ABSTRACT This experiment (N= 476) investigates how individuals evaluate political candidates who use informal communication on social media. We use expectancy violations theory (EVT) to predict that informal communication will lead to negative evaluations. Our results suggest that politicians’ use of informal communication on social media leads to expectancy violation, which decreases perceived credibility and lessens intention to support a candidate. This effect was not moderated by sex (male versus female) or age (young versus old) of the candidate, nor of participants being the same sex as the candidate. These findings suggest that political figures should use informal communication on social media with caution.

中文翻译：

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候选人在社交媒体上使用非正式交流会降低信誉和支持：检查违反预期的后果

摘要此实验（N = 476）调查了个人如何评估在社交媒体上使用非正式交流的政治候选人。我们使用预期违规理论（EVT）来预测非正式交流将导致负面评价。我们的结果表明，政客在社交媒体上使用非正式交流会导致预期违规，从而降低人们的可信度并降低支持候选人的意愿。没有通过候选人的性别（男性对女性）或年龄（年轻人对年龄）来缓解这种影响，参与者的性别与候选人的性别也没有相同。这些发现表明，政治人物应谨慎使用社交媒体上的非正式交流。