Effect of Political Ideology on Online Interpersonal and Information Evaluation

We examine whether and how conservatives and liberals differ in their reliance on online sources when there is no objective truth. A field study and three experiments show that conservatives in comparison to liberals are less skeptical of online reviewers, and in turn, are find online reviews more useful. Are conservatives or liberals more susceptible to online information. While much attention is given to examine this question in different scholarly fields, most research is limited to examining how conservatives and liberals differ in susceptibility to claims that are factually wrong. It is unclear if consumers' political beliefs influence their susceptibility to online information that is subjective opinions. We propose lhal consumers' political ideologies affect their skepticism toward online reviewers and, in turn, how useful they find the opinions they encounter online. On one hand, foundational research on influence of political ideology suggests people who are more conservative often endeavor to reduce threats and maintain order (Jost, Nosek and Gosling 2008), a pattern suggesting right leaning individuals may be more closed to opinions of anonymous others.