Impact of original versus reposted social endorsements on content consumption: The moderating role of Endorsers’ network characteristics

A. Zhao () and Q. Tang
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A. Zhao: Audencia Business School

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Abstract: Social endorsements broadcast endorsers' positive attitudes toward content or products, especially to their social ties. Original endorsements created by endorsers can be propagated further as reposted endorsements. Both are important marketing tools to increase content consumption, yet their differences are unclear. This study compares the impacts of original and reposted endorsements on content consumption and their contingencies on the endorsers' network characteristics. Using data on social endorsements of YouTube videos on Twitter, we find that original endorsements (i.e., original tweets) significantly boost content consumption, and the effect is positively moderated by the endorsers' network size but not their tie strength. In contrast, reposted endorsements (i.e., retweets) drive content consumption only when the endorsers have a sufficiently large number of social ties or a high percentage of weak ties. Furthermore, their endorsement effects differ regarding their contingencies on the endorsement message and the endorsed content. Specifically, original endorsements are more effective when the endorsement messages demonstrate higher cognitive effort, whereas the impact of reposted endorsements does not depend on the endorsement messages created by original endorsers. Additionally, the impact of original endorsements is more pronounced for content with higher user engagement, while reposted endorsements are more effective for content with lower user engagement. Our findings provide theoretical contributions and practical implications for consumer behavior and platform operations.

Keywords: Original endorsements; Reposted endorsements; Content consumption; Tie strength; User engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05447151v1
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Published in Information and Management, 2026, 63 (1), pp.104266. ⟨10.1016/j.im.2025.104266⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05447151

DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2025.104266

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