Message Attitudes Research Articles

Capturing invisible health threats through augmented reality-based public health messaging: focusing on perceived realism, issue involvement, and message attitudes

ABSTRACT Augmented reality (AR) has been extensively applied to health science education. However, a question still remains as to the optimal way to design AR interfaces to enhance users’ understanding of information that is presented in text format. Utilising the context of indoor air pollution, the current study examines the effects of messages about particulate matter (PM) delivered using different modes of AR visualisation (i.e. overlaying AR visuals onto users’ faces [AR-overlay self] vs. overlaying AR visuals onto users’ surroundings [AR-overlay environment] vs. no use of AR [AR control]). A between-subjects online experiment (N = 306) demonstrated that the AR-overlay environment has a pronounced effect on perceived realism toward 3D-rendered PM, which induced powerful effects on increasing both issue involvement and positive attitudes toward the textual information being presented. Compared to the AR control, the AR-overlay environment demonstrated a serial and positive mediation effect on perceived realism, which subsequently influenced issue involvement and message attitudes. However, overlaying 3D-rendered PM onto one’s face turned out to be a less effective means of eliciting perceived realism. Implications are discussed in the context of how to design effective AR interfaces that can best help users understand health science information.

The next hype in social media advertising: Examining virtual influencers' brand endorsement effectiveness.

Virtual influencers are gaining prominence as a way of attracting people's attention on social media, but limited research has been conducted on this subject. In this research, we explore the effects of human-like virtual influencers (HVIs) vs. anime-like virtual influencers (AVIs) and sponsorship disclosure on message credibility perception and message attitudes. Conducted with a 2 (virtual influencer type: HVI vs. AVI) x 2 (sponsorship disclosure: absent vs. present) between-subjects experiment, our findings suggest that HVI endorsements produce greater perception of message credibility and message attitudes than AVI endorsements, but the superior effect of HVIs (vs. AVIs) vanishes when sponsorship is disclosed. The results also show that message credibility plays a significant mediating role only when sponsorship is not disclosed. We believe our research offers interesting insights to both researchers and practitioners on the topic of virtual influencers.

Talking About Prescription Opioid Misuse: The Effect of Family Communication Patterns and Messages Advocating Direct and Indirect Communication

ABSTRACT Families play an important role in addressing substance misuse and addiction. Extant literature suggests patterns of communication within families influence the ways in which they engage loved ones who may be misusing substances like prescription opioids. However, little is known regarding how strategic health messages about family communication influence individuals’ intentions to engage in conversations about substance misuse. Applying a normative approach, we conducted a (2 × 2) between-participants experiment examining whether messages advocating indirect (versus direct) communication are more effective for individuals (n = 613) who describe their family as having a low (versus high) conversation orientation. Univariate analysis of variance tests show match effects for message attitudes and message elaboration. For intentions to talk with a loved one about the risks of OUD, there was only evidence of a matching effect between the message advocating indirect communication with low conversation audiences. Both message types were equally effective at influencing intentions for high conversation participants. These findings suggest message designers should consider the kinds of communication behaviors and actions advocated in appeals targeting family members. Messages that are inclusive of the conversation dynamics of particular audiences may have greater effect. In particular, for low conversation audiences, messages advocating an indirect approach may be more effective at motivating intentions to engage someone who is misusing opioids.

Native Americans’ Responses to Obesity Attributions and Message Sources in an Obesity Prevention Campaign

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effectiveness of Native American (NA) targeted obesity prevention messages. The researchers manipulated obesity attributions (internal vs. external) and message sources (NAs vs. non-NAs) in a 2 × 2 mixed experimental design to examine the way these message attributes influence NAs’ emotional, attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral responses. One-hundred and eighteen Cheyenne and Arapaho (C&A) tribal citizens read two paper-based obesity prevention PSAs and then answered questions that assessed their message responses. The key findings demonstrated that the match between participants’ ethnicity and the message source’s ethnicity had a significant effect, as it reduced anger and promoted positive message attitudes and favorable source evaluations. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research and NA targeted health campaigns are discussed.

Overcoming Black Americans’ Psychological and Cognitive Barriers to Clinical Trial Participation: Effects of News Framing and Exemplars

ABSTRACT This study examines how news features (framing and the use of exemplars) can help overcome two common barriers (psychological and cognitive) impeding Black American participation in clinical trials. In an online experiment, Black participants (N = 390) viewed social media news posts varying in framing (focus on psychological vs. cognitive barriers) and use of an exemplar (present vs. absent and White vs. Black) and then responded to outcome measures including perceived message effectiveness, message attitudes, and intention to participate in clinical trials. The findings illustrate that including a racially matched (i.e. Black) exemplar improves attitudes toward clinical trial messages. Most notably, featuring a race-matched exemplar increases intention to participate in a trial when the messages discuss psychological barriers. These findings enhance our understanding of how messages can be better designed to increase Black American participation in clinical trials, thereby contributing to reducing health inequities and improving health outcomes.

“I Felt Completely Turned off by the Message”: The Effects of Controlling Language, Fear, and Disgust Appeals on Responses to COVID-19 Vaccination Messages

Psychological reactance theory (PRT) posits that when individuals’ perceived freedoms are threatened or restricted, they become aversively aroused and are motivated to reestablish those freedoms, leading to a state of psychological reactance. Applying PRT, this study examined the effects of controlling language, fear, and disgust appeals on responses to COVID-19 vaccination promotion messages. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions across controlling language (high/low), fear appeals (high/low), and disgust appeals (high/low), wherein they viewed two messages, with responses measured after each message. Results showed persuasion was diminished when the levels of any of these three variables were elevated, as in conditions of either high controlling language, high fear appeals, or high disgust appeals. Relative to low levels of these variables, high levels resulted in greater freedom threat perceptions, reactance, source derogation, and less positive attitudes toward the message. A 2-way interaction between fear and disgust appeals on source derogation and message attitudes in the low controlling language condition was significant—participants reported the least source derogation and most positive attitudes toward the message in response to the low controlling language, low fear, and low disgust appeals.

Effects of physical appearance of ad endorsers featured in gay-targeted ads, explained by endorser match-up and identification

Few studies have investigated the effects of using attractive endorsers in advertising in the context of ads targeting LGBTQ audiences. To address this research gap, this study investigates the underlying mechanisms that help explain the relationship between endorser attractiveness and advertising outcomes (interest in the ad and message attitudes): endorser match-up and endorser identification. The empirical study consists of a single-factor (three groups divided by their level of attractiveness), between-subjects experimental design, two LGBTQ-relevant advertisements, and 369 gay male participants. Our findings show similar effects between average and highly stereotypically attractive models (i.e., ASAMs and HSAMs), and strong evidence that average or high physical attractiveness would act as an effective match-up factor of gay-themed ads, and this in turn would increase attitudinal advertising outcomes. Similarly, individuals who identify with average- or good-looking endorsers report higher levels of interest in products associated with the respective endorsers. Despite the similar scores between ASAMs and HSAMs, they convey different associations, information that can be used in different advertising settings. Our main goal is to gain a better understanding of the gay male segment and help advertisers and scholars in delivering persuasive public service announcements.

The role of emotion in interactivity effects: positive emotion enhances attitudes, negative emotion helps information processing

ABSTRACT Individuals can react to the same media content in significantly different ways depending on their emotions, yet only little attention has been paid to this topic in the context of interactive media usage. Filling this gap, the current study investigates how the valence of emotion affects the persuasive impact of interactive health messages. We conducted a 2 (emotion: positive vs. negative) × 2 (interactivity: interactive website vs. non-interactive webpage) between-subjects factorial design experiment (N = 225) and measured participants’ interface assessment, website/message attitudes, behaviour intentions and recognition memory. The results showed that interactivity elicited more favourable interface assessments and website attitudes only for those experiencing positive emotions, which indirectly enhanced their message attitudes and behavioural intentions toward the anti-drug-driving message. In contrast, negative emotions aided recognition memory of the interactive part of the website. The findings bridge the human–computer interaction and cognitive psychology literature and suggest how user emotions can be used as a design strategy to enhance positive attitudes toward websites.

Under the Influence: Social Media Influencers’ Impact on Response to Corporate Reputation Advertising

Social media influencers (SMIs) are now a significant element in organizations’ marketing mix. However, there has been little attention paid to how SMIs might change the way people process a commercial specifically designed to enhance corporate reputation. Three studies were conducted to understand possible influencer impacts on how people respond to commercials designed to enhance corporate reputation. In Study 1, we found that when a commercial was introduced by an influencer, message attitudes and perceived corporate reputation were more positive via reduced persuasion knowledge (PK), as compared to the impact of the commercial presented by itself. In Study 2, the influencer enhancement effect disappeared when sponsorship was disclosed, again as mediated by increased PK. The findings are consistent with prior research; however, this research is the first to explore disclosure effects in the context of corporate reputation with video stimuli. In Study 3, the style of the influencer’s message (narrative versus nonnarrative) influenced response to the corporate commercials, with a narrative introduction engendering more favorable message attitudes and corporate reputation perceptions through decreased PK. However, the positive effect of an influencer’s narrative introduction occurred only when sponsorship was not disclosed.

프레이밍에 따른 메시지 수용태도가 프로스포츠구단의 윤리경영에 미치는 영향

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of message acceptance attitudes according to positive and negative framing on the perception of ethical management of professional teams.BR Method: The subjects of this study were 500 male & female college students. Experimental stimuli were in the form of general internet newspaper articles, and were composed of positive and negative framing. Message acceptance attitude and perception of ethical management were measured with a questionnaire that consisted of a total of 8 factors and 38 questions. In order to analyze the validity of the questionnaire, which is a measuring tool, a confirmation factor analysis was performed, and Cronbach’s α coefficient was calculated to verify the internal consistency of the item. Correlation analysis was conducted to analyze the relationship between the research variables. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze the causal relationship between message acceptance attitude and sports ethical management according to set framing. The significance level was set to α.05.BR Results: In the positive framing group, the message attitude and imagination factor showed an effective influence on ethical management. In the negative framing group, message attitudes and personal pain factors had an effective influence on ethical management.BR Conclusion: Message attitude is an effective variable that affects the ethical management of professional teams in both positive & negative framing, and positive framing is effective for changing the professional team’s perception of ethical management. Research to verify the framing effect related to sports should be continued.

Editorial Content In Native Advertising

ABSTRACT This study examines how brand placement in editorial content ( i.e. , whether a sponsoring brand is mentioned in editorial content) affects consumers9 responses to native advertising and whether the effect is moderated by either high or low quality of editorial content. Results of an experiment showed significant interaction effects between brand placement and content quality. Brand placement had negative effects on source credibility and message attitudes only when the quality of editorial content was low, not when the quality was high.

Photo-sharing social media for eHealth: analysing perceived message effectiveness of sexual health information on Instagram

Health professionals increasingly use social media to communicate health information, but it is unknown how visual message presentation on these platforms affects message reception. This study used an experiment to analyse how young adults (n = 839) perceive sexual health messages on Instagram. Participants were exposed to one of four conditions based on visual message presentation. Messages with embedded health content had the highest perceived message effectiveness ratings. Additionally, message sensation value, attitudes and systematic information processing were significant predictors of perceived message effectiveness. Implications for visual message design for electronic health are discussed.

Interactive effects of dispositional empathic concern and message framing on international relief campaigns

We investigated the interactive effects of dispositional empathic concern (DEC), which occurs when a person feels emotional concern about others in need, and message framing (gain vs. loss), which is used to persuade people to engage in helping behavior, on international relief campaigns. Participants were 161 university students who completed measures of DEC, issue involvement, and their previously held attitude toward international relief activities at the first stage. After 7–10 days they read a stimulus framing message focused on international relief campaigns against child hunger, and then rated message attitudes, intention to support children in need, and perceived manipulation intent. Results showed that there was an interaction effect between DEC and framing on responses to messages advocating international relief activities. Further, this interaction was mainly the result of gain, rather than loss, framing, with more favorable responses elicited from individuals with greater DEC.

Effects of argument quality, source credibility and self-reported diabetes knowledge on message attitudes: an experiment using diabetes related messages.

Previous studies have reported that credibility and content (argument quality) are the most critical factors affecting the quality of health information and its acceptance and use; however, this causal relationship merits further investigation in the context of health education. Moreover, message recipients' prior knowledge may moderate these relationships. This study used the elaboration likelihood model to determine the main effects of argument quality, source credibility and the moderating effect of self-reported diabetes knowledge on message attitudes. A between-subjects experimental design using an educational message concerning diabetes for manipulation was applied to validate the effects empirically. A total of 181 participants without diabetes were recruited from the Department of Health, Taipei City Government. Four group messages were manipulated in terms of argument quality (high and low) × source credibility (high and low). Argument quality and source credibility of health information significantly influenced the attitude of message recipients. The participants with high self-reported knowledge participants exhibited significant disapproval for messages with low argument quality. Effective health information should provide objective descriptions and cite reliable sources; in addition, it should provide accurate, customised messages for recipients who have high background knowledge level and ability to discern message quality.

자존감과 보상 유형의 상호작용이 국제구호 캠페인의 효과에 미치는 영향

본 연구는 개인의 자존감과 메시지가 제시하는 보상 유형의 상호작용이 국제구호 캠페인의 효과에 미치는 영향에 대해 조사하였다. 자존감은 스스로 얼마나 가치 있는 존재로 느끼는지를 나타내고, 보상은 긍정적 대가를 의미하며 내적/외적 보상으로 구분하였다. 실험은 184명을 대상으로 실행되었으며, 2단계로 나누어서 실행되었다. 1단계에서는 참여자들의 개인 성향과 경험에 관한 설문을 진행하였고, 2단계에서는 유형별 메시지를 제시한 후 나타나는 반응을 평가하였다. 연구 결과, 캠페인 태도에서 자존감 수준이 높은 사람들은 외적 보상보다 내적 보상 정보를 접했을 때 더 호의적인 캠페인 태도를 보여주었고, 자존감이 낮은 사람들은 차별적 반응을 보여주지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 행위 의도에서는 유의미한 결과가 도출되지 않았다. The current study investigated the impact of interaction between self-esteem and reward type on the effects of an international relief campaign. Self-esteem refers to how worthy a person feels about the self. Reward is differentiated by intrinsic or extrinsic type. An experimental research was conducted with 184 subjects by self-esteem <TEX>${\times}$</TEX> reward type. This research was progressed with two stages. At the first stage, questionnaires relative to participants' self-esteem and past experiences were distributed. At the second stage, the participants rated their responses after exposure to the campaign. Individuals with higher self-esteem showed more favorable message attitudes towards intrinsic reward type, yet those with lower self-esteem did not show a significant difference. Analyses for behavioral intention did not produce any significant result.

“This is a sponsored blog post, but all opinions are my own”: The effects of sponsorship disclosure on responses to sponsored blog posts

Sponsored blog posts need to disclose sponsorship information, specifically whether the blogger received any compensation for the posts. While some bloggers simply include sponsorship information only (i.e., “simple” sponsorship disclosure), others add a note that the opinions in the post are honest although it is a sponsored post (i.e., “honest opinions” sponsorship disclosure). This study examines how emphasizing “honest opinions” in sponsored posts affect consumers' responses. This study found that, compared to the no disclosure (control) condition, source credibility perceptions and message attitudes became negative in the “simple” sponsorship condition. However, the negative effects of sponsorship disclosure on source credibility perceptions and message attitudes disappeared in the “honest opinions” condition. This trend was stronger among those who had high skepticism toward product review blog posts.

Time heals many wounds – explaining the immediate and delayed effects of message sidedness

This study investigates the immediate and delayed effects of advertising messages including both positive and negative information. A two-sided message has a negative effect on message attitudes due to two mediating variables with trade-off effects: valence and balance. These two variables are also responsible for the alignment of the effect of sidedness on message attitudes and purchase intentions over time: the negative effects of two-sided messages are neutralized over time because negative information is reevaluated, improving the valence of the message. The results explain the negative effects of message sidedness that have been found in prior research and they show that a two-sided message in advertising is not necessarily inferior to a one-sided message despite unfavorable short-term effects.

An Empirical Study on the Effective Use of Visuals in Advertising Promoting the Prevention of Obesity

Background: Nowadays, obesity prevention is one of the most significant health concerns. With this situation as a backdrop, this study tests the effects of visual images to maximize the effects and effectiveness of advertisements promoting obesity prevention. Methods: This study incorporating the think-aloud method tested whether the effects of different female models (i.e., obese vs. skinny model) in the print advertisements promoting the prevention of obesity are different between male and female consumers. Particularly, this study examined whether the effects of obese vs. skinny models on message recall and attitudes toward the ad visual and the ad in general are different between male and female consumers. Results: The results indicate that the use of the obese model, compared to that of the skinny model, produced a higher level of message recall for the female participants. Additionally, both male and female participants showed negative attitudes toward the ad visual using the obese model. Furthermore, when the participants were exposed to the skinny model, the male participants showed a positive attitude toward the ad, whereas the female participants showed a negative attitude. Conclusion: This study contributes to the understanding of the effects of different ad visuals by comparing male and female consumers and expanding the research stream on the effects of ad visuals by using the think-aloud method.

Assessing the cross-cultural applicability of tailored advertising

This study compares the effectiveness of tailored advertising in two European Union member states: a longstanding member with a long history of advertising, the Netherlands; and a new member with a shorter advertising tradition, Poland. The positive effects of tailored advertising are hypothesised to be stronger among Polish consumers than among Dutch consumers because of the different advertising traditions in these two countries. A between-subjects experiment is conducted to test individuals’ responses to tailored versus generic advertisements for an unknown face-cream brand. The results show that tailoring is effective in influencing message attitudes, brand attitudes and purchase intentions, but only for Polish consumers. This tailoring effect is mediated by involvement with the message, message relevance and scepticism about the message. These findings suggest that tailored advertising can be used successfully in less marketing-savvy countries such as Poland, but that it may not be effective in more marketing-savvy countries such as the Netherlands.

Evidence that Unconscious Thinking Influences Persuasion Based on Argument Quality

Growing evidence demonstrates that individuals can think about complex information unconsciously while conscious processes cannot due to distraction. Further, unconscious processes can consider information that is difficult for conscious processes to access, such as rapidly presented information. The hypothesis that individuals can think about rapidly presented persuasive information and form attitudes based on that information to a greater extent when they think unconsciously versus consciously or when both conscious and unconscious thinking are limited was tested. All experimental participants listened to a quickly presented persuasive message containing either strong or weak arguments, and then reported their message attitudes (1) immediately, (2) after 3 min of conscious thought, or (3) after 3 min of distraction (unconscious thought). As predicted, only participants in the unconscious-thought conditions reported more favorable attitudes in response to strong versus weak arguments. These results suppo...