Elaboration Likelihood Model in Consumer Research: A Review

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) is a model of information processing and persuasion. Ever since its introduction in the 1980’s, ELM has been frequently cited by scholars from both cognitive/social psychology and consumer research. This paper reviews the application of ELM to consumer research over the past decade, with the focus on studies conducted in advertising contexts, effects on brand evaluations, specification of processing mechanisms, and findings that seem to extend or contradict the model. A body of literature is discussed in three domains: antecedents, processes, and processing cues. A brief interpretation for the review and future directions for research are presented.

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