사용자 생성 콘텐츠의 설득효과와 콘텐츠 부적합성 : 소비자 인지상태와 브랜드 신뢰의 순차적 매개효과

초록

This study examines the psychological process through which shopping-related user-generated content (UGC) influences brand trust and purchase intention and investigates whether content misfit weakens these positive effects. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, this study proposes that UGC characteristics enhance consumers’ cognitive state and brand trust, which in turn increase purchase intention. It further conceptualizes content misfit, defined as the perceived mismatch between consumers’ expected information and the actual UGC they encounter, as a boundary condition that reduces the persuasive effect of UGC. Survey data were collected from consumers who had encountered product- or brand-related UGC within the previous three months, and 488 valid responses were analyzed. The results show that UGC characteristics positively influence consumers’ cognitive state and brand trust. Consumers’ cognitive state increases both brand trust and purchase intention, and brand trust also has a positive effect on purchase intention. In addition, consumers’ cognitive state and brand trust mediate the relationship between UGC characteristics and purchase intention. By contrast, content misfit negatively affects consumers’ cognitive state, brand trust, and purchase intention. It also weakens the positive relationship between UGC characteristics and consumers’ cognitive state. These findings indicate that the persuasive effect of UGC depends not only on its positive content attributes but also on the fit between consumers’ expectations and the actual content experience.

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