Information distortion in word-of-mouth retransmission: the effects of retransmitter intention and source expertise

Abstract

Recently, word of mouth (WOM) has gained increasing strategic importance. The rising prevalence of communication via social media has made information retransmission through WOM a new norm. However, although several WOM studies have revealed that information becomes distorted as it is disseminated and that WOM retransmission tends to distort information, the phenomenon of information distortion in the WOM retransmission context remains relatively underexplored. This study examined the role of two key factors (retransmitter intention and source expertise) in WOM retransmission and how they influence the distortion of WOM information in terms of information sources and content. Two carefully designed experiments revealed that a retransmitter's persuasive (vs. informative) intention increases (1) information distortion, including exaggeration of its content, and (2) information source distortion when the source has relatively less expertise. These findings expand the scholarly understanding of WOM communication and offer managerial insights into viral marketing strategies.