Antecedents and Effects of Online Third-Party Information on Offline Impressions: A Test of Warranting Theory

Abstract

Abstract. Warranting theory articulates the process by which individuals connect online information to an offline target, guiding impression formation. The presence of online information alone may not innately guide impression formation about a target. Rather, the connection of that claim to perceptions of a target’s offline self should be driven by several antecedents. The reported experiment tested the antecedent factors of third-party claims with respect to perceptions and behavioral intentions toward a course instructor. Undergraduate students in the United States ( N = 209) viewed a hypothetical professor-rating website reflecting a 2 (target reply: present or absent) × 2 (rater identifiability: identifiable or anonymous) × 2 (number of ratings: many or few) × 2 (average rating: present or absent) experimental design, and reported the characteristics they perceived the target professor to possess offline. Results of a structural equation model revealed only an individual’s ability to reply to online information influenced judgments of warranting value; but the warranting value of the online information influenced subsequent impressions of the target’s offline attributes.