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Online bandwagon effects: Quantitative versus qualitative cues in online comments sections

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New Media & Society
Authors:
Seungae Lee at Hanyang University
Seungae Lee
Lucy Atkinson at University of Texas at Austin
Lucy Atkinson
Yoon Hi Sung at Yonsei University
Yoon Hi Sung
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Bandwagon effects explain an individual’s tendency to conform to and follow other people’s opinions. Drawing on bandwagon effects, this study explored the relative influence of two different bandwagon heuristic cues in an online comments section (quantitative vs qualitative) on changes in news readers’ opinion. Study 1 revealed that qualitative cues have a stronger effect than quantitative cues in changing news readers’ opinions. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 and showed that people change opinions in the same direction as perceived public opinion, providing empirical evidence of online bandwagon effects. The findings offer theoretical insights by explicating the process of opinion change via perceived public opinion as well as practical insights into public opinion formation in online environments.
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820965187
new media & society
2022, Vol. 24(3) 580 –599
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1461444820965187
journals.sagepub.com/home/nms
Online bandwagon effects:
Quantitative versus qualitative
cues in online comments
sections
Seungae Lee
Hanyang University, South Korea
Lucy Atkinson
The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Yoon Hi Sung
The University of Oklahoma, USA
Abstract
Bandwagon effects explain an individual’s tendency to conform to and follow other
people’s opinions. Drawing on bandwagon effects, this study explored the relative
influence of two different bandwagon heuristic cues in an online comments section
(quantitative vs qualitative) on changes in news readers’ opinion. Study 1 revealed that
qualitative cues have a stronger effect than quantitative cues in changing news readers’
opinions. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 and showed that people change
opinions in the same direction as perceived public opinion, providing empirical evidence
of online bandwagon effects. The findings offer theoretical insights by explicating the
process of opinion change via perceived public opinion as well as practical insights into
public opinion formation in online environments.
Keywords
Heuristic cues, online bandwagon effects, online news comments, perceived public
opinion, quantitative and qualitative cues
Corresponding author:
Yoon Hi Sung, Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, The University of Oklahoma, 395
West Lindsey Street, Norman, Oklahoma 73019-4201, USA.
Email: yhsung@ou.edu
965187NMS0010.1177/1461444820965187new media & societyLee et al.
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