The Consumption of Online News: The Relationship of Attitudes Toward the Site and Credibility

ABSTRACT The study examines the factors that influence the perceptions of consumers engaged in the consumption of news online. Measures of online communications effectiveness in the business sector are applied to the online news environment. Consumer reactions to two major cable news Web sites provide insight into the relationship between Web site credibility and attitude toward the site. The study points to the importance of several credibility measures (particularly those related to site design) that are significantly related to attitude toward the site. Conclusions related to media and consumption of online news are provided.

[1]  Barbara A. Lafferty,et al.  The Dual Credibility Model: The Influence of Corporate and Endorser Credibility on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions , 2002 .

[2]  G. Chakraborty,et al.  What Do Customers Consider Important in B2B Websites? , 2003, Journal of Advertising Research.

[3]  Ellen R. Tauber,et al.  How Do People Evaluate a Web Site's Credibility? , 2002 .

[4]  Qimei Chen,et al.  Attitude Toward The Site II: New Information , 2002, Journal of Advertising Research.

[5]  E. Thorson,et al.  TELEVISION AND WEB ADVERTISING SYNERGIES , 2004 .

[6]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  Representing and testing organizational theories: A holistic construal. , 1982 .

[7]  Detmar W. Straub,et al.  Specifying Formative Constructs in Information Systems Research , 2007, MIS Q..

[8]  Cheryl Burke Jarvis,et al.  A Critical Review of Construct Indicators and Measurement Model Misspecification in Marketing and Consumer Research , 2003 .

[9]  Mary Seamon.  Changing Instructional Practices through Technology Training, Part 2 of 2. , 2001 .

[10]  Mary Beth Oliver,et al.  Exploring the Effects of Online Advertising on Readers' Perceptions of Online News , 2004 .

[11]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[12]  John C. Mowen,et al.  Effects of Absurdity in Advertising: The Moderating Role of Product Category Attitude and the Mediating Role of Cognitive Responses , 2000 .

[13]  William E. Baker,et al.  The Relevance Accessibility Model of Advertising Effectiveness , 1991 .

[14]  James C. Anderson,et al.  STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PRACTICE: A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDED TWO-STEP APPROACH , 1988 .

[15]  S. Sundar,et al.  Effect of Source Attribution on Perception of Online News Stories , 1998 .

[16]  Merrill Morris.  The Internet as Mass Medium , 1996, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[17]  Barbara K. Kaye,et al.  Using Is Believing: The Influence of Reliance on the Credibility of Online Political Information among Politically Interested Internet Users , 2000 .

[18]  George McMurdo,et al.  Evaluating Web information and design , 1998, J. Inf. Sci..

[19]  Steven P. Brown,et al.  Antecedents and Consequences of Attitude toward the Ad: A Meta-analysis , 1992 .

[20]  Xianggui Qu,et al.  Multivariate Data Analysis , 2007, Technometrics.

[21]  Jennifer Greer.  Evaluating the Credibility of Online Information: A Test of Source and Advertising Influence , 2003 .

[22]  Erik P. Bucy,et al.  Media Credibility Reconsidered: Synergy Effects between On-Air and Online News , 2003 .

[23]  G. Chakraborty,et al.  An empirical investigation of antecedents of B2B Websites’ effectiveness , 2002 .

[24]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  The Role of Attitude toward the Ad as a Mediator of Advertising Effectiveness: A Test of Competing Explanations: , 1986 .

[25]  Larry Hatcher,et al.  A Step-by-Step Approach to Using the SAS System for Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling , 1994 .

[26]  Qimei Chen,et al.  Attitude Toward the Site , 1999 .

[27]  Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted,et al.  From On-Air to Online World: Examining the Content and Structures of Broadcast TV Stations' Web Sites , 2000 .

[28]  B. J. Fogg,et al.  The elements of computer credibility , 1999, CHI '99.

[29]  Terence A. Shimp.  Attitude toward the AD as a Mediator of Consumer Brand Choice , 1981 .