It is one thing to catch someone's attention and another thing to hold it for as long as the speaker desires. There must be something about those leaders and speakers who have been able to achieve this feat. The secret is source credibility which arises from how the public view or perceive a speaker. This research paper explained the role of this important virtue in relation to advertisements, politics and religion. This paper is timely and significant because the most difficult form of management is human and mind management. The key is to be seen as a credible source. How is that possible?

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Open Journal of Philosophy

2012. Vol.2, No.2, 112-115

Published Online May 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ojpp) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2012.22017

Copyright © 2012 SciRes.

112

Source Credibility: A Philosophical Analysis

Bonachristus Umeogu

Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria

Email: ojiakor99@yahoo.com

Received February 14th , 2012; revised March 16th , 2012; accepted March 29th , 2012

It is one thing to catch someone's attention and another thing to hold it for as long as the speaker desires.

There must be something about those leaders and speakers who have been able to achieve this feat. The

secret is source credibility which arises from how the public view or perceive a speaker. This research

paper explaines the role of this important virtue in relation to advertisements, politics and religions. This

paper is timely and significant because the most difficult form of management is human and mind man-

agement. The key is to be seen as a credible source. How is that possible?

Keywords: Ethos; Politics; Religion; Celebrity Advertising

Introduction

Have you bothered to question why people prefer one speaker

to another? Have you witnessed a situation where worshippers

lose interest in the day's service because a certain desired

speaker is not the officiating priest? Have you ever experienced

listening to a speaker on television and would not want to change

the channel even when what he/she is saying makes little or no

sense to you? The reason for the above scenario is source credi-

bility and trustworthiness.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle understood this virtue and

contextualized it by calling it ethos. Credibility and trustwor-

thiness is a virtue that should be sought after by all and sundry

regardless of age. These two virtues go hand in hand because

there cannot be a basis of trust when one is not seen as credible.

Without this quality, how can one make and keep friends? How

can there be a relationship between man and wife? How can

there be a religious organization when the members do not see

the leader(s) as credible? How? How? How? It is now obvious

that credibility transcend all facets of life cutting across religion,

politics, family, advertising and what have you.

This paper having understood the logic of source credibility

seeks to explain the concept of source credibility vis-à-vis poli-

tics, advertising and religion. What roles do being seen as a

credible source play in the above mentioned areas? How far

were they able to effectively pull off their roles? All these were

explored in this paper.

Explication of Terms

By way of definition, source credibility can be seen as a

situation where message believability is dependent on the

credibility status of the sender in the minds and eyes of the

receivers. Academic studies of the topic is said to have begun in

the twentieth century and were given a special emphasis during

the World War II when the Unites States government thought to

use propaganda and mind management to influence public

opinions in support of war efforts. The United States govern-

ment employed early theoretical models of source credibility in

creating the Committee on Public Information (CPI). It was an

ambitious attempt to mould public opinions on an unprecedented

scale.

Basically, CPI was primarily concerned with formulating

principles that will aid effective communication so as to have

the desired effect on the receivers. It also encouraged targeted

publics to participate in the war effort through a variety of gov-

ernment programs, making them stakeholders in their govern-

ment and increasing their sense of community. (Pinkerton,

1994 in Cornan et al., 2006)

In the course of this research, it was learnt that source credi-

bility theory sprung out from the war department as a result of

researches by Hovland and others, to test the communication

processes that messages pass through from the source to the

receiver. This source-message-receiver model is all that com-

munication is about.

Aristotelian Theory on Source Credibility

The concept of source credibility was developed by Aristotle

in a text of his works, called The Rhetoric. From the book, it

became evident that Aristotle divided the means of persuasion

into three categories: ethos, logos and pathos.

According to Aristotle, the rhetorician ethos plays the most

important role in influencing the audiences thought and beliefs.

It is what makes the speaker in the first place. Such an ethos

implies the communicators' knowledge and understanding of

the message coupled with moral authority and expressed good-

will of the message sender. This is where understanding and

perceived expertise comes into play. It is the known contribut-

ing factor for the credibility and trust vested in the communi-

cator. Baudhin and Davis (1972), and McCroskey (1958) con-

curred also affirms that the communicator's ethos plays an

essential role in effectively persuading message receivers.

Source Credibility Theory

The source credibility theory as propounded by Hovland, Ja-

nis and Kelly (1963) stated that people or receivers are more

likely to be persuaded when the source presents itself as credi-

ble. Furthermore, Hovland (1963) and Weiss (1974) later stud-

ied the influence of sources in persuasion. The study was done

by comparing credible and non-credible sources using same

B. UMEOGU

persuasive message to test if the sources seen as credible could

influence opinions change in the message receivers more than

the non-credible source. The study confirmed the assumption

that credible sources tend to create the desired impact on the

audience.

On a similar note, McCroskey et al. (1974), submitted that

communicators with high credibility in the eyes of message

receivers tend to have respect and their words are accepted

more readily. Also, middle Brook's findings (1974) showed

that differences in receivers attitudes have a bearing to source

credibility. There is obvious uniformity in communication

theories that message receivers relate source credibility to the

communicator's favorable character or ethos that emits knowl-

edge, moral standards and goodwill towards the message re-

ceivers. That is, favorable senders' ethos equals credibility and

believability.

Be that as it may, there are two most commonly visible ele-

ments which positively influence source credibility and they are:

perceived expertise and trustworthiness of the source. Com-

menting on this is Cornan et al. (2006), who submitted that

…three key dimensions of credibility: trustworthiness,

competence, and goodwill. These three dimensions are not

empirical realities but perceptions that can be created, man-

aged, and cultivated. This requires a coordinated approach

to message design, delivery, and—most importantly—ad-

aptation to the given audience and current media situation.

This will now be explored in advertising, politics and relig-

ions.

Source Credibility and Advertising

Have you bothered to question why companies spend huge

amount of money to sign endorsement deals with models and

celebrities all in the name of advertising purposes? The reason

is that these models, stars and celebrities have assumed a role

model status in the eyes of the consumers who on a daily basis

aspire to be like them. If they reveal the name of a particular

scent that they prefer to feel "sexy", then that revelation alone

is enough to become the hand of Midas that will turn that par-

ticular product into gold. That should explain the relationship

between source credibility and the product attractiveness which

mostly translates into higher sales.

How do we see credibility in the world of advertising? As

have been stated earlier in the course of this paper,

Credibility refers to a person's perception of the truth of a

piece of information. It is a multi-dimensional concept that

serves as a means for the receiver of the information to rate the

source or transmitter of the communication in relation to the

information. This rating correlates with the willingness of the

receiver to attribute truth and substance to the information

(Hovland et al., 1953 in Eisend, 2006).

Credibility is all about the tendency to believe or trust

someone with little or no doubt of being deceived or manipu-

lated. Faith, trust, love and objectivity are all rolled up in one

word—credibility.

Before exploring further, who are celebrities? Schlecht (2003)

defines "celebrities as people who enjoy public recognition by

a large share of a certain group of people" . I want to add that

they are people who have excelled in their chosen careers and

consequently have gained public awareness, recognition and

approval. They include actors/actresses like Olu Jacobs, Brad

Pitt, Tom Cruise, Genevieve Nnaji; artistes like Tu face,

D'Banj, P-Square, Celine Dion, Eminem, Beyonce Knowles;

comedians in the person of Basket mouth; talkshow hosts like

Oprah, Dr Phil; sports athletes like Jay Okocha, Kanu Nwan-

kwo, Michael Jordan, Venus and Serena Williams etc.

Like the proverbial goldfish that has no hiding place, they are

always in the face of the camera and thereby always up for

public scrutiny regardless of wherever they find themselves.

Advertisers cash in on this fact to promote their products and

services. In other words, they act as spokespersons as regards

advertising to promote goods and services, (Kambitsis et al.,

2002, Tom et al., 1992 in Schlecht, 2003). For instance, at red

carpets events, reporters and fans are always eager to know the

name of the designers of the clothes and footwears they are

putting on. No matter how ridiculous the outfit looks, as long as

it is good enough for a celebrity, then it is automatically vetoed

(well, in exception of the fashion police and fashion court that

criticizes the celebrity's looks and outrageous outfits).

Use of celebrity is understandable in as much consumers

readily identify with these stars, often regarding them as heroes

and heroines for their accomplishments, personalities, and

physical appeal. (Shimp, 2000: p. 332). The fondness of using ce-

lebrities is because of their famous attributes-including courage,

talent, athleticism, grace, power and sex appeal. These often

represent the attractions desired for the brand they endorse. By

association, consumers often prefer those brands owing to the

conception that it helps in shaping that celebrity; helps in de-

fining his/her style.

However, source credibility in advertising is also influenced

by source attractiveness. The more attractive a celebrity looks,

the more likely consumers are to buy whatever he/she is selling.

In other words, the level of appeal to the eyes influences the

impact on buying behaviors, brand preferences and attitudinal

changes. In the words of Shimp (2000),

attractiveness exceeds physical attractiveness to include

intellectual skills, personality properties, lifestyle charac-

teristics, athletic prowess and so on.

Empirical evidence suggests the notion that physically at-

tractive endorsers or models tend to produce more fa-

vourable evaluation of advertisements and advertised

products than do less attractive endorsers.

Though, I must add that the effectiveness is heightened when

the endorser's image is compatible with the nature of the en-

dorsed product.

Another factor that positively or negatively affects source

credibility in relation to advertising and celebrity endorsements

is the "match up" or a fitting relationship between the spokes-

person and the product. What do I mean? Celebrity status will

have little or no role to play if a vegetarian celebrity is used to

advertise beef products; non smokers to advertise cigarettes; or

to use a dark complexioned celebrity to advertise a toning or

lightening cream. Contextualizing this, Hill & Busler 1998 in

Schlecht (2003) explains that

the match up hypothesis specifically suggest that the effec-

tiveness depends on the existence of a "fit" between the celeb-

rity spokesperson and endorsed brand.

Shrimp (2000) went a step further to state that it is not

enough for there to exist a relationship between the model and

the product. To aid believability, there ought to be a meaningful

relationship or match up, between the celebrity, the audience,

and the product. In other words, there ought to be a significant

Copyright © 2012 SciRes. 113

B. UMEOGU

connection between the model and the product or service as the

case may be. This time around, the "who" and "what" is not

enough to cover the fitting.

Another factor that affects credibility is expertise and trust-

worthiness. Here, the fact that you are a celebrated person is not

enough to influence consumer's attitudes. According to Shimp

(2000),

…two important properties of endorsers' credibility are ex-

pertise and trustworthiness. Expertise refers to the knowl-

edge, experience, or skills possessed by an endorser as

they relate to the communication topic.

An example is a mother (celebrity or not) endorsing mother

care products. There is the tendency to see the source as credi-

ble because as a mother, she knows what a mother generally

wants.

Trustworthiness according to Shimp (2000) refers to the

honesty and believability of a source. An endorser's trustwor-

thiness depends primarily on the audience's perception of his or

her endorsement motivations. If the audience believes that an

endorser is motivated purely by self interest, he or she will be

less persuasive than an audience perceives as having nothing to

gain by endorsing the product or as being completely objective.

It all boils down to presenting oneself before, during, and af-

ter the campaign as honest, believable and dependable.

Relationship between Source Credibility

and Politics

There appears to be some acceptance of the belief that the

characteristics of a communicator influence an audience's re-

ception of a message. This belief affects not only the use of

testimonials for commercial advertising but also the choice of

endorsers for political candidates and social causes. Research-

ers have found that sources having more of the credibility di-

mensions induce greater attitude change immediately than do

sources having less of those dimensions, Dhokolia (1987).

In politics and public administration, credibility and charisma

seems to have become a highly sought-after quality and virtue.

What role does source credibility play with regards to politics?

For a start, what is it about Obama that made Americans to vote

for a black man? For some, it is as a result of his confident and

credible appearance; for a few, it is about his organized and

coordinated campaign plan; while for those who understood the

rules of the game, it is about "additional performative qualities

that includes things like rhetoric, timing, appropriateness, cha-

risma, eloquence, responsiveness and vision" (www.primo-europ.

eu) .

To answer how he was able to achieve that feat; I quote the

words of Aristotle in Teven (2008) which reads thus:

More than 2500 years ago, Aristotle espoused that the

source of a message contributes to the persuasiveness of

that message. Credibility is the image of the source in the

minds of receivers. This is what Aristotle calls the source's

ethos and explains that it is the source's most potent

means of persuasion.

According to Aristotle, ethos plays the most important role in

influencing the audiences' thought and beliefs. Such an ethos

implies the communicators' knowledge and understanding of

the message coupled with moral authority and expressed good-

will of the message sender. It is the known contributing factor

for the credibility and trust vested in the communicator.

Also writing on the role of source credibility in political

communication context, Richmond & McCroskey 1975 in Te-

ven (2008) states that "credibility is a critical factor in the se-

lection of opinion leaders". The source credibility boots candi-

date's image which is a major determinant in voters' behav-

iours and candidates' selection. In other words, the success or

failure of any political campaign or endeavor depends on how

credible the voters perceive the candidate to be.

While expertise and trustworthiness affects credibility in ad-

vertising, source credibility in politics consists of competence,

trustworthiness, and goodwill. Here, competence shoots out

from expertise because one cannot claim to be competent in an

area where you are a novice. The electorates need someone

who looks competent enough to steer the train of government

through murky waters.

Despite the components of goodwill, competence and trust-

worthiness, I assert that the keyword is all about charisma and

presentation. How were you able to convince the electorates

that you empathize with them? How are you able to sway the

voters to your side against your contenders? These questions

have to be addressed if the words of McCroskey are anything to

go by. According to McCroskey 1971 in Teven (2008: p. 386)

a political contest is in essence a contest in credibility and

the audience will vote for the person at election time

whom they perceive to be the most credible.

An example of source credibility at play vis-à-vis political

success can be found in the research by Teven (2008) which

examined the perceived credibility of the 2008 American presi-

dential election. The primary purpose of the research was to

examine and explore the relationships between voter percep-

tions of candidate's credibility, believability, likeability, and de-

ceptiveness. The findings saw Barak Obama, the current presi-

dent of America, scoring highest in believability, likeability,

competence, trustworthiness and goodwill. Out of the 5 candi-

dates used as a case study, he scored the lowest in deceptive-

ness. This finding demonstrates that candidate's believability

and likeability have significant, positive relationship with

voter's perceptions of candidate's credibility, Teven (2008).

How was that possible? How did Obama do it? How was he

able to sway the people? He was able to communicate positive

traits to the electorate; a kind of transfer of passions from his

heart to the people. With his passionate approach, he was able to

transcend the barriers of racism and rose above the competition.

Source Credibility and Religion

When it comes to opinion leadership, religious leaders are

often prominent on a range of social, economic and religious

issues. Many people often consciously or unconsciously look up

to the religious leaders or clergy people on difficult and pressing

matters. If that is the case, then they have the ability to sway the

opinion of their members or followers. How are they able to

maintain that "opinion leadership statuses"? Why do people of

all religion feel more comfortable asking and taking advice

from religious leaders? It has only one answer and that is—

source credibility.

Given that credibility can be seen as a mixture of trustwor-

thiness, expertise and attractiveness (Dholakia & Sternthal,

1977 in Levine & Stephenson, 2007), it is reasonable to antici-

pate that expertise should increase the credibility of a messen-

ger. That is, does a leader's credibility depend on him/her

Copyright © 2012 SciRes.

114

B. UMEOGU

Copyright © 2012 SciRes. 115

speaking from a position that is commensurate with their ac-

knowledged expertise? From the position that leaders occupy in

the society, they might not necessarily be experts for their fol-

lowers to agree with them. This is because, it is believed that

they are channels through which God speaks to human; if they

represent God, then they are filled with divine knowledge and

expertise needed to deal with an issue.

The ability to be convincing to the extent of having the de-

sired effect lies in how credible most of the followers see him

to be. However, it is anticipated that the views of a religious

leader, when rooted in scriptural or moral imperatives, will

resonate more with the public than if he/she based his/her ar-

gument in economic logic, Levine & Stephenson (2007). While

a religious leader may be a credible authority, he/she is not

necessarily an appropriate figure to argue an issue from a mate-

rial viewpoint. Similarly, a politician using an ethical argument

would seem, in the abstract, less effective than a religious leader

doing the same thing.

While that might be true in the foreign scene, it is alien in

Nigeria because, Nigerians are highly religious people and have

the tendency of hanging to the words of their spiritual directors.

Here, religious leaders speak authoritatively on politics and

political candidates, the economy to an extent and morality.

Primarily, the aim is to let the people be in the know and to

commit their unflinching faith to God who will help them rise

above any situation they may find themselves. From the point

view of goodwill, they are seen as credible since they have the

interest of the public at heart. They are there, for and only for

their followers; I believe that is enough to have ardent follow-

ers.

Summary and Analysis

In summary, an analysis of the source credibility theory re-

veals the theory to be scientific in nature. The theory also has

high level of internal consistencies. The three main models as

was gathered in the course of literature review namely; the

factor model; the functional models; and the constructivist

model allow the theory to have much more organizing power.

This model helps it to be relevant in studying communication

effects at all times.

While the factor model helps to determine to what extent the

receiver judges the source as credible, the functional model

views credibility as the degree to which a source satisfies a

receivers needs and the constructivist model analyses what the

receiver does with the sources proposal. This is where active

construction kicks in.

Well, the summary of this paper is that being perceived as

credible should be strived for in the face of challenges and

competitions. One has to package oneself so that what you pre-

sent to others works to your advantage. I believe it is what we

all need at one point or another to be seen as relevant.

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... Hence, additional variables need to be investigated apart from the TAM. The literature on the usage intention of technology suggests that trustworthiness and perceived expertise are important antecedents to take into account when investigating technology adoption (e.g., Tormala & Petty, 2004;Umeogu, 2012). It is assumed that trust in P2P platforms and perceived expertise would directly affect users' adoption of P2P financing platforms, which is not explored yet. ...

... The role played by these significant predictors is unique for the adoption of P2P financing platforms in FinTech literature. Second, the study integrates the antecedents relevant to the studies in behavioural intention of technology and information system, which are rooted mainly in TAM (Davis, 1989), SCT (Tormala & Petty, 2004;Umeogu, 2012) and extend to SET (Chen & Hung, 2010;Shiau & Luo, 2012) theories to investigate the intention to use online P2P platforms. The result contributes to the TAM model in FinTech adoption (e.g., Jonker, 2019), where a P2P platform's ease of use and P2P platform's usefulness significantly affect intention of individuals to use online financing platforms. ...

... This theory indicates whether the source provides precise and true information to the users (Tormala & Petty, 2004). Taking TAM as base theory, this study considers two significant dimensions of SCT, which are perceived expertise and trustworthiness (Umeogu, 2012). SCT is applied in this study to determine the credibility of an online P2P financing platform by examining user's expertise and their belief that the system is trustworthy. ...

Considering the demand for alternative source of finance, the number of online peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platforms is increasing tremendously in Malaysia with the upward trend in the number of users and the introduction of secondary market for P2P platforms. As such, it is of great importance to investigate the antecedents of intention to use this online-based financing platform. This study examines if P2P platform ease of use, P2P platform usefulness, perceived expertise, P2P platform trustworthiness and reciprocity contribute to the usage intention of online P2P platforms building on technology acceptance model (TAM), source credibility theory (SCT) and social exchange theory (SET). By estimating partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the results reveal that P2P platform ease of use, P2P platform usefulness and reciprocity are the crucial determinants influencing the intention to use online P2P financing platforms. The findings imply that P2P service providers should emphasize more on the ease of use and usefulness of the platform with reciprocity to increase usage the intention of borrowers or lenders.

... One such theory includes the Source Credibility Theory, an established theory that describes how communication's persuasiveness is impacted by the perceived credibility of the communication's source and clarifies the concept of credibility. Aristotle separated persuasion into three categories: ethos (trustworthiness), pathos (passion), and logos (persuasion) (logic) (Umeogu, 2012). ...

... Believability in both cases would be more likely. Source credibility (Umeogu, 2012) already plays a significant role in the domain of 'traditional' fake news, and a majority of the public is by now aware of this. However, deepfakes have a significant advantage over text-based fake news: the visual component combined with the biological fact that people are used to believing the things they see with their own eyes. ...

  • Florian Reichelt Florian Reichelt

+++Disclaimer: This paper was written as part of an undergraduate module. It was awarded a grade of 1.3 (very good). Nevertheless, the paper has neither been peer reviewed nor officially published in any way. The publication of the paper on this platform is intended to serve only as a first orientation for others around the question 'What makes deepfakes believable?' +++ Do you remember Obama calling Trump a "total and complete dipshit" (Peretti & Sosa, 2018)? What about John F. Kennedy discussing the famous cartoon show Rick and Morty in a state address (Ekian, 2020)? Maybe you, like millions of others, laughed at your favorite actor Tom Cruise stumbling in a TikTok video (Ume, 2021a), all while asking yourself since when famous actresses like Scarlett Johansson, Maisie Williams, or Gal Gadot are actively contributing to the porn industry (Cole, 2017). As a matter of fact, none of the above-mentioned content is real. Instead, the faces of the mentioned politicians and celebrities were either manipulated or swapped onto unknown actors, thereby creating a new form of media that is now widely known under the term deepfake. The mentioned examples indicate that deepfakes have become better and better in recent times, making it harder than ever for consumers to distinguish it from real content. According to Kietzmann and his fellow scholars, there are in particular two reasons for the rise of deepfake technology in recent years, namely believability & accessibility (Kietzmann et al., p. 136). While their work aims at examining the danger and chances implied in deepfake technology, it lacks a clarification on what constitutes deepfakes as being believable in the first place. Therefore, this paper will aim to establish five different categories, each consisting of a variety of variables, that determine the believability of a deepfake. The paper will start by explaining the difference between deepfakes and traditional analog and digital edits. It will then proceed to display a selection of the most relevant academic work conducted in this area and lastly explore the origins of the term. Finally, it will conduct a categorization attempt on which variables constitute the believability in the first place, concluding that the first four categories mainly circle around the idea to make deepfakes as realistic as possible in order to deceive a particular audience member. The last proposed category then contains variables determining the individual subjective context that ultimately influences the decision-making process of the 'judge' (Tencé et al., p. 2). The proposed categories will be helpful to a variety of readers. As deepfakes get better and better, distinguishing them from real content becomes more challenging than ever, particularly if one lacks the technical/computer science knowledge to analyze deepfakes on a metadata level. This is why, on the one hand, the provided framework can act as a guideline for the average consumers to better spot deepfakes. On the other hand, of course, deepfake creators themselves could use those guidelines to improve the believability of their work. This work will primarily focus on deepfakes circling around the earlier mentioned process of 'face-swapping' as this is their current main area of application.

... Persuasive communication and the impact of its source have been studied by rhetorical and communication scholars for several decades (Hovland et al., 1953;Andersen and Clevenger, 1963;Berlo et al., 1970;McCroskey and Young, 1981;McCroskey and Teven, 1999;Umeogu, 2012). Source credibility, or ethos in Aristotelian terms, emerged to study the attitudes toward the source of communication and persuasion, and how much credibility that source carries. ...

  • Reza Rezvani
  • Parisa Miri

In instructional contexts, instructor credibility or ethos is deemed to play a paramount role in teacher–student interaction and relationships. Much effort has been devoted to instructor credibility conceptualization, measurement, and its association with other instructional variables of interest in dominantly quantitative inquiries. However, little research has been undertaken in second-language education in which communication is both a means and an end. This qualitative research set out to explore the perception of the students of instructor credibility in the context of higher English education and how gender, nativeness, and subject matter might impact their perceptions. It also aimed to study how instructor credibility could, in turn, influence the engagement and success of the students. Thirteen senior students of English as a foreign language from a university in Iran participated in this study. They were given a scenario about their prospective professors for two courses of "Research Methodology" and "Essay Writing." The professors included four native English- and Persian-speaking male and female PhD holders. The participants were, then, interviewed about their perceptions of instructor credibility, their choices of instructors, and how they would affect their engagement. The data were recorded, transcribed, and recursively analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis. While instructor credibility is commonly characterized as a three-dimensional construct, involving competence, character, and caring, the data analysis generated a new component of performance concerned with the effectiveness of classroom knowledge presentation and activity organization. Caring also emerged as a constituent of a more inclusive component of rapport. Interestingly, albeit they viewed native English professors as generally more competent due to their nativeness, they perceived non-native professors as more credible for both courses, mainly because of their rapport building and familiarity with the needs and challenges of the students. Most of the participants also viewed male professors as more competent and communicative for both courses. The participants also tended to argue that perceived instructor credibility would encourage them to put in more effort in their academic undertakings and to engage in class activities. This would ultimately enhance their academic achievements and success. The paper discusses the findings and implications for second-language instructor credibility conceptualization and practice.

... Source credibility theory states that people are more likely to be persuaded when the source presents itself as credible (Hovland et al., 1953). Source credibility theory is an established theory as it has received comprehensive examination (Hovland and Weiss, 1951;Ohanian, 1991;Umeogu, 2012). Especially, source credibility has been thoroughly studied in marketing and its relation to consumers in the online context (Ayeh, 2015;Lowry et al., 2013). ...

  • Joyce Han
  • Han Chen Han Chen

Purpose Social media (SoMe) influencer marketing is a popular practice. The current study examines the interplays between SoMe influencers' source credibility, Millennial users' attitudes and intention to travel. It further investigates the moderating role of SoMe influencer following behavior on the aforementioned relationships. Design/methodology/approach A total of 212 useable responses were collected through an online survey. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regressions were employed for hypotheses testing. Findings Results indicated that source credibility had a significantly positive influence on the SoMe users' attitudes, which in turn was positively associated with the intention to visit the endorsed destination. Moreover, both relationships were strengthened for SoMe influencer followers than for nonfollowers. Originality/value The study expanded the source credibility theory to the use of SoMe influencer marketing on travel destinations among Millennial SoMe users. In addition, the research applied the self-determination theory to fill the gap in literature by examining the moderating role of SoMe influencer following behavior.

... This relates to the concept of source credibility, typical of marketing and advertising research. Source credibility is an antecedent of the persuasiveness of communication [49], [50] and can be based on how attractive, expert, and reliable AI appears to the users. Employees will be asked to rate the technology they are supposed to use on the job, after a presentation or first experiences of use, on three adjectives resembling the components of source credibility, e.g., how much do you think the technology is attractive/pleasant, trustworthy/reliable, expert/competent. ...

The need for preparing for digital transformation is a recurrent theme in the recent public and academic debate. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to reduce operational costs, increase efficiency, and improve customer experience. Thus, it is crucial to forming project teams in an organization, in such a way that they will welcome AI in the decision-making process. The current technological revolution is demanding a rapid pace of change to companies and has increased the attention to the role of teams in fostering innovation adoption. We propose an innovative multicriteria model based on the goal programming approach for solving the optimal allocation of individuals to different groups. The model copes with human resources' cost and human–machine trust. Indeed, we propose an aggregated measure of the attitude towards AI tools to be employed to support tasks in an organization: more precisely our index is based on three dimensions: technology acceptance, technology self-efficacy, and source credibility. By incorporating this index in a team formation model, each team can be guaranteed to have less resistance to change in adopting machine-based decisions, a scenario that will characterize the years to come. The proposed index can also be integrated into more complex and comprehensive models to support business transformation.

... Although brand credibility has received considerable attention in previous research in marketing (e.g. Erdem and Swait 1998), retailing (Guido et al. 2011), services management (Bougoure et al. 2016), consumer behaviour (Dholakia 1987), human-computer interaction (Shan 2016), and philosophy (Umeogu 2012), the credibility of place brands remains largely unexplored. Among the few contributions, Veasna et al. (2013) analysed the impact of destination source credibility on tourists' satisfaction at heritage sites. ...

Despite the growing attention brand credibility attracts in recent marketing literature, little is known about the credibility of place brands and their relationship with consumers' loyalty. The present study builds on brand signalling and attachment theory to investigate whether credible place brands affect consumers' attachment formation, their subsequent word of mouth (WOM) and intention to return. Survey data from an Alpine winter sport destination reveal that place brand credibility is a key antecedent of consumers' attachment. Moreover, consistent with brand signalling theory, credible place brands exert a particularly strong direct effect on consumers' WOM. A positive effect on their intention to return, however, will result only if they feel attached with the place brand beforehand. Implications for marketing scholars and brand managers are offered.

... Source credibility is defined as a situation where the message believable depends on the credit status of a person perceived in the consumer mind (Umeogu, 2012). Studies found that sources from social media is more credibility comparing with traditional media (Shareef, 2019). ...

The use of social media had created a group of ordinary people who actively share their life and experiences on the social media platform. When this group of people received more and more "likes" from the audiences, they are being named as Internet celebrities. Internet celebrities who are having many followers had created the opportunity for the businesspeople to engage them in promoting and selling the products. However, despite the growth of social media and the use of social media by businesspeople, there are not many studies on internet celebrities that affecting the purchase intention among the customers in Malaysia. Hence, the problem statement of this study is to investigate the characteristic affecting internet celebrities that will affect the purchase intention of the consumers. The research had been done by collecting feedback from 200 respondents from Generation Y. An online questionnaire with 5-Likert rating scales is used to collect the data. Convenient sampling techniques were used to collect the data. The result of the study indicated that source credibility and video characteristic are the most important factors in influencing purchase intention, however, physical attractiveness and interactivity are not going to influence purchase intention. This gives an insightful thought to marketers to request internet celebrities to produce more quality videos to attract viewer attention. In terms of source credibility, marketers need to find Internet celebrities who have a more credible image to sell the company products. The justifications for the rejected hypotheses were discussed in detail in the study. The research findings of this study give marketers and academics insightful thoughts on how Internet celebrities can influence the purchase intention of Generation Y today.

... It means persuading people through the use of sound arguments based on logic. Scholars [26][27][28] argue that these three branches of source credibility are essential in behaviour change. ...

Awareness and knowledge have been identified as essential requirements to successfully combat the global threat which COVID-19 currently poses. Rural communities are particularly at risk because of their low socioeconomic status and high illiteracy level. There is currently uncertainty regarding how to effectively raise awareness about the pandemic and educate rural communities about it. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of interpersonal communication in awareness creation and knowledge about COVID-19 among rural communities in a developing country. We tested three hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The sample size was made up 470 participants. The questionnaire served as the instrument for data collection. In the analysis of data, both descriptive and inferen-tial statistics were used. The results demonstrate that interpersonal communication is effective in creating awareness about COVID-19 among rural communities. It was also found that inter-personal communication was effective in improving knowledge about the pandemic among rural communications. We explored the implications of these findings on healthcare delivery.

The aim of the present paper is to address the use of source-credibility dimensions in delivering health information. The source credibility theory is used as the framework of the research theory. To meet credibility standards, four dimensions of source credibility were used to assess the resource requirements. These dimensions include trustworthiness, competent, attractiveness and dynamic respectively were used as variables of the present study. Findings from each dimension the researcher to develop and strengthen the selection criteria for the source that serve as a provider of health information. In conclusion, the findings are expected to provide new ideas for improving the source selection criteria in delivering health information to the target group.

  • A.S. Link

This first volume of a biography that covers the years 1902-1912, which include Wilson's presidency of Princeton, his governorship of New Jersey, and his election to the Presidency. It seeks to get at the reasons behind his actions in this critical period.

  • G.J. Tellis

Understanding Effective Advertising: How, When, and Why Advertising Works reviews and summarizes an extensive body of research on advertising effectiveness. In particular, it summarizes what we know today on when, how, and why advertising works. The primary focus of the book is on the instantaneous and carryover effects of advertising on consumer choice, sales, and market share. In addition, the book reviews research on the rich variety of ad appeals, and suggests which appeals work, and when, how, and why they work. The first comprehensive book on advertising effectiveness, Understanding Effective Advertising reviews over 50 years of research in the fields of advertising, marketing, consumer behavior, and psychology. It covers all aspects of advertising and its effect on sales, including sales elasticity, carryover effects, content effects, and effects of frequency. Author Gerard J. Tellis distills three decades of academic and professional experience into one volume that successfully dismisses many popular myths about advertising.

  • Carl I. Hovland
  • Walter Weiss

In a new test of the process of forgetting, the authors found that subjects, at the time of exposure, discounted material from "untrustworthy" sources. In time, however, the subjects tended to disassociate the content and the source with the result that the original scepticism faded and the "untrustworthy" material was accepted. Lies, in fact, seemed to be remembered better than truths.

  • Rennae Daneshvary
  • R. Keith Schwer

Many studies have investigated the impact of celebrity endorsers on consumers' purchase intention. None, however, has studied the effects of an association endorsement. This research examined the effect of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's (PRCA) endorsement of products on consumers' purchase intentions. Survey data were collected from 1,456 respondents attending six rodeos across the USA. Binary logit regression revealed that individuals who attended rodeo frequently and those with less than a college degree were the most likely to accept the association endorsement. The findings are explained within the social influence framework.

  • C. I. Hovland
  • I.L. Janis
  • Harold H. Kelley

The seminal work that led to the "Yale Studies in Attitudes and Communication," reporting a series of experiments on communicator credibility, general persuasibility, role playing, fear arousal, order of presentation, and group norms. Much of the later work in attitude change flows directly from this early volume. Harvard Book List (edited) 1971 #487 (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)