Spaced Out in Cyberspace? Evaluations of Computer‐Based Information

This study draws on cognitive elaboration theory to examine when and why people evaluate computer-based information more favorably than information from a less automated source. Half of participants received information from a computer, while half received the identical information from a less automated source. Moreover, participants were induced to be more vs. less involved in the information-acquisition process. As predicted, participants in the low-involvement condition evaluated the information more favorably when it came from a computer than from a less automated source. This difference was eliminated in the high-involvement condition. Further supporting our reasoning, the interaction effect between information source and level of involvement was more pronounced for participants low, rather than high, in need for cognition.