Abstract: This study examined if and how Facebook user-generated comments about the flu vaccine influenced psychological reactance in conjunction with pre-existing flu vaccine attitude. Psychological reactance was further tested as a mediating factor influencing behavioral intention to receive the vaccine. An experimental study was conducted with 264 college students. The results showed that pre-existing attitude positively influenced participants’ intention to obtain the flu vaccine through an increase (a decrease) in psychological reactance when there was inconsistency (consistency) between the pre-existing attitude and valence of comments. Collectively, the results demonstrate that psychological reactance is one possible theoretical mechanism through which social media users’ health behaviors are influenced by user-generated comments.
Topic: behavior
The Effects of User Comment Valence of Facebook Health Messages on Intention to Receive the Flu Vaccine: The Role of Pre-existing Attitude Toward the Flu Vaccine and Psychological Reactance.
Kim, Hanyoung (Grady PhD Student), Seo, Y.,(Grady PhD Student) Yoon, H. J., Han, J. Y., & Ko. Y.(Grady PhD Student), (Forthcoming).
Abstract: This study examined if and how Facebook user-generated comments about the flu vaccine influenced psychological reactance in conjunction with pre-existing flu vaccine attitude. Psychological reactance was further tested as a mediating factor influencing behavioural intention to receive the vaccine. An experimental study was conducted with 264 college students. The results showed that pre-existing attitude positively influenced participants’ intention to obtain the flu vaccine through an increase (a decrease) in psychological reactance when there was inconsistency (consistency) between the pre-existing attitude and valence of comments. Collectively, the results demonstrate that psychological reactance is one possible theoretical mechanism through which social media users’ health behaviours are influenced by user-generated comments.
Assessing an Organizational Crisis at the Construal Level: How Psychological Distance Impacts Publics’ Crisis Responses
Abstract: To expand the existing scholarly literature on the nature of crisis, this study elaborates on the notion of crisis distance by 1) investigating its influence on publics’ crisis responses (i.e., crisis severity, crisis emotions, organizational reputation, and supportive behavioral intentions) and 2) unearthing the underlying mechanisms behind the effects of crisis distance. An online survey was conducted by recruiting a representative U.S. sample to examine the proposed research questions. The findings offer empirical evidence that each dimension of crisis distance (i.e., temporal, social, and hypothetical crisis distance) is associated with publics’ crisis responses. Furthermore, by investigating distance-crisis-organizational sequence models, the ways in which crisis distance ultimately motivates publics’ supportive behavioral intentions was revealed.