THE EFFECTS OF PREFERENCE HETEROGENEITY AND SOURCE CHARACTERISTICS ON AD PROCESSING AND JUDGMENTS ABOUT ENDORSERS

This article examines the influence of experienced and similar sources on consumer attitudes and intentions for services that vary on preference heterogeneity (the extent to which consumer tastes and preferences vary across consumers). Two experiments were conducted: one with 160 subjects set in a testimonial advertising context and one with 120 subjects set in a simulated word-of-mouth context. The results from these studies provide support for the contention that source similarity to the message recipient is an important determinant of the source's ability to shape attitudes and intentions for the higher preference heterogeneity services examined, including night clubs, restaurants, interior decorators and hair salons. On the other hand, the source's experience with a service is an important determinant of the source's ability to shape attitudes and intentions for the lower preference heterogeneity services examined, including plumbers, rug cleaners, auto mechanics and accountants.