Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion

The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion provides an important framework used frequently and effectively by reputation managers to predict and explain the impact of persuasive messages on audiences. The model was developed to account for troubling discrepancies in the psychological literature on persuasion. In some cases, factors such as spokesperson credibility and physical attractiveness produced powerful effects on persuasion, while in others, they had little, if any, effect. The model suggests that people faced with a persuasive message respond using one of two possible patterns, called the central and peripheral routes to persuasion. This entry describes these two routes to persuasion and how organizations can utilize both routes to persuade their audience to adopt a desired behavior or belief.