The purpose of this paper is to explore the role and effect of disclaimer dimensions in digital communication specifically in enhancing user engagement, perceived credibility and fostering innovation in digital communication. The study is motivated by the ongoing debate on whether disclaimers operate primarily through central or peripheral processing routes in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) framework and how these effects interact with digital literacy.
Survey was conducted to collect data from 2,980 participants within eight major cities, who have recently encountered a digital disclaimer. The results were obtained through a covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) with SPSS AMOS and moderation analysis with the PROCESS macro.
The analytical results reveal that if disclaimers are clearly visible, comprehensive and culturally sensitive they lead to better user engagement and trustworthiness. Moderation analysis reveals the role of digital literacy and concludes that higher digital literacy helps online content users to understand the disclaimer.
This study is one of its own kind that focuses on the role of disclaimers in leading towards innovation in digital communication. This research is helpful for the policy makers to develop digital literacy initiatives and the design of effective disclaimers as it empirically tested both central and peripheral processing routes of disclaimers in a high-usage digital content environment.
