The Role of Narrative Communication in Skeptical Consumers' Information Search Behavior

Prior research has indicated that consumer skepticism results in various negative outcomes, such as negative evaluations of marketing appeals and diminished brand perceptions. More importantly, consumer skepticism can lead to a bias in information processing – making them lack of responsiveness to marketing communications and producing carry-over effects on influencing attitudes toward various sources and products. Therefore, it is important to understand the impact of skepticism on consumer behavior. This research explores skeptical consumers’ tendency to preferentially seek out biased information. Furthermore, it proposes a solution - employing narrative communication to mitigate skeptical consumers’ tendency to search for biased information.