User-generated content (UGC) influences viewers' attitudes. Previous findings suggest that various types of social categorical information of a user (e.g., race, gender) embedded in UGC trigger categorized perceptions (in-group vs. out-group) among viewers. Based on self-categorization theory (Turner, 1987) the current study predicts that, once categorized perceptions take place on participatory websites, people identify with their in-group, and thus UGC from the in-group exerts greater influence than that of an out-group. In addition, the study proposes that prototypical expertise of categorized groups and a viewer's involvement with a given topic may moderate the influence of in-group UGC on viewers' attitudes; the gap between in-group influence and out-group influence is more pronounced when 1) the in-group (vs. the out-group) has prototypical expertise on a topic and/or when 2) a viewer's involvement with a topic is high (vs. low). In testing the proposed predictions, the current study categorized individuals by gender (male vs. female). To test the hypotheses, 276 participants viewed a mock webpage of Yelp.com, which displayed information about a local business along with four user-generated comments. The study employed a 3 (gender-typed topic: masculine vs. feminine vs. gender-neutral) x 3 (composition of UGC: two positive comments from male commenters and two negative comments from female commenters vs. two negative comments from male commenters and two positive comments from female commenters vs. one positive comment from male commenter, one negative comment from male commenter, one positive comment from female commenter, and one negative comment from female commenter) between-subject design. The results were consistent with self-categorization theory. In-group commenters exerted greater influence on viewers' attitudes than did out-group commenters. Moreover, prototypical expertise of categorized groups and topic involvement moderated the influence of in-group UGC, but only when there was high in-group identification. The gap between in-group influence and out-group influence was significant when the in-group had prototypical expertise on a topic and viewers scored high on in-group identification. Also, the gap between in-group influence and out-group influence was statistically meaningful when involvement was high and viewers possessed high in-group identification.
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