(The) effects of news about flu on the persuasiveness of hand washing campaign and product advertising messages : an application of priming theory and protection motivation theory

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This thesis investigated how news about flu can influence the persuasiveness of hand-washing campaign and product advertising messages. Based on priming theory, it was expected that priming flu in the news would increase audiences’ attitudes toward the campaign and ad messages as well as their intentions to engage in hand washing behaviors and product purchase behavioral intentions. In addition, based on protection motivation theory, this effect was expected to be mediated by perceived severity.
108 Malaysia students from UCSI University participated in the experiment, and they were randomly assigned to the priming or non-priming conditions. Participants in the priming condition read a news message and then viewed a campaign message as well as an ad message. On the other hand, participants in the non-priming condition viewed the same campaign and ad messages without reading the news message.
Results suggest that news priming affects campaign attitudes and ad product purchase intentions. As expected, compared with the non-priming condition, respondents in the priming condition showed more positive attitudes toward the campaign message and greater intention to use the advertised product. The effect was mediated by perceived severity.
This research has practical and theoretical implications. Because news priming affects campaign attitudes and ad product intentions, health campaign and ad practitioners may want to increase campaign expenditures when the issue has been made salient by the news media. In theoretical terms, this research attempted to connect priming theory and protection motivation theory to understand the joint effects of news, health campaign, and advertising messages.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• CONTENTS
• Chapter I
• PRIMING AND HEALTH CAMPAIGNS: AN INTRODUCTION 1
• Chapter II
• THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES
• 1. Priming Theory 4
• 2. Protection Motivation Theory 10
• 3. Research Model 12
• Chapter III
• DATA AND METHODOLOGY
• 1. Overview 13
• 2. Experimental Design 13
• 3. Participants and Procedures 14
• 4. Stimulus Materials 15
• 5. Dependent Measures 15
• Chapter IV
• RESULTS
• 1. Descriptive Data 18
• 2. Comparison of Priming Effect and Non-Priming Effect 20
• 3. Intercorrelations Among the Priming Condition,Campaign Effects& Mediator Variable 22
• 4. The Mediating Role of Severity 24
• Chapter V
• CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
• 1. Summary of Findings 26
• 2. Discussion of the Finding 29
• 3. Limitations and Future Direction of the Study 30
• REFERENCES 32
• APPENDICES 39
• 국문 초록 60