Environmental communications often contain assertive commands, even though research in consumer behavior, psycholinguistics, and communications has repeatedly shown that gentler phrasing is more effective when seeking consumer compliance. This article shows that the persuasiveness of assertive language depends on the perceived importance of the issue at hand: Recipients respond better to pushy requests in domains that they view as important, but they need more suggestive appeals when they lack initial conviction. The authors examine this effect in three laboratory studies and one field experiment using Google AdWords. Their findings refer to various environmental contexts (i.e., economizing water, recycling plastic containers, reducing air and sea pollution). The key implication of these findings is that issue importance needs to be carefully assessed (or affected) before the language of effective environmental campaigns can be selected.
AlbarracinDolores, CohenJoel B., and KumkaleTaren G., (2003), “When Communications Collide With Recipients' Actions: Effects of Post-Message Behavior on Intentions to Follow the Message Recommendation,”Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(July), 834–45.
3.
AndreouChrisoula, (2008), “Addiction, Procrastination, and Failure Points in Decision-Making Systems,”Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(4), 439–40.
4.
BanerjeeSubhabrata, IyerEaswar, and KashyapRajiv, (2003), “Corporate Environmentalism: Antecedents and Influence of Industry Type,”Journal of Marketing, 67(April), 106–122.
5.
BrownPenelope, and LevinsonStephen, (1987), Politeness: Some Universals in Language Use.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6.
BullerDavid B., BorlandRon, and BurgoonMichael, (1998), “Impact of Behavioral Intention on Effectiveness of Message Features: Evidence from the Family Sun Safety Project,”Human Communication Research, 24(3), 433–53.
7.
BurgoonMichael, HunsakerFrank G., and DawsonEdwin J., (1994), “Approaches to Gaining Compliance,” in Human Communication, 3d ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 203–217.
8.
ChandranSucharita, and MorwitzVicki G., (2005), “Effects of Participative Pricing on Consumers' Cognitions and Actions: A Goal Theoretic Perspective,”Journal of Consumer Research, 32(2), 249–60.
9.
ClarkAnne, R., (1993), “The Impact of Cost of Compliance, Deservingness of Aid, and Directness of Request on Reactions to the Request,”Southern Communication Journal, 58(3), 215–26.
10.
ClarkThomas, (1998), “The Impact of Candid Versus Legally Defensible Language on the Persuasiveness of Environmental Self-Assessments,”Journal of Business Communication, 35(3), 368–83.
11.
ClevelandMark, KalamasMaria, and LarocheMichel, (2005), “Shades of Green: Linking Environmental Locus of Control and pro-Environmental Behaviors,”Journal of Consumer Marketing, 22(4), 198–212.
12.
CornelissenGert, PandelaereMario, WarlopLuk, and DewitteSiegfried, (2007), “Positive Cueing: Promoting Sustainable Consumer Behavior by Cueing Common Ecological Behaviors as Environmental,”International Journal of Research in Marketing, 4(4), 278–88.
13.
DillardJames P., and ShenLijiang, (2005), “On the Nature of Reactance and Its Role in Persuasive Health Communication,”Communication Monographs, 72(2), 144–68.
14.
DillardJames P., WilsonSteven R., TusingJames K., and KinneyTerry A., (1997), “Politeness Judgments in Personal Relationships,”Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 16(3), 297–325.
15.
EdwardsSteven M., LiHairong, and LeeJoo-Hyun, (2002), “Forced Exposure and Psychological Reactance: Antecedents and Consequences of the Perceived Instrusiveness of Pop-Up Ads,”Journal of Advertising, 31(Fall), 83–95.
16.
EhrichKristine R., and IrwinJulie R., (2005), “Willful Ignorance in the Request for Product Attribute Information,”Journal of Marketing Research, 42(August), 266–77.
17.
FazioRuss, H., (1986), “How Do Attitudes Guide Behavior?” in Handbook of Motivation and Cognition: Foundations of Social Behavior, SorrentinoRichard M., and HigginsTory E., eds. New York: Guilford Press, 204–243.
18.
FazioRuss, H., (1995), “Attitudes as Object-Evaluation Associations: Determinants, Consequences, and Correlates of Attitude Accessibility,” in Attitude Strength: Antecedents and Consequences, PettyRichard E., and KrosnickJon A., eds. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 247–82.
19.
FrancikEllen P., and ClarkHerbert H., (1985), “How to Make Requests That Overcome Obstacles to Compliance,”Journal of Memory and Language, 24(5), 560–68.
20.
GershkoffAmy, R., (2005), “How to Tell What's Important to You Without Having to Ask,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago (April 7).
21.
GibbsRaymond, W., (1986), “What Makes Some Indirect Speech Acts Conventional?”Journal of Memory and Language, 25(April), 181–96.
22.
GoldsteinNoah J., CialdiniRobert B., and GriskeviciusVladas, (2008), “Norms to Motivate Environmental Conservation in Hotels,”Journal of Consumer Research, 35(3), 472–82.
23.
GrandpreJoseph, AlvaroEusebio M., BurgoonMichael, MillerClaude H., and HallJohn R., (2003), “Adolescent Reactance and Anti-Smoking Campaigns: A Theoretical Approach,”Health Communication, 15(3), 349–66.
24.
GranzinKent, and OlsenJaneen, (1991), “Characterizing Participants in Activities Protecting the Environment: A Focus on Donating, Recycling, and Conservation Behaviors,”Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 10(Fall), 1–27.
25.
GrinsteinAmir, and NisanUdi, (2009), “Demarketing, Minorities and Marketing Attachment,”Journal of Marketing, 73(April), 105–122.
26.
GrossJames J., and LevensonRobert W., (1995), “Emotion Elicitation Using Films,”Cognition and Emotion, 9(1), 87–108.
27.
HoltgravesThomas, (1991), “Interpreting Questions and Replies: Effects of Face-Threat, Question Form, and Gender,”Social Psychology Quarterly, 54(March), 15–24.
28.
LakoffRobin T., and SachikoIde eds., (2005), Broadening the Horizon of Linguistic Politeness, Pragmatics and Beyond New Series 139. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
29.
LordKenneth, R., (1994), “Motivating Recycling Behavior: A Quasiexperimental Investigation of Message and Source Strategies,”Psychology and Marketing, 11(September), 341–59.
30.
LuceMary Francis, BettmanJames R., and PayneJohn W., (1997), “Choice Processing in Emotionally Difficult Decisions,”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 23(2), 384–405.
31.
MarshallHeather M., ReinhartAmber M., FeeleyThomas H., TutzauerFrank, and AnkerAshley, (2008), “Comparing College Students' Value-, Outcome-, and Impression-Relevant Involvement in Health-Related Issues,”Health Communication, 23(2), 171–83.
32.
MenesesGonzalo, and PalacioAsuncion, (2007), “The Response to the Commitment with Block-Leader Recycling Promotion Technique: A Longitudinal Approach,”Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing, 17(1), 83–102.
33.
MenonAjay, and MenonAnil, (1997), “Enviropreneurial Marketing Strategy: The Emergence of Corporate Environmentalism as Market Strategy,”Journal of Marketing, 61(January), 51–67.
34.
MillsMargaret, (1993), “On Russian and English Pragmalinguistic Requestive Strategies,”Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 1(1), 92–115.
35.
MittalBanwari, (1995), “A Comparative Analysis of Four Scales of Consumer Involvement,”Psychology and Marketing, 12(7), 663–82.
36.
NadeauRichard, NiemiRichard G., and AmatoTimothy, (1995), “Emotions, Issue Importance, and Political Learning,”American Journal of Political Science, 39(3), 558–74.
37.
OsterhusThomas, (1997), “Pro-Social Consumer Influence Strategies: When and How Do They Work?”Journal of Marketing, 61(October), 16–29.
38.
PaulsonGaylen D., and RoloffMichael E., (1997), “The Effect of Request Form and Content on Constructing Obstacles to Compliance,”Communication Research, 24(3), 261–90.
39.
PeattieKen A., and PeattieSue, (2009), “Social Marketing: A Pathway to Consumption Reduction?”Journal of Business Research, 62(2), 260–68.
40.
PechmannCornelia, ZhaoGuangzhi, GoldbergMarvin, and ReiblingEllen T., (2003), “What to Convey in Antismoking Advertisements for Adolescents: The Use of Protection Motivation Theory to Identify Effective Message Themes,”Journal of Marketing, 67(April), 1–18.
41.
PietersRik, BijmoltTammo, van RaaijFred, and de KruijkMark, (1998), “Consumers' Attributions of Proenvironmental Behavior, Motivation, and Ability to Self and Others,”Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 17(Fall), 215–25.
42.
PreacherKristopher J., and HayesAndrew F., (2004), “SPSS and SAS Procedures for Estimating Indirect Effects in Simple Mediation Models,”Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36(4), 717–31.
43.
PreacherKristopher J., and HayesAndrew F., (2008), “Asymptotic and Resampling Strategies for Assessing and Comparing Indirect Effects in Multiple Mediator Models,”Behavior Research Methods, 40 (3), 879–91.
44.
QuickBrian L., and ConsidineJennifer R., (2008), “Examining the Use of Forceful Language When Designing Exercise Persuasive Messages for Adults: A Test of Conceptualizing Reactance Arousal as a Two-Step Process,”Health Communication, 23(September), 483–91.
45.
QuickBrian L., and StephensonMichael T., (2007), “Further Evidence That Psychological Reactance Can Be Modeled as a Combination of Anger and Negative Cognitions,”Communication Research, 34(3), 255–76.
46.
SawersKimberly, M., (2005), “Evidence of Choice Avoidance in Capital-Investment Judgments,”Contemporary Accounting Research, 22(4), 1063–1092.
47.
ShrumL. J., LowreyTina M., and McCartyJohn A., (1994), “Recycling as a Marketing Problem: A Framework for Strategy Development,”Psychology and Marketing, 11(4), 393–417.
48.
TsuzukiMasaki, MiamotoSetsuko, and ZhangQin, (1999), “Politeness Degree of Imperative and Question Request Expressions: Japanese, English, Chinese,” in Sixth International Colloquium on Cognitive Science–ICCS99.Tokyo: Japanese Cognitive Science Society, 519.
49.
VandervekenDaniel, (1990), Meaning and Speech Acts, Vol. 2. New York: Cambridge University Press.
50.
WienerJoshua L., and DoescherTabitha A., (1991), “A Framework for Promoting Cooperation,”Journal of Marketing, 55(April), 38–47.
51.
WilsonSteven R., and KunkelAdrianne W., (2000), “Identity Implications of Influence Goals: Similarities in Perceived Face Threats and Facework Across Sex and Close Relationships,”Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 19(2), 195–221.
52.
ZhangYing, XuJing, JiangZixi, and HuangSzu-Chi, (2011), “Been There, Done That: The Impact of Effort Investment on Goal Value and Consumer Motivation,”Journal of Consumer Research, 38(1), 78–93.
53.
ZhaoGuangzhi, and PechmannCornelia, (2007), “The Impact of Regulatory Focus on Adolescents' Response to Antismoking Advertising Campaigns,”Journal of Marketing Research, 44(November), 671–87.
54.
ZhaoXinshu, LynchJohn G., and ChenQimei, (2010), “Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis,”Journal of Consumer Research, 37(2), 197–206.
