Exploring the effect of regulatory focus on ad attitudes: the moderating roles of message sidedness and argument quality

This research explores the interaction effects of message sidedness and argument quality of ads on how either promotion‐focused or prevention‐focused individuals engender their ad attitudes. Two hundred and forty undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 2 (regulatory focus: prevention‐focus/promotion‐focus) × 2 (message sidedness: one‐sided messages/two‐sided messages) × 2 (argument quality (AQ): weak/strong) between‐subjects design. Results indicate that promotion‐focused individuals tend to engender more favourable attitudes to weak AQ ads than strong AQ ads, whereas prevention‐focused individuals tend to engender more favourable attitudes to strong AQ ads than weak AQ ads. In addition, results indicate more favourable attitudes for one‐sided messages over two‐sided messages for promotion‐focused individuals, as well as more favourable attitudes for two‐sided messages over one‐sided messages for prevention‐focused individuals. Furthermore, one‐sided messages result in more favourable ad attitudes when linked with weak AQ for promotion‐focused individuals; in contrast, two‐sided messages elicit more favourable ad attitudes when linked with strong AQ for prevention‐focused individuals. Results suggest that message sidedness and argument quality are closely related to regulatory focus, which has a direct impact on ad attitudes. Practical implications, theoretical contributions, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

Safe driving communication: A regulatory focus perspective

This research article examines the effects of self‐regulation on adolescents' aggressive driving tendencies and their attitudes toward safe driving communication. Two experimental studies demonstrate that an individual's regulatory orientation is a good predictor of aggressive driving tendencies and that self‐regulation plays a moderating role on the effects of safe driving messages on recipients' attitudes. Specifically, the findings reveal that promotion‐oriented (vs. prevention‐oriented) individuals are more likely to demonstrate aggressive driving tendencies. In addition, promotion‐oriented individuals show more favorable attitudes toward gain‐framed safe driving messages than loss‐framed messages. Prevention‐oriented individuals show the opposite pattern. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

The Effects of Source Credibility and Message Framing on Exercise Intentions,Behaviors, and Attitudes: An Integration of the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Prospect Theory1

This study examined the influence of source credibility and message framing on promoting physical exercise in university students. Participants were randomly assigned to reading a positively or negatively framed communication that was attributed to either a credible or a noncredible source. Exercise intentions and attitudes were measured immediately following the delivery of the communication and following a 2‐week delay. Exercise behavior was also measured following the delay. There were Source Frame interactions for the exercise intentions, exercise behaviors, and cognitive response/elaboration measures such that participants receiving a positively framed communication from a credible source elaborated more and reported more positive exercise intentions and behaviors than participants in the other conditions. The results of the present investigation indicate that it might be beneficial for health professionals to provide exercise‐related information stressing the benefits of participating in exercise, rather than the traditional fear appeals, to motivate clients to engage in regular physical exercise. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Regulatory fit in framing strategy of parental persuasive messages to young children

The present research examined regulatory fit in parental messages aimed at young children. Study 1 measured parents' chronic regulatory focus, asking them to select either positively or negatively framed messages for promotion‐ and prevention‐focused outcomes. The results showed that parents preferred positive frames for promotion‐focused messages and negative frames for prevention‐focused messages. Furthermore, parents with a chronic promotion focus favored a positively framed strategy more than parents with a prevention focus. Study 2 found that parents adopted different message strategies depending on whether they favored an active responsive or an active restrictive parenting style. Together, these findings demonstrate for the first time the applicability of regulatory focus/fit theory to explain parents' preferences for positively and negatively framed messages targeting children.     

Organizational Communication in Emergencies: Using Multiple Channels and Sources to Combat Noise and Capture Attention

This study relies on information theory, social presence, and source credibility to uncover what best helps people grasp the urgency of an emergency. We surveyed a random sample of 1,318 organizational members who received multiple notifications about a large‐scale emergency. We found that people who received 3 redundant messages coming through at least 1 synchronous communication source—for example, phone or face‐to‐face communication—perceived the urgency of the situation the most quickly, whereas those receiving official messages through asynchronous channels—most often text message—had the lowest sense of urgency. Our findings suggest that by understanding people's reactions to various kinds of redundant communication, organizations can design more strategic emergency messages that capture attention.     

Assimilation and contrast in persuasion: the effects of source credibility in multiple message situations

The present research explores a contextual perspective on persuasion in multiple message situations. It is proposed that when people receive persuasive messages, the effects of those messages are influenced by other messages to which people recently have been exposed. In two experiments, participants received a target persuasive message from a moderately credible source. Immediately before this message, participants received another message, on a different topic, from a source with high or low credibility. In Experiment 1, participants' attitudes toward the target issue were more favorable after they had first been exposed to a different message from a low rather than high credibility source (contrast). In Experiment 2, this effect only emerged when a priming manipulation gave participants a dissimilarity mindset. When participants were primed with a similarity mindset, their attitudes toward the target issue were more favorable following a different message from a high rather than low credibility source (assimilation).     

Regulatory Framing and Collective Action: The Interplay of Individual Self‐Regulation and Group Behavior

Two studies examined the relations between regulatory focus and collective action. In Study 1, undergraduate women expressed stronger action intentions when they were primed to consider prevention (ought‐self) self‐discrepancies than promotion (ideal‐self) self‐discrepancies, suggesting that collective action is more likely to occur when individuals are prevention‐ rather than promotion‐focused. In Study 2, however, prevention‐focused women expressed stronger action intentions in response to security framing, whereas promotion‐focused women expressed stronger action intentions in response to achievement framing. This suggests that the relative disinterest in collective action among promotion‐focused individuals can be overcome with the appropriate promotion‐focused framing. Implications for analyses of both collective action and regulatory focus are discussed.     

Calibration trumps confidence as a basis for witness credibility

Confident witnesses are deemed more credible than unconfident ones, and accurate witnesses are deemed more credible than inaccurate ones. But are those effects independent? Two experiments show that errors in testimony damage the overall credibility of witnesses who were confident about the erroneous testimony more than that of witnesses who were not confident about it. Furthermore, after making an error, less confident witnesses may appear more credible than more confident ones. Our interpretation of these results is that people make inferences about source calibration when evaluating testimony and other social communication.     

Gain or non‐loss: The message matching effect of regulatory focus on moral judgements of other‐orientation lies

Previous studies found that individuals with promotion focus are more likely to be persuaded by messages framed in terms of gain‐related words; individuals with prevention focus are more likely to be persuaded by messages framed in terms of loss‐related words. This is known as the message matching effect of regulatory focus. The present study extended this effect into the field of moral judgement of other‐orientation lies. Two experiments were conducted, revealing that (a) individuals with promotion focus judged gain‐framed other‐orientation lies to be more moral, while individuals with prevention focus judged non‐loss‐framed other‐orientation lies to be more moral; and (b) the subjective processing fluency had a partial mediating role in the message matching effect. Theoretical implications and future research directions were discussed.     

Framing effects of per‐person versus aggregate prices in group meals

This research draws on regulatory focus theory and applies it to the context of price framing in group meals. Specifically, it examines the possibility that a per‐person framing of price (an aggregate price) may activate a promotion focus (prevention focus) in consumers. The results of five experiments show that participants (a) generated more promotion‐relevant (vs. prevention‐relevant) thoughts, (b) were more inclined to consume the group meal when a persistent focus on promotion (vs. prevention) was exhibited, (c) rated promotion‐focused (vs. prevention‐focused) messages more favorably, and (d) reported a higher intention to opt for an offer where the chance of obtaining a positive goal was enhanced, in response to a per‐person price rather than an aggregate price. Mediation analyses provide additional evidence for the notion that pursuit of promotion goals (prevention goals), which relate to obtaining value (avoiding loss) primed by a per‐person price (an aggregate price), had the effect of regulating one's choices. Managerial implications of the findings are discussed, followed by recommendations for future research.     

Decision‐making in civil litigation: Effects of attorney credibility,evidence strength,and juror cognitive processing

The current study examined the relationship between juror cognitive processing (measured by need for cognition [NFC]), attorney credibility, evidence strength, and civil litigation verdicts (liability, likelihood of causation, and compensatory damages). Participants (N = 446) viewed a videotaped mock civil trial in which the credibility of the attorneys and the strength of the plaintiff's evidence were manipulated. Plaintiff attorney credibility, defense attorney credibility, and strength of evidence interacted with one another for liability verdicts. In the strong evidence condition, the likelihood of a liable verdict was higher for a credible plaintiff attorney than a non‐credible plaintiff attorney when facing a non‐credible defense attorney. In the ambiguous evidence condition, the likelihood of a liable verdict was higher for a credible plaintiff attorney than a non‐credible plaintiff attorney when facing a credible defense attorney. Plaintiff attorney credibility, however, was found to be more influential on jurors’ decision‐making than case evidence for likelihood of causation and compensatory damage award decisions. Participants’ NFC also interacted with plaintiff attorney credibility. High NFC jurors were more influenced by a credible plaintiff attorney than low NFC jurors. Although these findings are counter to common findings in the NFC literature, they conform to a body of literature that supports the notion that jurors view attorney credibility as a piece of case evidence and not a peripheral cue as is often assumed. Thus, the findings indicate that attorneys do matter to the outcomes of cases. Policy and practice implications for attorneys and the courts are discussed.     

Listening to Reporters or Engineers? How Instance‐Based Messages About Building Design Affect Earthquake Fatalism1

Attributions are shaped by information about the causal mechanisms that produce outcomes. Two studies examined the effect of mechanism information on attributions for earthquake damage and judgments that the damage could be prevented. Scenarios based on actual reports of earthquakes compared 2 messages about the building design of damaged buildings. Accurate rate‐based messages stated that well‐designed buildings were resilient, whereas fatalistic, instance‐based messages stated that well‐designed buildings were damaged. In Study 2, to vary source credibility, the message source was either an engineer or a reporter. Participants made less fatalistic inferences and attributions with rate‐based messages than with instance‐based messages, regardless of the source. These findings show that rate‐based messages are likely to reduce fatalism about earthquakes and other risks.     

Effects of Parent‐Extension Similarity and Self Regulatory Focus on Evaluations of Brand Extensions

Research has shown that a similar extension of a brand is evaluated more favorably than a dissimilar one. In this research we demonstrate that self‐regulatory focus (promotion vs. prevention focus) significantly moderates the effect. Four experiments demonstrated that similar extensions were evaluated more favorably than less similar extensions when participants were chronically or momentarily prevention focused, whereas such effect was eliminated and sometimes even reversed when participants were chronically or situationally promotion focused. This discrepancy was attributed to different weights attached to the perceived risk and to the perceived hedonic value of the extension by promotion‐focused vs. prevention‐focused individuals.     

Does a Credible Source Also Need a Fearful Audience?

Does a credible source also need a fearful audience? Current evidence is ambiguous. This study assessed the persuasiveness of a message from a high/low credible source, with strong/weak fear content. Over 270 undergraduates provided attitudinal information before and after receiving a warning about breast cancer, incorporating the experimental manipulations. Attitudes improved after message exposure, irrespective of the fear appeal and source credibility. However, the strong fear appeal amplified message acceptance. There was no evidence of an interaction between source credibility and fear. However, aroused fear and perceived credibility reduced resistance. Neither fear nor source credibility affected persuasion after several months. Instead pre‐message resistance played a critical role. These findings revisit old debates about the importance of peripheral cues in persuasion.     

Linguistic signatures of regulatory focus: how abstraction fits promotion more than prevention

In 3 experiments, the authors investigated how strategic inclinations associated with promotion versus prevention orientations--that is, eager approach versus vigilant avoidance, respectively--affect the use of language. It is hypothesized that eager promotion strategies used to attain desired end states entail using more abstract language than used with vigilant prevention strategies. This is shown to hold for experimentally induced relationship goals (Experiment 1) and communication goals (Experiment 2). In the 3rd experiment, the authors examined the impact of abstractly and concretely worded messages upon the behavioral intentions of chronically prevention- and promotion-oriented individuals and found support for the hypothesis that behavioral intentions to engage in specific activities are stronger when there is a fit between message wording and chronic orientation than when there is no fit. The broader implications of these findings are discussed.     

Consistency between verbal and non-verbal affective cues: a clue to speaker credibility

Listeners are exposed to inconsistencies in communication; for example, when speakers’ words (i.e. verbal) are discrepant with their demonstrated emotions (i.e. non-verbal). Such inconsistencies introduce ambiguity, which may render a speaker to be a less credible source of information. Two experiments examined whether children make credibility discriminations based on the consistency of speakers’ affect cues. In Experiment 1, school-age children (7- to 8-year-olds) preferred to solicit information from consistent speakers (e.g. those who provided a negative statement with negative affect), over novel speakers, to a greater extent than they preferred to solicit information from inconsistent speakers (e.g. those who provided a negative statement with positive affect) over novel speakers. Preschoolers (4- to 5-year-olds) did not demonstrate this preference. Experiment 2 showed that school-age children's ratings of speakers were influenced by speakers’ affect consistency when the attribute being judged was related to information acquisition (speakers’ believability, “weird” speech), but not general characteristics (speakers’ friendliness, likeability). Together, findings suggest that school-age children are sensitive to, and use, the congruency of affect cues to determine whether individuals are credible sources of information.     

Recruitment sources and organizational attraction: A field study of Belgian nurses

Previous research on recruitment sources has mostly focused on posthire instead of prehire outcomes and has typically applied a very rudimentary classification of sources on the basis of the formal–informal distinction. The present study relied on a theory-driven taxonomy to identify four major types of recruitment sources (recruitment advertising, recruitment events, publicity, and word of mouth) and applied a source credibility perspective to predict differential relationships of these sources with organizational attractiveness. In a sample of 184 job-seeking nurses in Belgium, characterized by a high labour market demand, it was found that job seekers who spent more time on receiving employment information through experiential recruitment sources such as events and word of mouth perceived this information as more credible. In addition, job seekers' exposure to word of mouth was strongly positively related to their attraction to organizations as an employer. This relationship was partially mediated by the perceived credibility of the received employment information. Therefore, the results of this field study suggest that to enhance their attractiveness as an employer for job seekers, especially those in high demand on the labour market, recruiting organizations should provide credible employment information and stimulate the use of word of mouth as a recruitment source.     

Leader emotion as a catalyst of effective leader communication of visions,value-laden messages,and goals

Despite the importance that effective leader communication of visions, value-laden messages, and goals seems to have in leadership, we know very little about which leader behavior is conducive to effective persuasive communication of desired end states. The current research highlights leader emotion as useful for leaders to make followers receptive to leaders’ communicated end state. Across four experiments we found that follower performance was highest when there was a match between leader emotion and end state in terms of implied regulatory focus (promotion vs. prevention). Three of these experiments tested the proposed underlying mechanism of this pattern and found that leader enthusiasm (agitation) primed followers with promotion (prevention) focus, which in turn generated high follower performance when leaders communicated end states that sustained this focus, that is, when visions appealed to promotion (prevention); persuasive messages contained openness (conservatism) values; and when goals were defined as maximal (minimal) goals.     

Effective responder communication,perceived responder legitimacy,and group identification predict public cooperation and compliance in a mass decontamination visualization experiment

This article describes a visualization experiment that tests hypotheses based on the social identity approach about effectiveness of communication strategies during mass decontamination. Specifically, the mediating role of social identity processes between effective responder communication and relevant outcome variables (e.g., public compliance), is examined. After visualizing that they had been involved in a hypothetical incident involving decontamination, participants (N = 129) received one of three different communication strategies: (1) health‐focused information about decontamination, sufficient practical information; (2) no health‐focused information, sufficient practical information; and (3) no health‐focused information, low practical information. The communication strategy perceived as most effective included health‐focused information and practical information; this resulted in the highest levels of expected compliance, mediated by social identity variables. Implications for management of mass decontamination are discussed.     

The credibility of a source influences the rate of unconscious plagiarism

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the relationship between the credibility of information and later unconscious plagiarism of that information. In each experiment, ideas concerning ways to reduce traffic accidents were presented from a more credible source (traffic planners) and a less credible source (college freshmen). After a distractor task, participants were asked to generate novel ways to reduce traffic accidents. In Experiments 1 and 2, unconscious plagiarism of ideas presented from the more credible source was greater than from the less credible source. In neither experiment was explicit memory for ideas from each source different in tests of source monitoring or free recall. However, the difference in unconscious plagiarism was eliminated in Experiment 3 by having participants generate the implications of ideas at study. The results are discussed in terms of the explicit factors that affect the incidence of unconscious plagiarism.