Beyond closed doors: Examining consumer reactions to public and private advice

Frequently transmitted through word-of-mouth (WOM) communications, advice is viewed as a trustworthy source of information by consumers. Marketers value WOM marketing and invest resources to encourage consumer recommendations. Despite the value of interpersonal recommendations for consumers, an important research finding on advice-taking is ego-centric discounting (i.e. the phenomenon where individuals discount offered advice in favor of their own preferences). Prior work has explored mitigating factors of ego-centric discounting including characteristics of the recommender and the decision context. However, the role of interpersonal influence in advice exchange is understudied. This paper delves deeper into the role of interpersonal influence, evaluating how advice utilization is influenced by the presence of other consumers during the recommendation exchange. Across three experiments, we demonstrate that consumers are more likely to rely on advice when the recommendation is made public rather than in private. Moreover, we show that consumers readily integrate public advice in an attempt to appear appreciative for the recommendation (a self-presentation consideration). Finally, this research shows that consumers higher in need for social approval (NSA) rely more heavily on public advice. This research augments literature on consumer advice and highlights public vs. private advice as an essential factor curbing ego-centric advice discounting.