The influence of audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of an audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages. Study 1 (N = 169) examined attitude changes among audiences with different regulatory focus after reading pro-vaccine messages, and Study 2 (N = 2...

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Main Authors: Dengke Xia, Yue Su, Mengyao Song, Tingshao Zhu, Nan Zhao, Hongwei Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0328638
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author Dengke Xia
Yue Su
Mengyao Song
Tingshao Zhu
Nan Zhao
Hongwei Sun
author_facet Dengke Xia
Yue Su
Mengyao Song
Tingshao Zhu
Nan Zhao
Hongwei Sun
author_sort Dengke Xia
collection DOAJ
description The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of an audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages. Study 1 (N = 169) examined attitude changes among audiences with different regulatory focus after reading pro-vaccine messages, and Study 2 (N = 201) added the exploration of message persuasiveness and vaccination intentions as well. The results of Study 1 and Study 2 showed that both high promotion fucus and high prevention focus could facilitate the attitude change elicited by messages emphasizing vaccine safety, official position and credibility. Meanwhile, high-promotion individuals were also more easily influenced by messages highlighting the benefits of vaccination, while high-prevention individuals were more receptive to messages focusing on the personal responsibility. Similar results also appeared when measuring perceived persuasiveness as dependent variable. However, these impacts of regulatory focus did not remain statistically significant on behavioral intention for most messages, except for the messages emphasizing vaccine effectiveness. The behavioral intention changes after reading these messages were significantly promoted by high promotion focus. Our findings could shed some light on the mechanism underlying personalized persuasion as well as more targeted vaccination promotion strategies.
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institution Kabale University
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record_format Article
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spelling doaj-art-70e356ba4e564872b02282fe8f0748652025-08-23T05:32:12ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01208e032863810.1371/journal.pone.0328638The influence of audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages.Dengke XiaYue SuMengyao SongTingshao ZhuNan ZhaoHongwei SunThe aim of this study was to investigate the influence of an audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages. Study 1 (N = 169) examined attitude changes among audiences with different regulatory focus after reading pro-vaccine messages, and Study 2 (N = 201) added the exploration of message persuasiveness and vaccination intentions as well. The results of Study 1 and Study 2 showed that both high promotion fucus and high prevention focus could facilitate the attitude change elicited by messages emphasizing vaccine safety, official position and credibility. Meanwhile, high-promotion individuals were also more easily influenced by messages highlighting the benefits of vaccination, while high-prevention individuals were more receptive to messages focusing on the personal responsibility. Similar results also appeared when measuring perceived persuasiveness as dependent variable. However, these impacts of regulatory focus did not remain statistically significant on behavioral intention for most messages, except for the messages emphasizing vaccine effectiveness. The behavioral intention changes after reading these messages were significantly promoted by high promotion focus. Our findings could shed some light on the mechanism underlying personalized persuasion as well as more targeted vaccination promotion strategies.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0328638
spellingShingle Dengke Xia
Yue Su
Mengyao Song
Tingshao Zhu
Nan Zhao
Hongwei Sun
The influence of audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages.
PLoS ONE
title The influence of audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages.
title_full The influence of audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages.
title_fullStr The influence of audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages.
title_full_unstemmed The influence of audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages.
title_short The influence of audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages.
title_sort influence of audience s regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro vaccine messages
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0328638
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