Thesis (Ph.D. (Consumer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

This study sought to expand current narrative persuasion models by examining the role of subtext processing. The extended elaboration likelihood model suggests that transportation leads to persuasion by reducing counterarguments to stories’ persuasive subtexts. The model implicitly argues that transportation should reduce total subtext processing, including counterarguments and intended elaboration. But this study reasoned that people with stronger eudaimonic motivation to have meaningful entertainment experiences, would put more effort into processing stories’ subtexts while engaging with the narrative. Because less eudaimonically motivated individuals may be at risk for missing the subtext, it was also expected that adding a supplemental conclusion scene that reiterates the intended message would facilitate persuasion.Following a pre-test survey, 201 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to view an episode of the crime drama Numb3rs: one of two versions of “Harvest,” designed to promote organ donation (with or without a conclusion scene), or a control episode. After viewing, participants completed a thought-listing task and second survey. Results show that “Harvest” did not result in persuasive outcomes related to organ donation. Transportation was a marginally significant positive predictor of total subtext processing. Contrary to predictions, eudaimonic motivation negatively predicted amount of total subtext processing.Eudaimonic motivation also negatively (but marginally) predicted doctor mistrust, but this effect was moderated by conclusion condition: eudaimonic motivation was negatively associated with doctor mistrust only in the no conclusion condition. Eudaimonic motivation was also negatively (but marginally) associated with intended elaboration. Further examination showed that, compared to people with low eudaimonic motivation, those with high eudaimonic motivation were less likely to engage in intended elaboration, but only in the no conclusion condition. This pattern of findings provides indirect evidence that intended elaboration was responsible for decreasing doctor mistrust among people with high eudaimonic motivation who saw the conclusion. But surprisingly, intended elaboration was not directly related to any persuasive outcomes.The findings tentatively suggest that transportation and subtext processing can coexist and that eudaimonic motivation can affect the extent to which viewers engage in subtext processing during narrative engagement. The results also indicate that supplemental conclusions may be useful tools for narrative persuasion.

Tidigare forskning har visat att individer tenderar se sig själva mindre sårbara än genomsnittet, vilket gör att man utsätter sig själv för ett stort risktagande. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om de individer som ser sig mindre sårbara än andra är de som påverkas av reklam och manipulation. I undersökningen deltog 183 studenter, 122 kvinnor och 61 män. Tre olika mätinstrument kombinerades i en enkät. En reklamannons med tillhörande frågor, utarbetad i samarbete med en reklambyrå, ett instrument som mätte en individs Need for Cognition samt ett tredje för att mäta hur sårbar personen såg sig i jämförelse med genomsnittet. Våra hypoteser fick inte stöd men vi lyckades påvisa att det förekom en illusion av osårbarhet och en tredjepersoneffekt bland deltagarna. Förhoppningen är att framtida forskning lyckas ta fram ett mer effektivt mätinstrument som kan visa att illusionen av osårbarhet kan öka en individs manipulationsrisk.

Purchasing products from online e-stores is getting popular with the advance of Internet infrastructure and network security. At current stage, most e-stores resemble vending machines rather than real stores because they lack clerks to persuade prospects into buying products and to bargain with the customers for making a good deal. This research aims to design an easy-to-use and autonomous sales-agent, called Isa, to act as a virtual clerk in an e-store. A new approach is proposed to enable the agent to dynamically adopt different persuasion and negotiation strategies according to different characteristics of human buyers. Additionally, this approach enables a sales-agent to learn the best strategies without seller¡¦s instructions. Both laboratory and field experiments are conducted to assess Isa¡¦s performance. The experimental results reveal that Isa can improve a seller¡¦s surplus and increase a buyer¡¦s product evaluation, willingness to pay more money for the product, and satisfaction with visiting the s-store.

Since its commencement, the radio industry has been facing challenges from new media such as TV and later, the Internet. Nowadays, radio is widely regarded as a traditional medium that is fading away. However, the audio-oriented media feature of radio endows itself with a unique niche that could not be replaced by other video media. That is why radio advertisements are especially favored by advertisers. This research applies the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to radio advertising research, aiming to deliberate the persuasion effect of radio advertisements, which would be one of the few advertising-related studies in our country recently. This research utilizes the experimental method, a 2 (strong or weak argument quality) by 2 (reliable or attractive communicator quality) between-subject factorial design. 160 participants were randomly assigned to 4 experimental conditions, each with different stimulus of experimental ads. In addition, this study considers the degree of involvement with the advertised product as the mediating variable. In this research, the results shows that high-involvement subjects are mainly influenced by the argument quality in the radio ads. When high-involvement subjects are exposed to ads with strong argument quality, better evaluations on the ads , brands, credibility and cognition are generated. In addition, in the research both high-involvement or low-involvement subjects are not obviously influenced by communicator quality factors. However, if the advertisement takes an approach combining strong argument quality with a reliable communicator, high-involvement subjects would generate better attitudinal evaluations on the ads and brands. It is interesting that the advertisement shows an attractive female, the males would generate higher evaluation on brands attitude, credibility, behavior intention about this advertisement.

Building on Message Framing Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), this study examined how message frame impacts viewer attention to and cognitive processing of osteoporosis prevention print ads. Attention was measured with eye tracking technology, which calculated participants’ number of fixations and dwell time. Cognitive processing was assessed through a textual masked-recall exercise. Sixty women, with a mean age of 21.25+/-2.61 years, viewed the same 36 ads; however, the message frame changed on a randomized, rotating basis, resulting in each group viewing 12 gain-, 12 loss-, and 12 neutrally-framed ads. One-way repeated measures analyses of variance revealed that message frame significantly impacted viewers’ number of fixations, F(2,118)=8.18, p<.01, η2= .12 dwell time, F(2,118)=9.84, p<.01, η2= .14 and masked-recall results, F(2,118)=22.28, p<.01, η2 = .27. Viewers’ number of fixations, dwell time and recall of gain-framed osteoporosis prevention ads was significantly higher than to loss- or neutrally-framed ads, p<.01. Message frame was also positively correlated with number of fixations, r=.29, p<.02 and dwell time, r=.42, p<.01. Findings may help expand theory related to message framing and the ELM, while contributing to advancements in eye tracking literature and health communications practice. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-27 16:13:32.848

Although direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, content analyses (Baird-Harris, 2009; Frosch, Krueger, Hornik, Cronbolm, & Berg, 2007; Kaphingst, DeJong, Rudd, & Daltroy, 2004; Wilkes, Bell, & Kravitz, 2000) and other studies (Davis, 2000, 2007) have suggested that advertisers may not disclose drug risks to the same extent that they describe drug benefits. This study builds on previous studies by Baird-Harris and Smith and Shaffer (2000) and aims to test the relationship between image congruency in televised DTC advertisements, recall of risks and benefits, and perceived ad persuasiveness. Advertisements for Nexium, Advair, and Lunesta were shown to college students in either their original (i.e., image incongruent) or modified (i.e., image neutral) form. In general, risks were easier to recall with image neutral advertisements (which were considered to be less persuasive), although results were not statistically significant. Gender had a significant interaction effect, suggesting that males and females process risks differently depending on images in a DTC advertisement. Despite its lack of significant findings, this study explores an underdeveloped area of research and provides a model for future studies.

The primary objective of this study was to apply the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasive communication to consumers' perceptions of food additive labelling. The model was used to explain how consumer information processing influences consumers' decision-making and consequent purchasing behaviour with regard to food products that contain food additives. To date, few studies have explained consumers' perceptions, viewpoints and understanding of additive labelling, or of their related purchasing behaviour. However, the increased marketing of processed foods containing additives and the concern expressed by consumers regarding the risks of additives call for the development of a theoretical basis for research into these issues. There is currently a lack of such data in South Africa. This study was conducted from a phenomenological qualitative approach with a descriptive exploratory nature. Eight focus group sessions with 39 food additive label readers were held in the Vanderbijlpark-Vereeniging area. A content analysis of the focus group discussions resulted in the categorising of concepts, and 33 subtle underlying themes were identified. The main findings of the study were that the participants' general perceptions suggested that food additives can be defined as unnatural chemical substances that are added to food and that hold some benefits and/or risks to the consumer. The participants' use of food additive information was influenced by the situational factors associated with each individual participant. Moreover, the participants were more aware of tartrazine, MSG and aspartame than of any other food additive. Participants were also confronted with various blocking mechanisms when searching for and selecting food products containing additives. These included a lack of standardisation of terminology, illegible ingredient listing, a lack of food control and regulation, information overload, incomprehensible information, manufacturers' dishonesty, time constraints and incorrect, untrustworthy, insufficient information. On the other hand, participants used various coping or risk-reducing strategies to reduce their concerns. In order to interpret the results, the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasive communication was adapted and applied to food additive labels. The adapted model illustrates how the consumers' perceptions of additive labels and their search for additional information influence their purchasing behaviour to varying extents. It is recommended that more attention be given to consumer education with regard to additive-related terminology used on food labels and that the results be put to use in the current revision of labelling regulations. Marketers and retailers could use the information to better understand the behaviour of consumers who read food additive labels. The value of this study was to show that consumers' prior perceptions of food additives are an important determinant of their purchasing behaviour, / Thesis (Ph.D. (Consumer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

La communication engageante effectue un pont conceptuel entre la persuasion et l’engagement. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous avons cherché à déterminer les processus sous jacents à l’efficacité de la communication engageante par le biais du modèle de la probabilité d’élaboration. D’après nous, l’engagement, l’implication personnelle ainsi que la confiance en ses pensées jouent un rôle crucial dans ce paradigme. Nous nous attendions à ce que 1/ l’engagement en condition d’implication forte produise un traitement périphérique de l’information 2/ l’engagement en condition d’implication faible produise un traitement central de l’information.  Nos résultats montrent que le traitement de l’information peut être influencé par l’engagement et le niveau d’implication. En condition d’implication forte l’engagement inhibe le traitement de l’information là où il le favorise lorsque l’implication est faible. Ces résultats, reproduits lors de quatre expériences, sont obtenus sur l’attitude, l’intention comportementale, ainsi que sur la valence des réponses cognitives. Notre dernière expérience reproduit le même pattern de résultats sur l’attitude implicite. L’engagement produit une hausse de l’implication et de la confiance en ses pensées lorsque l’implication est faible. / Binding communication makes a conceptual bridge between persuasion and commitment. As part of this thesis, we sought to determine the processes underlying the effectiveness of binding communication through the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In our opinion, commitment, personal involvement and thoughts confidence play a critical role in this paradigm. We expected that 1 / commitment in high involvment condition would produce peripheral information processing 2 / commitment in low involvment condition produces a central processing of information. Our results show that information processing can be influenced by commitment and level of involvement. In strong involvment condition, commitment inhibits information processing wherever it favors it when implication is low. These results, reproduced in four experiments, are obtained on attitude, behavioral intention, as well as on the valence of cognitive responses. Our last experiment reproduces the same pattern of results on implicit attitude. Commitment produces increased involvement and improve confidence in one's thoughts when involvement is weak.

Background Influencer marketing has evolved from traditional marketing strategies such as print ads, celebrity endorsement, and digital marketing. Influencer marketing is in comparison to the previously used strategies a new phenomenon that had its major increase during 2016. An influencer is regarded as a person who has built up a lot of followers on a social media platform such as Instagram, and companies are today widely using these people as a marketing tool to reach out to their target audience in an effective way. Because of this increase in popularity and usage, the authors have investigated how millennial attitudes are affected by these promotional messages, as they are an influential group present online. This to get a better understanding of what is needed to be taken into consideration before starting a collaboration between a business and an influencer. After its rise in 2016, a new marketing regulation was introduced to make consumers aware of the content on social media that is regarded as paid partnership, which has changed how people perceive influencer marketing.  Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to investigate; what reasons affect Swedish millennials’ attitudes by influencer marketing on Instagram and blogs. Method To meet the purpose of the thesis, focus groups were conducted with participants from Jönköping University, belonging to the millennial generation. The data collected was analyzed using categorical indexing, to identify patterns and repeating topics that became apparent during transcription. This research used a deductive approach as it explores and adds on existing literature and an abductive approach during analysis.  Conclusion The overall findings of this research indicate that millennials attitudes are affected by influencer marketing due to several reasons such as the alignment of promotions presented by an influencer, the degree of credibility and trustworthiness of the messages, as well as, an influencer’s change in style.