Young Adults’ Intentions toward the Prevention of Microplastic Pollution in Taiwan: Examining Personality and Information Processing in Fear-Appeal Communication

Shu Chu Sarrina Li*, Huai Kuan Zeng, Shih Yu Lo

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study adopted the extended parallel process model (EPPM) and dual process models to examine how recipients’ reactance proneness affected the appraisal of threat and efficacy, which, in turn, influenced their use of information-processing modes, attitudes, and behavioral intentions regarding the mitigation of microplastic pollutions in Taiwan. An experiment was conducted using 362 college students as the subjects. The results yielded three conclusions: (1) Fear-induced communication was an effective persuasive approach because this approach was more likely to guide the recipients to adopt a systematic mode to process messages. (2) Recipients’ reactance proneness was discovered to first affect their perceived threat and perceived efficacy, which, in turn, influenced their attitudes and behavioral intention regarding the prevention of microplastic pollution, demonstrating that individual differences mediate fear-appeal messages to affect persuasive outcomes. (3) Perceived threat was important for fear-appeal messages to obtain persuasive outcomes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number14336
JournalSustainability (Switzerland)
Volume14
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Nov 2022

Keywords

  • fear appeals
  • information processing modes
  • microplastic pollution
  • recipients’ reactance
  • the extended parallel process model

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