The persuasiveness of a health recommendation, among other things, is a function of the cost of engaging in the recommended behavior—such as money, time, effort, and discomfort— and the response-efficacy, defined as the likelihood that adherence to the recommendation would lead to the desired goal. This research investigates how cost and response-efficacy combine when influencing persuasion. Several theories of health behavior view cost and response-efficacy as having independent effects on persuasion, that is, a weighted additive impact. This research posits, and finds empirical support for the idea that cost and efficacy combine in a multiplicative fashion to influence persuasion, and suggests a structural modification to the traditional models of the relationship between cost, response-efficacy, and persuasion.
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting behavior . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
2.
Becker, M. H. (Ed.). (1974). The Health Belief Model and personal health behavior. Health Education Monographs, 2(4), 324-473.
3.
Block, L.G., & Keller, P.A. (1995). When to accentuate the negative: The effects of perceived efficacy and message framing on intentions to perform a health-related behavior. Journal of Marketing Research, 32, 192-203.
4.
Block, L.G., & Keller, P.A. (1998). Beyond protection motivation: An integrative theory of health appeals. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28, 1585-1609.
5.
Boer, H., & Seydel, E.R. (1996). Protection motivation theory. In M. Conner & P. Norman (Eds.), Predicting health behavior: Research and practice with social cognition models (pp. 95-120). Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.
6.
Edwards, W. (1954). The theory of decision making. Psychological Bulletin, 51, 380-417.
7.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
8.
Gleicher, F., & Petty, R.E. (1992). Expectations of reassurance influence the nature of fear-stimulated attitude change. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 28, 86-100.
9.
Janz, N.K., & Becker, M.H. (1984). The Health Belief Model: A decade later. Health Education Quarterly, 11, 1-47.
10.
Kirscht, J.P. (1988). The Health Belief Model and predictions of health actions. In D. Gochman (Ed.), Health behavior (pp. 27-41). New York: Plenum Press.
11.
Maddux, J.E., & Rogers, R.W. (1983). Protection motivation and self-efficacy: A revised theory of fear appeals and attitude change. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 469-479.
12.
Meyerowitz, B.E., & Chaiken, S. (1987). The effect of message framing on breast self-examination attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(3), 500-510.
13.
Prentice-Dunn, S., & Rogers, R.W. (1986). Protection motivation theory and preventive health: Beyond the Health Belief Model. Health Education Research , 1, 153-161.
14.
Prochaska, J.O., & Diclemente, C.C. (1982). Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a more integrative model of change. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 19, 276-288.
15.
Prochaska, J.O., Diclemente, C.C., & Norcross, J.C. (1992). In search of how people change. American Psychologist, 47, 1102-1114.
16.
Prochaska, J.O., Norcross, J.C., & Diclemente, C.C. (1994a). Changing for good: A revolutionary six-stage program for overcoming bad habits and moving your life positively forward. New York: Quill Harper Collins Publishers.
17.
Prochaska, J.O., Velicer, W.F., Rossi, J.S., Goldstein, M.G., Marcus, B.H., Rakowski, W. et al. (1994b). Stages of change and decisional balance for 12 problem behaviors. Health Psychology, 13, 39-46.
18.
Rogers, R.W. (1975). A protection motivation theory of fear appeals and attitude change. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 91, 93-114.
19.
Rogers, R.W. (1983). Cognitive and physiological processes in fear appeals and attitude change: A revised theory of protection motivation. In J. Cacioppo & R. Petty (Eds.), Social psychophysiology (pp. 153-176). New York: Guilford Press.
20.
Rogers, R.W. (1985). Attitude change and information integration in fear appeals. Psychological Reports, 56, 183-188.
21.
Rogers, R.W., & Mewborn, C.R. (1976). Fear appeals and attitude change: Effects of a threat's noxiousness, probability of occurrence, and the efficacy of coping responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 54-61.
22.
Ronis, D.L. (1992). Conditional health threats: Health beliefs, decisions, and behaviors among adults. Health Psychology, 11, 127-134.
23.
Rothman, A.J., Salovey, P., Antone, C., Keough, K., & Martin, C.D. (1993). The influence of message framing on intentions to perform health behaviors. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 29, 408-433.
24.
Weinstein, N.D. (1993). Testing four competing theories of health-protective behavior. Health Psychology, 12, 324-333.
25.
Weinstein, N.D. (2007). Misleading tests of health behavior theories. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 33, 1-10.
