When Women Give Health Advice Online, Do We Listen? The Effect of Source Sex on Credibility and Likelihood to Use Online Health Advice

摘要

This experiment examined the effect of source sex on perceptions of source credibility and likelihood to use health advice given by an online source as well as the potential interaction effect between user sex and source sex on source credibility. Participants in the two conditions viewed a mock Yahoo! Answers response about type 2 diabetes posted by a male or female source. The male source was deemed significantly more credible than the female source, but this effect only held true for female participants. Source credibility was, in turn, positively related to likelihood to use the health advice viewed.