Trust, usefulness and the adoption of financial advice: comparing consumer responses to social media (C2C) versus institutional (B2C) sources

Purpose This study investigates how customer-to-customer (C2C) peer advice via social media compares to professional financial-advisor advice in influencing customers’ trust, perceived usefulness and behavioural intention to adopt financial savings advice. Drawing on source credibility theory, the study examines how source credibility, information quality, personalisation and transparency affect trust and usefulness, and how emotional connection moderates these relationships across advice channels. Design/methodology/approach A between-sample experimental design randomly allocated participants to one of two conditions: receiving financial advice from either social-media peer posts or professional financial advisors. Data were collected from 345 participants via a structured survey. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the proposed relationships, and a multi-group analysis was conducted to examine differences between conditions. Findings The results show that information quality, transparency and personalisation significantly influence trust and usefulness across both contexts, though the strength of effect differs. Information quality had a stronger impact on perceived usefulness in the social-media condition, while transparency and trust played more central roles in the financial-advisor condition. Behavioural intention was primarily driven by perceived usefulness in the social-media context and by trust in the financial-advisor context. Emotional connection unexpectedly weakened the influence of source credibility on trust in the financial-advisor condition. Comparisons confirmed that financial advisors were perceived as significantly more credible, trustworthy and transparent than social-media sources. Originality/value This study contributes to C2C interaction and the financial decision-making literature by comparing online and traditional advice channels within an integrated source credibility theory framework. It reveals how advice-source contexts shape trust-building mechanisms and influence financial behavioural intentions.