Intentional vs. unintentional influences of social media friends

Abstract

On social media, individuals’ behavior can be affected as a result of either direct and intended recommendations by social media friends, or unintentional brand-related actions developed by social media friends. This study addresses the differences between intentional and unintentional influences by testing a model that delineates similarity and tie strength as drivers of influence, and purchase intention and social media engagement as the main outcomes. Based on the elaboration likelihood model, we analyze the underlying mechanism of unintentional influences versus intentional ones by comparing the role of source usefulness and information usefulness in the two influential processes. Results of two studies show that individuals can be unintentionally influenced by their social media friends, and the effect is similar to that from intentional influences. However, different mechanisms seem to be involved in the two influential processes. A central route of processing seems to be the mechanism underlying intentional influence, whereas both central and peripheral routes are used when the influence is unintentional.