An Empirical Study of Peer Influence on User Attitudes, Behavior, and Performance

User attitudes, behavior, and performance have been studied by many researchers, yet we do not have a very complete understanding of their determinants. Word-of-mouth communication is described in this study as one potelitially powerful influence on those outcomes. A deception experiment tested the effects of word-of-mouth communication on novices engaged in a learning task. It was hypothesized that negative communication would diminish attitudes, behaviors and behavioral intentions, and performance on material retention as well as task accuracy. The results provided evidence of the effects of word-ofmouth communication on attitudes, behavioral intentions, and software test performance, but failed to provide evidence that actual behavior or task performance are affected by such communication.