The Influence of Source Credibility on Resisting Framing Effects: Evidence from the Net Investment Income Tax

ABSTRACT Prior research (e.g., Fatemi, Hasseldine, and Hite 2008) provides evidence of a resistance effect to framing in tax settings. We examine whether source credibility (or lack thereof) mitigates (exacerbates) this resistance effect in situations that are inherently political in nature (e.g., taxation, health care). Political partisanship in the U.S. has dramatically impacted how information seekers view source credibility such that social identity and political tribalism are often more influential in assessing credibility than the actual underlying knowledge base of the messenger. To explore this phenomenon, we use an experiment focused on the Net Investment Income Tax (i.e., a tax system that helps fund the Affordable Care Act (ACA)). We find that, when participants read a positively framed statement attributed to a credible source (i.e., one that syncs with the respondent’s political party), they reconsider their negative prior attitudes. Thus, we provide evidence that source credibility moderates the resistance effect.