Perceived Utility Of Information Research Articles

Pathways to informed choices: The impact of freedom of choice and two-sided messages on psychological reactance and vaccination intentions among individuals who express concerns

BackgroundReducing the spread of infectious diseases through vaccination faces the challenge of vaccine hesitancy: referring to questions, concerns and doubts arising when making a vaccine-related decision. A motivational state often arising within people exposed to health messages supporting informed decision making is psychological reactance, functioning as a driver to behavior opposed to the one recommended through the health message. Hence, there is a pressing need for communication strategies effective in counteracting reactance to health messages. MethodsThis study tested two communication strategies that can potentially reduce psychological reactance and ameliorate evaluations of the message and subsequent behavioral vaccination intentions in the context of COVID-19. These were: (1) explicitly reminding individuals of their freedom of choice (to either accept or refuse the vaccine) and (2) providing a two-sided message, including, apart from evidence-based information on the necessity of vaccines, a set of concerns, and questions (about the vaccines) which are refuted immediately. A total of 234 participants who indicated having concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine participated in a 2 (freedom of choice: no choice vs. choice) × 2 (message sidedness: one-sided vs. two-sided) between-subjects online experiment where they received an informational brochure about COVID-19 vaccination. ResultsThe results show that emphasizing freedom of choice significantly increased perceived credibility of the message, perceived information utility, and ultimately, vaccination intentions. A decrease in psychological reactance mediated these effects. Message sidedness did only show a significant direct effect on perceived information utility. No interaction effect was found. ConclusionThese findings indicate the importance of freedom of choice in reducing psychological reactance, which in its turn can lead to an increase of positive message evaluations and vaccination intentions among individuals who express concerns. The opportunities of message sidedness as an efficacious vaccination communication strategy should be further investigated.

How does green advertising skepticism on social media affect consumer intention to purchase green products?

AbstractUnderpinned by the stimulus–organism–response model, this study explores the underlying mechanism through which green advertising skepticism on social media affects consumer green purchase intention. It also investigates the boundary factors that moderate this indirect relationship. Performing structural equation modeling on data collected from an online survey on Sina Weibo, this study finds that green advertising skepticism on social media negatively affects green purchase intention through the mediation of perceived information utility. Moreover, interdependent self‐construal positively moderates, and independent self‐construal negatively moderates this indirect relationship. These findings suggest that truthful and consumer‐tailored green advertising is crucial to green product marketing.

Exploring Parents’ Satisfaction with Infant and Toddler Feeding Information: A Repeated-Measures Analysis of Information Need and Acquisition Characteristics (P17-006-19)

ObjectivesInformation satisfaction is an essential component of the acceptability and efficacy of nutrition education programming. However, few studies have explicitly sought to identify factors associated with consumer information satisfaction, particularly regarding infant feeding information. This is a critical gap given the urgent need for evidence-based nutrition and obesity prevention guidance for infants 0–24 months old. This study explored how parents’ satisfaction with infant feeding information was associated with information need and information acquisition characteristics. MethodsFirst-time parents (N = 423; 89% Female; 75% White; 26% WIC participants) of infants ≤24 months of age completed an online survey on their most recent search for advice or information about infant feeding. Participants reported their search topic, information need (i.e., information urgency, topic interest), and the information channels they accessed during this search. Participants then reported on information acquisition characteristics (i.e., perceived utility, trust, clarity, ease of information acquisition) and information satisfaction for up to two randomly selected information channels, which constituted the repeated measures aspect of this cross-sectional study. Linear mixed models estimated parents’ information satisfaction from information need and information acquisition characteristics, controlling for education. ResultsDescriptive information on search topics and information channels is presented in Table 1. As shown in Table 2, all information acquisition characteristics were positively associated with information satisfaction, with the strongest associations observed for perceived utility and trust. Information need characteristics were not associated with information satisfaction. ConclusionsParents’ satisfaction with infant feeding information was strongly and positively associated with perceived information utility and trust. Future research on nutrition education programming development should explore how content and delivery approaches promote consumers’ perceived utility and trust by drawing on existing research on common elements of effective evidence-based interventions and cognitive heuristics of trust. Funding SourcesNational Science Foundation (NSF); USDA; College-level dissertation award. Supporting Tables, Images and/or Graphs▪▪

The influence of media multitasking on the impulse to buy: A moderated mediation model

This study explores whether and why media multitasking is related to the impulse to buy among young people. The results of an online survey of 993 college students supported the proposed moderated mediation model. For individuals with a higher impulse-buying tendency, media multitasking enhanced the buying impulse through the mediation of high perceived information utility. For individuals with a lower or moderate impulse-buying tendency, media multitasking enhanced the buying impulse through the mediation of high perceived information utility and social presence. The moderated mediation model extended the stimulus-organism- response (S-O-R) framework and demonstrated the moderating influence of an impulse-buying tendency.

Native Advertising as a New Public Relations Tactic

Using a pretest and posttest online experiment ( N = 105), this study empirically explored the impact of native advertising sponsorship disclosure on organization–public relationships (OPR), credibility, brand attitude, and attitude toward the advertisement. Credibility and brand attitude predicted the two OPR factors; however, OPR was not affected by participants’ cognizance of ad sponsorship/disclosure. Brand attitude for obviously sponsored (e.g., ad disclosed) content decreased slightly. However, the presence or absence of sponsorship did not significantly influence either credibility or attitudes toward the advertisement itself. The study also examined perceived information utility.

Do Korean-Americans View Drug Advertisements Differently Than Non-Hispanic White Americans?

ABSTRACT The Korean-American market segment is distinct, economically powerful, and underexamined. This study compared perceived information utility of six direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) media for prescription drugs among Korean-Americans and Non-Hispanic White Americans. Results indicate that drug-brand Web sites were most useful for this segment, followed by television. Banner, pop-up, and e-mail advertisements were least useful. Korean-Americans perceived newspapers, television, and the Internet significantly more useful DTCA media than Non-Hispanic Whites.

Investigating the effects of cosmeceutical product advertising in beauty‐care decision making

PurposeIn response to the rapid growth of the cosmeceutical industry, this study aims to investigate young female consumers' confidence in cosmeceuticals and the perceived competency of cosmeceutical product advertising.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey of 224 young female participants was recruited from an online national young consumer panel from Zoomerang. This group of participants mirrored the characteristics of the largest segment in the cosmeceutical market in the USA.FindingsThe results suggest that the perceived information utility of cosmeceutical product advertising is the most significant factor in engaging young female consumers' interests and desire to try cosmeceuticals. Moreover, young female consumers' self‐evaluation on body esteem, their perceived effectiveness of product claims, their interests in reading such advertising, and their attitudes toward advertising jointly affect their likelihood to take cosmeceutical products. Not surprisingly, self‐evaluation on body esteem predicted a negative influence on product purchase intention. As their self‐evaluation on body esteem increases, the likelihood to purchase cosmeceuticals decreases.Originality/valueThe study adds insights on a fast‐growing, but understudied, product category, cosmeceutical products, to the research stream and expands the knowledge on the information utility of cosmeceutical product advertising on young female consumers.