Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

2-2019

Abstract

Recommendations for communicators to make environmental issues more concrete in public align with the tenets of exemplification theory. Audiences may also engage with messages that they perceive as influencing them more than others, an outcome that aligns with the third-person effects framework. What is not well known is how these two areas of research intersect, namely, how exemplars about environmental issues may impact perceived message influence on the self-relative to others. This study examines the effects of testimonials on the perceived influence of environmental messages. Two experiments, each conducted simultaneously in Singapore and the Midwestern US, suggest that university students perceive themselves to be more influenced than others by proenvironmental messages. The second experiment shows that this perceptual bias is related to message desirability and individuals’ environmental values. Both experiments reveal location-specific effects, which is useful for understanding how to communicate environmental problems to global audiences.

Keywords

exemplars, first-person perception, international, NEP, Third-person effect

Discipline

Communication Technology and New Media | Organizational Communication

Research Areas

Integrative Research Areas

Publication

Environmental Communication

Volume

13

Issue

2

First Page

222

Last Page

238

ISSN

1752-4032

Identifier

10.1080/17524032.2017.1287112

Publisher

Taylor & Francis (Routledge): STM, Behavioural Science and Public Health Titles

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2017.1287112

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