Goodwill Online: A Key Factor for Persuasion

As I continue to flesh out my network framework for communications, one of the areas I am digging into is one's online reputation or authority and how that is a factor in persuading people to take action (buying a product, telling someone about it, and so on).  In my research I came across the report, "To Tell or Not to Tell" about word of mouth marketing by Dr. Walter Carl of Northeastern University.  While interesting in and of itself (disclosing you are an agent for a WOM campaign has no effect on the outcome of the conversation), it also pointed me to another article, "Goodwill: A Reexamination of the Construct and its Measurement" by James C. McCroskey and Jason T. Teven. While incredibly technical, it did provide me with some interesting food for thought.

Studies have shown that a key factor for persuasion is "the image of the source in the minds of receivers."  Some of you will recognize this as Aristotle's "ethos".  A (much) later study by the Yale Group identified this as "source credibility".  McCroskey & Teven's article stated that there are three generally accepted dimensions to ethos/source credibility:  competence (qualification, expertness, intelligence, authoritativeness), trustworthiness (character, sagacity, safety, honesty) and goodwill/intent toward receiver.  (The authors call this last one the missing dimension as it was ignored over time due to lack of measurability, which this paper's argument is designed to overcome.  Assuming you agree with their analysis, we'll believe that it does exist as a third dimension.)

The important thing about goodwill is that it is a "means of opening communication channels more widely" and is a significant factor in believability/likeability overall.  This means that it is an important factor for persuasion.  There are three elements of goodwill:  understanding ("When we see someone exhibiting behaviors which tell us they understand our concerns, we feel closer to them."); empathy ("This involves behaviors indicating that one person not only understands the other's views but accepts them as valid views, even if he or she does not agree with those views.") and responsiveness ("Responsiveness is judged by how quickly one person reacts to the communication of another, how attentive they are to the other, and the degree to which they appear to listen to the other.  We tend to see people who behave responsively toward us as caring about us.").

So, what does this means for persuasive communication using participatory tools?

The first two factors of persuasion, competence and trustworthiness, are arguably covered adequately by traditional marketing/communications techniques and tools.  However, brochures, ads and press releases are not tools for handling the third factor: goodwill.  The latter is handled much better via participatory tools like blogs and wikis, because built into those tools are mechanisms for communicating understanding, empathy and responsiveness.

So, are participatory tools then the missing link for persuasive communications?  It would seem so.  Used in conjunction with traditional tools, they can quite possibly increase the persuasive impact of your campaigns.  And let's remember, these new tools can also support the first two factors: competence and trustworthiness.

Comments

[kathy hale]

Elizabeth,

Thanks for these thoughts about participatory tools and persuasion. I think I remember (or maybe it's my own observation) about the McCroskey breakdown of source credibility is that the first two--perceived competence and perceived trustworthiness--are overshadowed by perceived goodwill. So if people perceive a significant lack of goodwill in a persuader, the other two are significantly diminished.

Something else your discussion of persuasion reminded me of is Herbert Kelman's social theory that distinguishes between compliance, identification, and internalization. In a marketing context, if a compliance level of persuasion is reached, people will adopt the desired behavior as long as a reward or punishment backs it up and stop the behavior when that reward/punishment is no longer in place. If they reach an identification level, they will adopt the behavior as long as they see themselves or want to see themselves like the people advocating the behavior or using the product, but will stop the behavior when they no longer identify. The internalization stage means they actually believe in the behavior, the product or service, regardless of whether others do or not. This is the longest lasting degree of persuasion.

The Kelman approach is a bit on the behavioral/control side to suit me, but it certainly makes me think about our communication strategies, our participatory tools, what our goals are in communicating, etc. I think for me, Kenneth Burke's work in persuasion makes most sense--It's not about bringing about your way of thinking in someone else, but is about achieving identification between people. He isn't using "identification" in the sense used by Kelman--as a way of bringing about a desired behavior-- but in the sense of connection between people being a form of persuasion in itself.

Again, thanks for your discussion.
Kathy Hale

[Elizabeth Albrycht]

Thanks for pointing me to these sources Kathy; I remember the Kelman stuff from way back. Your mention of "identification" is interesting, as I am reading some political philosophy that discusses the need for "recognition" to form consensus (basically our opinions are verified by others via recognition), leading to a equal/free society. I'll have to think about this in terms of persuasion and pull Burke's work. Thanks for contributing to the discussion! I hope you'll stick around.

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