Value-relevant Involvement Research Articles

Breaking the Silence: Examining the Role of Parent Involvement and Concussion Knowledge on Sports-Related Concussion Conversations

The current study investigates the role of parents’ concussion knowledge, value-relevant involvement (VRI), outcome-relevant involvement (ORI), and impression-relevant involvement (IRI) on their intentions to communicate with their children about recognizing and reporting sports-related concussions (SRC) symptoms. Among 249 parents of youth athletes between the ages of 9 and 15, SRC knowledge, VRI, and ORI were positively associated with parents' SRC communication intentions, while IRI was a negative predictor. Contrary to our hypotheses, parents with higher IRI were less likely to report SRC communication intentions as knowledge increased. Similarly, as knowledge increased, parents with higher ORI were also less likely to report intentions to communicate with their child about the importance of reporting a SRC. Additionally, parents with lower SRC knowledge were more likely to seek information about communicating with their child about SRCs. The study highlights the importance of considering the interplay between parental involvement and SRC knowledge, as well as underlying factors of SRC parent-child communication. Future research should identify specific goals for SRC communication to optimize educational intervention efforts and maximize the potential impact of communication on SRC reporting rates in youth sports.

An Assessment of the Measurement Validity of the Value-Relevant Involvement Scale

Two studies assessed the construct validity of the value-relevant involvement scale (Cho & Boster, 2005), (N = 308 and N = 285). Study 1 assessed the extent to which VRI was related to attitude structure and self-reports of behavior about a topic. Study 2 tested the extent to which VRI can predict reactions to counterattitudinal messages. The data were consistent with the hypotheses proposing that VRI is associated with the strength of biased processing outcomes including perceiving bias in the source, the belief that the source’s supporters have been misled, and arguing about the topic on Facebook.

Descriptive Norms and Involvement in Health and Environmental Behaviors

The theory of normative social behavior (TNSB) describes the moderators of the descriptive norm-behavior relationship. Although specified in revisions to the model, the role of involvement as a moderator has not been fully explored. As such, this article predicts that different forms of involvement (i.e., value-, impression-, and outcome-relevant involvement) function in different ways as moderators of the descriptive norm-behavior relationship and determines whether this relationship varies by health and environmental behaviors. This article presents data on three behaviors examined in prior social norms studies: drinking alcohol, fast food consumption, and recycling. Data indicate that the nature of the relationship among the study variables is dependent on the focal behavior. For fast food consumption, the descriptive norm-behavioral intention relationship is moderated by value-relevant involvement and behavioral identity. For recycling, the descriptive norm-behavior relationship is moderated by behavioral identity. Other main effects are evidenced in the data.

Organizational Credibility: The Role of Issue Involvement, Value-Relevant Involvement, Elaboration, Author Credibility, Message Quality, and Message Effectiveness in Persuasive Messages from Public Health Advocacy Organizations

The relationship between receiver characteristics (including issue involvement, value-relevant involvement, and elaboration) and message features (including language intensity, author credibility, message quality, and message effectiveness) on perceptions of organizational credibility were examined in this investigation within the context of public health advocacy messages about the U.S. Farm Bill and various food and food production topics. Undergraduate students (N = 218) completed an online survey that employed a 3 × 2 experimental message design. Results indicated that receiver variables and message features (excluding language intensity) were positively correlated with organizational credibility; message quality, message effectiveness, and author credibility accounted for 30.9% of the variability in perceptions of organizational credibility. The utility of examining organizational credibility in persuasive messages, particularly in the context of public health advocacy messages, is discussed, as well as the implications for including organizational credibility in future theoretical frameworks.

The Role of Partisan Sources and Audiences' Involvement in Bias Perceptions of Controversial News

Based on the hostile media effect (HME), this 2 (audiences' opinion) × 2 (partisan source) × 2 (news valence) factorial experiment (N = 229) investigated the effects of partisan sources and audiences' different types of involvement on bias perceptions of slanted news coverage regarding a controversial issue. The results show that participants rated a news article, regardless of its valence (congruent vs. incongruent), as less biased when it was attributed to a partisan source that was consistent with their own position than when it came from a partisan source that was inconsistent with their position. Moderating effects of value-relevant involvement on the source effects were found. The effects of partisan sources on bias perceptions were only significant among those with moderate or high levels of value-relevant involvement. The implications of the source effects and the role of value-relevant involvement as a moderator of such effects were discussed.

Countering accusations with inoculation: The moderating role of consumer-company identification

Accusations of wrongdoing, baseless or justified, can severely tarnish a company's reputation. Once disseminated, even baseless accusations can persist and cause considerable damage for a company. This study examines the proactive crisis communication strategy of inoculating individuals against invalid accusations before they go viral. An experiment was conducted in a real world consumer context among members of an online consumer panel using an electronics discounter as the research stimulus. Expanding previous inoculation research on the role of value-relevant involvement for inoculation and the effectiveness of inoculation in the case of different preexisting attitudes, we find that consumers’ identification with a company moderates inoculation effectiveness. Consumers strongly opposing or disidentifying with the company under attack reported fewer negative beliefs and attitude change as well as fewer intentions to spread the accusation after being exposed to an inoculation message refuting the claim against the company. Consumers strongly identifying with the company, on the other hand, did not profit from such an inoculation. Their level of identification alone was sufficient to prevent attitude slippage. Implications for public relations research and practice are discussed.

Consumer information (in)sufficiency in relation to biofuels: determinants and impact

AbstractDespite the growing interest in biorenewable energy at society, policy, and industry level, many people still know very little about alternatives to fossil fuels, particularly biofuels. This perspective assesses and discusses the needs of citizens and future consumers for more information on biofuels. Using empirical data collected from a sample (n = 260) of fuel consumers in Flanders, Belgium, this perspective first demonstrates that information insufficiency (the gap between consumers' need for information and their perceived knowledge) is a good predictor of information‐seeking behavior, specifically in the case of biofuels. Secondly, it shows that women, older, and less educated people report higher levels of information insufficiency. This means that they have a higher a priori interest in receiving more information about biofuels, in comparison to men, younger, and more highly educated population groups, for whom greater efforts may be required to ensure that communications reach them effectively. Additionally, information insufficiency (and thus also biofuel information‐seeking behavior) increases in line with a stronger belief that biofuels are environmentally friendly, and with weaker beliefs that biofuels will have a positive impact on the local economy and can decrease foreign energy dependency. Furthermore, outcome relevant involvement (i.e. the perceived importance of the impact of biofuels on one's own life) increases information insufficiency, whereas impression relevant involvement (i.e. the importance of perceived approval by peers) and value relevant involvement (i.e. the role of personal values) are not significant. Based on these insights, and considering the wider societal context of biofuels and the limitations of the empirical data, conclusions are drawn with respect to who is (and who is not) open to receiving information about biofuels, as well as about the specific themes and benefits such information campaigns should highlight to stand the greatest chance of success in the marketplace. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Hostile Media Perception, Involvement Types, and Advocacy Behaviors

This study investigates how HMP influences partisans' advocacy behaviors and examines how type of involvement affects HMP and advocacy groups' advocacy behaviors. Results suggest that HMP induces advocacy groups to prefer more aggressive advocacy strategies, such as attacking counterparts, and that outcome-relevant involvement is positively related to preference for both attacking and negotiation strategies. The results provide weak evidence that value-relevant involvement is negatively related to negotiation. There was no differential effect of each involvement type on HMP.

An Investigation of Value-, Impression-, and Outcome-Relevant Involvement on Attitudes, Purchase Intentions, and Information Seeking

This investigation explored the relationship between value-relevant (VRI), impression-relevant (IRI), and outcome-relevant involvement (ORI) on information-seeking behaviors, attitudes, and purchase intentions. Results revealed that grocery shoppers' (N = 175) ORI was positively associated with information-seeking behaviors, attitudes, and purchase intentions of foods high in fiber. Neither VRI nor IRI predicted attitudes or purchase intentions. Results are discussed with an emphasis on information seeking among the three types of involvement and message-design strategies with respect to promoting foods high in fiber.

Elaboration of the Hostile Media Phenomenon

Hostile media perception (HMP) is a phenomenon showing the significance of individual factors in evaluation of media content. Extending theoretical understanding of HMP, this study has two purposes: (a) to examine the roles of different types of involvement in hostile media effect (HME), that is, value-relevant and outcome-relevant involvement, and (b) to explore relationships between HMP and other media-related perceptions, such as congruency of perceived media influence, media skepticism, and perceived opinion climate. Data were collected from college students in South Korea. Results suggest that value-relevant involvement, rather than outcome-relevant involvement, is a critical predictor of HMP in the context of news coverage of the National Security Law in Korea. HMP also was a significant predictor of congruency of presumed media influence, which in turn predicted perceived opinion climate.

The Effects of Argument Quality and Involvement Type on Attitude Formation and Attitude Change: A Test of Dual-Process and Social Judgment Predictions

Involvement has long been theoretically specified as a crucial factor determining the persuasive impact of messages. In social judgment theory, ego-involvement makes people more resistant to persuasion, whereas in dual-process models, high-involvement people are susceptible to persuasion when argument quality is high. It is argued that these disparate predictions might be reconciled by either different involvement types (i.e., value relevant vs. outcome relevant) or different attitude modification processes (i.e., attitude change vs. attitude formation). An experiment (N = 684) varying topic, position advocated, outcome relevance, and argument quality tested these moderators. The data were consistent with existence of two different types of involvement, but none of the theoretical predictions were consistent with the data. Instead, a main effect for argument quality had the largest impact on attitude change. Regardless of value-relevant involvement, outcome-relevant involvement, and attitude modification process, participants were more persuaded by high- rather than low-quality arguments, with boomerang effects observed for low-quality arguments. These findings highlight the importance of sound message design in persuasion.

Development and Validation of Value-, Outcome-, and Impression-Relevant Involvement Scales

Despite scholarly consensus that there is more than one type of involvement, investigators have not developed measures that assess the various types across diverse contexts. The goal of this study was to develop and validate measures of value-, outcome-, and impression-relevant involvement. Items were developed for three social issues (abortion, death penalty, marijuana) and two consumer products (jeans, toothpaste). The results indicate that these items effectively distinguish the three types of involvement. In addition, evidence of construct validity was obtained. Specifically, impression-relevant involvement was associated with other-directedness, outcome-relevant involvement was more strongly associated with information seeking than either value- or impression-relevant involvement, and value-relevant involvement (but also outcome-relevant involvement) was related to attitude extremity.

Restoring reputation with direct mail

A company can consider a disastrous incident from several perspectives. The pervasive ones are ‘Who did it ?’ and ‘How could it happen’ How the public reacts to these perspectives has been determined in a field experiment. Subjects read a direct-mail letter in which an international chain of hotels commented on two recent fires from either the who or the how perspective on their causes. Evaluative responses to the text versions interacted with gender; persuasive effects depended on both gender and value-relevant involvement. Gender determined the direction of the preference; men reacted more positively to the how version, women tended to do so to the who version. Involvement determined the magnitude of these differences; the more concerned about personal safety, the greater the differences. These results can be understood in terms of certain moral beliefs and behaviors derived from crisis management theory.

Involvement and persuasion: Evidence for different types of involvement.

Tested the hypothesis that outcome-relevant involvement (ORI) and value-relevant involvement (VRI) have different effects on persuasion. The extent that 303 undergraduates experienced VRI instead of ORI was manipulated with respect to the implementation of comprehensive exams (CEs). Ss read either weak or strong arguments in favor of the implementation of CEs. Ss were placed in a low or high involvement condition by telling them either that the CEs may be implemented next year (high involvement) or that the CEs may be implemented in 5 yrs (low involvement). Ss then indicated their attitude toward the CEs. When analyses were limited to those Ss who considered outcomes or values to be important (88% of the sample), the 3-way interaction between type of involvement, level of involvement, and argument strength was significant. This interaction supports the importance of distinguishing between ORI and VRI.

Involvement and persuasion: Types, traditions, and the evidence.

This article is a reply to Petty and Cacioppo's (1990) critique of our meta-analysis in which we concluded that research has established 3 different types of involvement with distinctly different effects on persuasion ( Johnson & Eagly, 1989). We first correct their summary of our review. In response to their claim that outcome-relevant and value-relevant involvement are best reduced to a single construct, we assert that this proposal fails to account for existing research findings and provides only a highly speculative account of the processes that might mediate the impact of involvement on persuasion

Effects of involvement on persuasion: A meta-analysis.

Defines involvement as a motivational state induced by an association between an activated attitude and the self-concept. Integration of the available research su~ests that the effects of involvement on attitude change depended on the aspect of message recipients' self-concept that was activated to create involvement: (a) their enduring values (value-relevant involvement), (b) their ability to attain desirable outcomes (outcome-relevant involvement), or (e) the impression they make on others (impression-relevant involvement). Findings showed that (a) with value-relevant involvement, high-involvement subjects were less persuaded than low-involvement subjects; (b) with outcome-relevant involvement, high-involvement subjects were more persuaded than low-involvement subjects by strong arguments and (somewhat inconsistently) less persuaded by weak arguments; and (c) with impression-relevant involvement, high-involvement subjects were slightly less persuaded than lowinvolvement subjects. To understand the conditions under which people are persuaded by others, researchers often invoked the concept of involvement. Although this construct was popular prior to M. Sherifand Cantril's (1947) work (see A. G. Greenwald's, 1982, review), their proposal that highly involving attitudes be regarded as components of the self-concept or was seminal to theory about involvement's impact on attitude change. According to M. Sherif and Cantril (1947), such attitudes have the characteristic of belonging to me, as being part of me, as psychologically experienced (p. 93). M. Sherif, C. W. Sherif, and their colleagues developed the implications of involvement (which they often called ego involvement) for persuasion by giving it a major role in their social judgment-involvement approach, a theory of attitude change developed in the 1950s and early 1960s (Hovland, Harvey, & Sherif, 1957; C. W. Sherif, Sherif, & Nebergall, 1965; M. Sherif & Hovland, 1961). During this same period, Zimbardo (1960) introduced the concept of response involvement in order to predict attitude change in a social influence setting. In more