Believing in and Reacting to Rumors: The Role of Congruity and Nature of Existing Predisposition

The prevalence of rumors is a common phenomenon in today’s world and spreading rapidly as more and more consumers adapt to the digital world of the internet and social media. Our research investigates conditions under which consumers treat rumors (unverified information) identical to facts (the same, but verified, information). We investigate to what extent congruent/incongruent information (rumors/facts) about liked/disliked entities (both people and products) affect consumers’ belief in that information and the resulting attitude change towards the focal entity.