held various misconceptions about it yet this presence of cognitive dissonance, did not negatively affect their adoption of preventive measures. Instead, it worked as a motivator to find more information for change.

Innovative modern technologies are utilised in the hospitality and tourist industry to attract prospective consumers. Travel vlogs have emerged as a type of visual travel blog which includes information regarding tourist destinations, accommodation, cuisine, touristic activities, mode of accessibility, etc. The current study aims to investigate the influence of vlogger credibility on triggering the tourist intention to visit an eco-tourism destination.

The present study is a quantitative study, and it was conducted by surveying 218 respondents. A structured, close-ended and self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents.

The findings indicated that vlogger trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness significantly impact Bangladeshi tourists' intention towards visiting an eco-tourist destination.

The present study has several theoretical and practical contributions. Theoretically, the research framework illustrated how the vloggers' trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness on Bangladeshi tourists' visit intention to eco-tourist destinations. Practically, tourism industry practitioners, particularly destination marketers, will get benefit from the present study.

This study aims to investigate the relationships among corporate-brand credibility, product-brand personality, and purchase intention, specifically in China's auto industry. A large-scale survey was conducted in four major Chinese Mainland cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. A total of 800 questionnaires were distributed for the study. Ultimately, 477 usable cases were collected for a 60 percent response rate. Results reveal that corporate-brand credibility and product-brand personality have direct positive effects on purchase intention. Furthermore, corporate-brand credibility acts as a positive moderator in the relationship between product-brand personality and purchase intention. This chapter offers new theoretical insights into the influential factors affecting consumers' purchase intentions by testing the moderating effect of corporate-brand credibility in the relationship between product-brand personality and purchase intention. It further provides useful suggestions to companies on brand credibility and personality issues.

The post-millennial or Generation Z constitutes people born in 1997 or after. This study theorizes how news consumption habits of the post-millennial generation are reshaping the news. As the newest generation of media users, Generation Z or the post-millennials, comprising people born in 1997 or after, will inherit the millennial legacy. Generation Z has embraced the visual, verbal, and viral aspects of digital and social media platforms. They rarely engage with traditional news sources, which they deem as nearly extinct.

Based on 2019 meta-analytical research review of 16 key studies (published between 2017 and 2019) of media consumption habits of post-millennials, this research study delineates news consumption habits of post-millennials. It theorizes how this new generation of media users are embracing the visual, verbal, and viral media to reshape news content. The propensity of the post-millennials to participate in the news cycle shapes their rapidly changing preferences and usage patterns.

Over the years, news consumption has varied among different age groups. Newspapers and television were popular with the Silent generation, comprising people born between 1928 and 1945. The Internet significantly transformed media use among baby boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964, and Generation X, which constitutes people born between 1965 and 1980. The rise of social media has significantly transformed media use of millennials or Generation Y, born between 1981 and 1996. They were the first generation to come of age in the new millennium.

Unlike Generation X and boomers, the post-millennials or Generation Z sparsely engage with traditional news sources they deem as nearly extinct, including print media such as newspapers and magazines. They rarely watch television news or listen to radio. They report different news values with less concern about accuracy and more attention toward entertainment and interaction.

Current First-year Writing research seeks to address the need to help students meet the Council of Writing Program Administrators objectives on source evaluation while also changing current pedagogy methods. This chapter seeks to compare two different source evaluation pedagogies, YSearch and decision-based learning, taught by Brigham Young University’s library, to determine which one-shot library instruction session module is more effective at teaching students source evaluation skills. To answer these questions, this study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, utilizing a quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test design by conducting an open comparison between the two pedagogy modules. Students scored significantly higher on the post-test in both designs and differences between the two increases weren’t statistically significant, showing that both treatments are effective. Follow-up interviews explored the differences between treatments.

Digital influencers, besides being a personal branding phenomenon, constitute, nowadays, important partners for brands in the digital environment. Despite the benefits for both parties, the brand and the endorser, there is a risk when the individuals or the brand take part in some scandal or questionable activity, which causes a loss of credibility and reputation. The contagious effect of personal or corporate brand crisis with the partners is well reported in the literature. However, there are no studies about such occurrence in the digital environment, considering that the phenomenon of digital influence has some particularities differing from traditional celebrity endorsement. This chapter focuses on the research of the consequences of a change in the credibility of influencers or brands, after the occurrence of a negative situation, and the way in which this change affects the two parties involved, the brand and the influencer. We conducted a netnographic study of the social media pages of three digital influencers and the social media pages of a recognized fast fashion brand recognized in the digital world. We analyzed 1500 social media comments from their audiences and found that influencers suffer from a loss in sympathy and credibility by scandals while crisis communication strategies in corporate brands can prevent such damages. Strategic implications for brand managers and digital influencers managing their endorsements are addressed in the discussion.