Understanding the role of social influence in piquing curiosity and influencing attitudes and behaviors in a social network environment

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Abstract
Social networks provide an innovative means for facilitating social influence as well as arousing consumer curiosity. However, research on how social influence impacts attitudes and behaviors in this context is limited. Further, even less research exists examining how curiosity impacts consumers’ behaviors, which is concerning since curiosity may be especially relevant in an online setting. To overcome these gaps, two studies were conducted which demonstrate that a consumer's curiosity toward a social network post is influenced by the group membership of the individual who created the post. In turn, curiosity leads to more positive attitudes toward the experience described or represented in the post, which leads to higher intentions to undertake that experience. Additionally, consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence is found to moderate the relationship between group membership and curiosity. If susceptibility to interpersonal influence is strong enough, content posted by a dissociative group member can also arouse curiosity and positively influence attitudes and behavioral intentions.

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