Convincing the Skeptics: Concrete Claims with Supporting Images Persuade Skeptical Consumers to Support Companies Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives

Skepticism has been identified as one of the main impediments to successful CSR communication and previous research has established a robust effect of individual differences in ad skepticism on negative responses to advertising. However, little work has explored how ad skepticism impacts responses to CSR communication. Integrating work on CSR communication and ad skepticism, the present work advances a conceptual model addressing how concrete CSR claims and images supporting those claims can override skeptical consumers’ less favorable response to CSR advertising. Results show that highly skeptical consumers (a) respond less favorably to CSR ads than less skeptical consumers, overall; (b) respond more favorably to CSR ads that contain a combination of concrete (vs. vague) CSR claims and images (vs. no images) supporting those claims; and (c) respond as favorably as less skeptical consumers when ads feature concrete CSR claims with supporting images. Additional results reveal that images are especially effective among highly skeptical consumers because skeptical consumers have a reduced ability to visualize advertising claims. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed

The impact of review valence and awareness of deceptive practices on consumers’ responses to online product ratings and reviews

Many online retailers and some manufacturers/service providers have recently been engaging in questionable practices, where product reviews are often fabricated and/or posted without sufficient clarity and objectivity. Across an exploratory study and two main studies, we empirically examine this phenomenon and observe a pattern of effects that suggests that review valence (i.e., the average number of rating-stars a product receives) influences product attitudes and intentions, but that these outcomes are significantly impacted by the extent to which consumers are aware of potentially deceptive online review practices. Awareness of deceptive practices was found to differentially influence attitudes and intentions, depending upon whether the star-ratings were perfect (5/5 stars), highly positive (4.9/5 stars), or generally positive (4.5/5 or 4.7/5 stars). Participants’ perceptions of the e-retailer’s manipulative intent were also shown to mediate these effects, with higher perceptions of perceived manipulative intent yielding less favorable product attitudes and reduced purchase intentions

The phenomenon of treatment dropout, reasons and moderators in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and other active treatments: A meta-analytic review

Treatment dropout is one of the most crucialissues thata therapist has to face on a daily basis.The negative effects of premature termination impact the client who is usually found to demonstrate poorer treatment outcomes. This meta-analysis reviewed and systematically examined drop out effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as compared to other active treatments. The goals of this study were to compare treatment dropout rates and dropout reasons, examine the influence of demographic variables and identify possible therapy moderators associated with drop out. The current meta-analysis reviewed 76studies of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) reporting dropout rates for various psychological and health-related conditions. Across reviewed studies (N=76), the overall weighted mean dropout rate was 17.95% (ACT=17.35% vs. comparison conditions=18.62%).Type of disorder, recruitment setting and therapists’ experience level were significant moderators of drop out. The most frequently reported reasons for drop out from ACT were lost contact, personal and transportation difficulties, whereas for comparative treatments they were lost contact, therapy factors and time demands. Given that most moderators of influence are not amenable to direct changes by clinicians, mediation variables should also be explored. Overall, results suggest that ACT appears to present some benefits in dropout rates for specific disorders, settings and therapists

A quantitative review and extension of racial similarity effects in advertising

This dissertation provides a quantitative review and extension of racial similarity effects in advertising. It consists of two essays which explore the impact of the endorser\u27s race on the advertising evaluations of African American and White consumers. The literature on ingroup favoritism, which describes the tendency to evaluate people perceived to belong to your own group more favorably than those belonging to other groups, provides the theoretical background to both essays. Essay 1 is a meta-analytic review of extant studies that examined the advertising responses of consumers exposed to ads featuring same (vs. different) race endorsers. A total of 84 statistically independent data sets are included, providing data from 9,496 participants (3,232 African Americans and 6,264 Whites), and summarizing forty years (1969-2009) of research work in this domain. Findings based primarily on explicit measures show that both African American and White participants prefer advertisements featuring same race endorsers, especially when they identify strongly with their racial ingroup. The overall weighted mean effect size for African American participants is d+ = -.53, and for White participants it is d + = .15. Additional moderators of advertising evaluations related to study and participant characteristics, as well to the methodology employed by researchers are discussed. ^ Essay 2 uses the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess African American and White participants\u27 racial bias (i.e., preference for African American vs. White racial stimuli), and color bias (i.e., preference for the color white vs. the color black) on their implicit reactions to persuasive communications. Furthermore, this essay investigates the respective individual and joint effects of racial bias and color bias on participants\u27 reactions to non-celebrity endorsers (study 1), celebrity political candidates (study 2), and identical products colored either black or white (study 3). The results from all three studies document that both African American and White consumers exhibit an implicit color association in favor of the color white (as compared to the color black), and an implicit racial association in favor of their racial ingroup. African Americans exhibited an overall pro-African American racial association across the three studies, whereas Whites exhibited a pro-White racial association. Furthermore, White participants\u27 color associations predicted their racial associations, and both White and African American participants\u27 racial associations predicted their product associations. Implicit measures (such as the IAT) are believed to measure culturally learned associations regarding African American and White endorsers, which are not likely to apply to evaluations of celebrities for whom individuals have developed opinions. Consistent with this rationale, findings show that White participants\u27 racial associations predicted their advertising associations for non-celebrity endorsers; however White and African American participants\u27 racial associations did not predict their associations for celebrity political candidates.

A meta-analytic synthesis of the question-behavior effect

Asking people a question about performing a target behavior influences future performance of that behavior. While contextually robust and methodologically simple, this “question-behavior effect” reveals theoretical complexity as evidenced by the large number of proposed explanations for the effect. Furthermore, considerable heterogeneity exists regarding the “question” used to elicit the effect and the variety of different types of target “behaviors” for which the effect has manifested. A meta-analytic synthesis of 104 question-behavior studies across 51 published and unpublished papers is presented. Grouping proposed theories for the effect into four overarching categories, we derive and test systematic predictions regarding potential moderators of conceptual and practical significance. Our findings provide varying degrees of support for four different theoretical mechanisms (attitudes, consistency, fluency and motivations) proposed to underlie the effect. Insights into these mechanisms are presented and outstanding gaps in our understanding are identified as opportunities for future research

A meta-analytic synthesis of the question-behavior effect

Asking people a question about performing a target behavior influences future performance of that behavior. While contextually robust and methodologically simple, this “question-behavior effect” reveals theoretical complexity as evidenced by the large number of proposed explanations for the effect. Furthermore, considerable heterogeneity exists regarding the “question” used to elicit the effect and the variety of different types of target “behaviors” for which the effect has manifested. A meta-analytic synthesis of 104 question-behavior studies across 51 published and unpublished papers is presented. Grouping proposed theories for the effect into four overarching categories, we derive and test systematic predictions regarding potential moderators of conceptual and practical significance. Our findings provide varying degrees of support for four different theoretical mechanisms (attitudes, consistency, fluency and motivations) proposed to underlie the effect. Insights into these mechanisms are presented and outstanding gaps in our understanding are identified as opportunities for future research

Online Engagement with Memes and Comments about Climate Change

Social media posts, and memes in particular, offer important opportunities for social media users and organizations to disseminate information about climate change. However, as this topic remains controversial, memes often elicit comments that may oppose (rather than support) the existence of climate change. In three studies, we find that the position of the comments influences users’ engagement with the main post: when the user’s and the meme’s positions on climate change align, comments opposing the claim of the meme decrease users’ readiness to “like” the meme. We also examine social media users’ attitudes toward different comment moderating options, including disabling, deleting, hiding, or responding to comments

Online Engagement with Memes and Comments about Climate Change

Social media posts, and memes in particular, offer important opportunities for social media users and organizations to disseminate information about climate change. However, as this topic remains controversial, memes often elicit comments that may oppose (rather than support) the existence of climate change. In three studies, we find that the position of the comments influences users’ engagement with the main post: when the user’s and the meme’s positions on climate change align, comments opposing the claim of the meme decrease users’ readiness to “like” the meme. We also examine social media users’ attitudes toward different comment moderating options, including disabling, deleting, hiding, or responding to comments