“I Love It” Versus “I Recommend It”: The Impact of Implicit and Explicit Endorsement Styles on Electronic Word-of-Mouth Persuasiveness

• Published in: Journal of travel research Vol. 63; no. 4; pp. 779 - 795
• Main Authors: Liao, Junyun, He, Siying, Feng, Wenting, Filieri, Raffaele
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.04.2024; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Business administration; Endorsements; Humanities and Social Sciences; Persuasion; Tourism; Word of mouth advertising; persuasion; electronic word-of-mouth; linguistic effects; endorsement styles; persuasion knowledge; source trustworthiness
• ISSN: 0047-2875; 1552-6763
• DOI: 10.1177/00472875231175083

Consumers usually endorse tourism products differently when sharing positive electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). This research examines the relative persuasiveness of two endorsement styles, that is, explicit endorsement (e.g., “I recommend it”) and implicit endorsement (e.g., “I love it”). Drawing on the persuasion knowledge model, we propose that explicit endorsements are less persuasive than implicit endorsements because the former trigger stronger persuasion knowledge. We further argue that source trustworthiness mitigates the persuasion effect difference between the two endorsement styles. This article assesses these hypotheses across different sources (anonymous reviewers, friends, influencers), channels (online community, social commerce platform, social networking app), and products (hotels, restaurants) using secondary data analysis and two experiments. Three studies provide support for our hypotheses. By revealing the relationship between endorsement styles and eWOM persuasiveness, this article provides important implications for implementing effective product endorsement.