HAVE YOU HEARD OF CELL-CULTURED MEAT? ATTITUDE CERTAINTY’S EFFECTS ON CONSUMER INFORMATION SHARING ABOUT INNOVATION

Among the factors influencing consumer innovation acceptance in the context of health, interpersonal communication is highly understudied. This project focuses on one dimension of interpersonal communication by exploring how attitudinal differences between communicators influence information sharing. Two studies are reported using a diffusion chain framework to explore the effects of attitude strength on the amount and type of information shared about an innovation. Study 1 identified a tendency for those with greater certainty to share more than those without certain attitudes. There was also a tendency for those with unfavorable attitudes and those with extreme attitudes to share a greater proportion of attitudinally consistent information. These findings were not found to be significant. Study 2 failed to support the hypotheses that the first chain member’s attitude or message influences the amount or type of information shared by the second chain member. Results suggest that the relationship between attitudes and information sharing may be more complex than suggested by previous research.