Ethics in social media marketing. How should sponsorship information be disclosed in online product reviews?
| Pages | 195-216 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-04-2018-0080 |
| Date | 18 March 2019 |
| Published date | 18 March 2019 |
| Author | Wen-Chin Tsao,Tz-Chi Mau |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Ethics in social media marketing
How should sponsorship information be
disclosed in online product reviews?
Wen-Chin Tsao and Tz-Chi Mau
Department of Business Administration,
National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose –Consumer-generated online product reviews (OPRs) have become a crucial source of information
for consumers; however, OPRs are increasingly being incentivized. The purpose of this paper is to find a
method of sponsorship and disclosure that could be considered ethically sound.
Design/methodology/approach –This study adopted a quasi-experimental approach to clarifying how
the method of sponsorship impacts reader perceptions of OPRs in terms of helpfulness, credibility and
purchase intention. Two experiments were performed on an online platform using data from 480 participants.
Hypotheses were tested using analysis of covariance.
Findings –Meaning under the premise that sponsorship information is disclosed and not withheld from the
readers, Study 1 revealed that experiential sponsorship is the best sponsorship. Study 2 revealed that
featuring reviewers with greater influence in the online community increases the positive influence of
disclosing experiential sponsorship on OPR persuasiveness.
Originality/value –The findings in this study provide rational incentives for firms to disclose sponsorship
information, i.e. demonstrate high ethical standards in marketing. This was shown to create a win-win-win
situation for consumers, firms and reviewers. Managerial implications for online marketing managers are
also discussed.
Keywords Online product reviews, Marketing ethics, Experience goods, Online community influence,
Sponsored reviews, Sponsorship type
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is the sharing of relevant knowledge and opinions
(positive or negative) about the products and/or services of a firm among potential or actual
customers (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004; Tsao, Hsieh, Shih and Lin, 2015; Tsao, Mau, Hsieh
and Chen, 2015; Chen et al., 2017). In Web 2.0, consumers actively receive information
through networks and also act as the main entity spreading information. This has prompted
explosive growth in online forums, blogs and social media, which allow consumers to share
their thoughts on products or services quickly and conveniently (Kuo, 2015; Kim and Song,
2018). Consumer-generated online product reviews (OPRs) are growing in popularity and
importance ( Jonas, 2010; Stephen et al., 2012; Lee and Choeh, 2018). OPRs contain the
opinions and ratings of users with regard to the attributes, performance and use of products.
They are generally found on platforms that present an extensive range of information, such
as blogs (Forrest and Cao, 2010; Tsao and Hsieh, 2015; Yu, 2017).
OPRs should in no way be connected with firms (to avoid ethical conflict); however,
many studies have reported that firms can influence OPRs in an indirect manner. This calls
into question the impartiality and credibility of OPRs (Chu, 2010). Many firms are operating
under the belief that the voluntary disclosure of sponsorships would undermine the
effectiveness of OPRs, prompting them to devise methods to hide the sponsorship
information (Stephen et al., 2012). The concealment of sponsorship information is essentially Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 71 No. 2, 2019
pp. 195-216
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-04-2018-0080
Received 12 April 2018
Revised 8 June 2018
6 October 2018
Accepted 28 November 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
The authors wish to thank the Dr Ming-Tsang Hsieh who is graduated from the National Taiwan
University of Science and Technology for providing general affairs support for this research, and
Cheng-Hao Tsai, CEO of Well Done International Cooperation, for providing practical consulting.
195
Ethics in
social media
marketing
an attempt to deceive consumers. It is clearly a violation of corporate ethics and is even
illegal in many countries (Forrest and Cao, 2010; Fair Trade Commission, 2017).
Previous studies on the persuasiveness of eWOM and OPRs explored content
properties (e.g. quality, quantity, focus or valence) (Park et al., 2007; Park and Kim, 2008;
Zhang et al., 2010; Qiu et al., 2012; Tsao, Hsieh, Shih and Lin, 2015; Tsao, Mau, Hsieh and
Chen, 2015; Chakraborty and Bhat, 2018), whereas others investigated product type
(e.g. search, experience and credence goods) or eWOM platform (e.g. independent or
corporate platform). Still, others attempted to enhance eWOM persuasiveness by
separating and combining various product types and eWOM platform variables (Park and
Lee, 2009; Tsao and Hsieh, 2015). Researchers have used the technology acceptance model
to examine the influence of eWOM trust on consumer willingness to purchase tourism
products (Chen et al., 2017). Other researchers have used big data to determine how eWOM
impacts the growth of consumer finance (Shen et al., 2017). Still, others adopted used
experiential models to verify how blog characteristics and experiential value induces
purchase intentions in consumers (Wang, 2017; Lee, 2016). However, most previous
studies were conducted from the perspective of the firm and how marketing
communications and OPR design could benefit them. Very few studies touched on the
issue of ethical business practices in the operation of OPRs. This issue is of particular
importance in countries where sponsorship disclosure is regulated by law.
Very few studies have discussed the disclosure of sponsorship information by reviewers.
Tsao, Hsieh, Shih and Lin (2015) and Tsao, Mau, Hsieh and Chen (2015) verified the
deliberate withholding of sponsorship information could have a devastating impact on the
persuasiveness of OPRs in the event that this situation became known. Hwang and Jeong
(2016) investigated the relationship honesty in sponsorship disclosure on blogs (such as
simple disclosure and “honest opinions”disclosure) and the credibility of the source. Lu et al.
(2014) examined how various types of sponsorship influence consumer attitudes toward the
recommendations; however, they focused only on the provision of financial incentives by
sponsors. Kim and Song (2018) explored the influence of content sponsorship (organic vs
sponsored) and content type (promotional vs experience centric) on the inference of
manipulative intent, brand attitude and click intention among Twitter users. All of these
studies discussed the influence of sponsorship type on OPRs or eWOM persuasiveness;
however, none of them explored the reasons for favoring one strategy over another. Nor did
any previous study take into consideration how the traits of the reviewer (such as
community influence) could affect the outcomes of sponsorship disclosure. In this study, we
employed non-disclosure as the control variable to identify the best sponsorship disclosure
policy while taking into account the sponsorship type and the influence of reviewers in the
community. In other words, this study sought to identify the types of sponsorship that
would be most beneficial to the firm, the reviewer and the consumers.
In this study, we endeavored to provide firms with suggestions on dealing with
sponsorship and disclosure issues. Our objective was to identify strategies that would
comply with high ethical standards in marketing as well as relevant legal regulations
without compromising the persuasiveness of their recommendations or the credibility of the
source. Tsao, Hsieh, Shih and Lin (2015) and Tsao, Mau, Hsieh and Chen (2015) reported that
disclosing sponsorship messages in blogs would significantly decrease the persuasiveness
of OPRs by undermining the credibility of the blogger, resulting in a notable decrease in
purchase intention. In this study, we conducted two sub-studies: first, an investigation into
the type of sponsorship disclosure strategies best able to preserve the persuasiveness of
OPRs; and second, an investigation into the degree to which the influence of the reviewer in
the community could alter the outcomes of sponsorship disclosure. The most significant
contribution of this study was the identification of rational incentives for firms to abide by
marketing ethics.
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