The effect of system generated cues on users’ perceptions of organizational trustworthiness, competence and goodwill

This study examines how inherent social media system cues may affect perceptions of an organization’s credibility during crisis. Due to their bi-directional nature, social media platforms generate system cues, such as user comments on Facebook and number of followers on Twitter. Thus, even if organizational messages are informative and articulate, they may be scrutinized or perceived as less credible due to system generated cues. This research details a five condition experiment that empirically examines trustworthiness, competence and goodwill of a university institutional webpage, Facebook account (with user comments and without user comments) and Twitter account (with followers and without followers). Findings suggest that system generated cues influence users’ perceptions of an organization’s credibility.