The curse of similarity: when and how similarity induces persuasion reactance

In this dissertation, we study how salesperson-consumer similarity would influence salespersons’ persuasion effectiveness. Previous literature suggested the positive effect of interpersonal similarity on persuasion effectiveness. We propose that consumers' similarity to a salesperson can affect the salesperson's effectiveness either positively or negatively. Consumers are often more likely to take a recommendation from a similar salesperson than from a dissimilar one. This is only true, however, when consumers contemplate making a purchase in an unfamiliar product domain. When they consider a purchase in a familiar domain, they are less influenced by a similar salesperson's recommendation than by a dissimilar salesperson’s. Four experiments and secondary data confirm these opposing effects and the processes that underlie them.在本論文中，我們研究了銷售人員與消費者的相似性如何影響銷售人員的說服力。先前的文獻表明人際相似性對銷售人員的說服力有積極影響。我們提出消費者與銷售人員的相似性可能對銷售人員的說服力產生積極或消極的影響。與和自己不同的銷售人員相比，消費者通常更願意接受與自己類似的銷售人員的推薦。但是，我們發現只有當消費者在自己不熟悉的產品領域進行購買時，這才是正確的。當他們考慮在熟悉的領域進行購買時，相比於不相似的銷售人員，他們更不容易被與自己相似的銷售人員的推薦所影響。四個實驗和二手數據證實了這些相反的影響及其背後的影響機制。Qi, Suntong.Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2021.Includes bibliographical references (leaves ).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on …)