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The purpose of this paper is to understand how framing messages about earthquake risk affect judgements about legislation requiring the strengthening of earthquake-prone buildings.

Scenarios described the legislation with a general population sample (n=271). Two types of framing effects were examined in a 2 (valence frame: positive or negative or positive) by 2 (numerical format frame: frequency/number or percentage) experimental design.

Scenarios reporting the number of earthquake-prone buildings (negative frequency format) increased support for the earthquake-strengthening legislation more than the same message framed positively (frequency number of resilient building) or as a percentage. Demographic variables such as previous earthquake experience and gender interacted with the framing effects, and other variables also predicted support for the legislation were identified.

These results have direct implications for the use of framing effects messages in communications about earthquake risk and the wider domain.

This is the first study to show that the way the risk is framed affects citizens’ judgement of the value of earthquake legislation.

Cause-related marketing (CRM) is a sales strategy that is used to improve the success of a product by including a donation to a charitable cause in its price. While marketers can present CRM donations to consumers as either absolute amounts or percentages, the predominant practice in marketing is to use the latter. As the influence of such presentation formats is not well understood, the purpose of this paper is to systematically examine their effects while taking into account the numerical ability (numeracy) of the consumers.

In two experiments, the presentation format of the donation amounts (absolute vs percentage) were manipulated and individual differences in numeracy were measured. The product type (hedonic vs utilitarian) and sales price were varied. We found this effect for high and low price levels and for hedonic and utilitarian products.

The results of both experiments consistently supported the hypothesis presented in this paper that for people with lower numeracy, their purchase intentions were higher when absolute donation amounts were presented. We found this effect for high and low price levels and for hedonic and utilitarian products.

The present paper shows that the current practice of presenting donations in percentages is inferior to presenting donations in absolute amounts because a large number of consumers have trouble interpreting percentages appropriately. Therefore, it indicates that the default option for marketing managers should be to present donations in absolute amounts for hedonic and utilitarian products with low and high prices.

This study examined subjective numeracy and its relationship with accounting judgements on probability issues.

A subjective numeracy scale (SNS) questionnaire was distributed to 231 accounting students to measure self-evaluated numeracy. Modified Bayesian reasoning tasks were applied in an accounting-related probability estimation, manipulating presentation formats.

The study revealed a positive relationship between self-evaluated numeracy and performance in accounting probability estimation. The findings suggest that switching the format of probability expressions from percentages to frequencies can improve the performance of participants with low self-evaluated numeracy.

Adding objective numeracy measurements could enhance results. Future numeracy research could add objective numeracy items and assess whether this influences participants' self-perceived numeracy. Based on this sample population of accounting students, the findings may not apply to large populations of accounting-information users.

Investors' ability to exercise sound judgement depends on the accuracy of their probability estimations. Manipulating the format of probability expressions can improve probability estimation performance in investors with low self-evaluated numeracy.

This study identified a significant performance gap among participants in performing accounting probability estimations: those with high self-evaluated numeracy performed better than those with low self-evaluated numeracy. The authors also explored a method other than additional training to improve participants' performance on probability estimation tasks and discovered that frequency formats enhanced the performance of participants with low self-evaluated numeracy.

The objective of this paper is to examine the framing effects of discount presentation format in comparative price advertising in a low‐price and a high‐price product context. In particular, the authors study whether identical discounts presented in percentage and absolute terms result in different consumer perceptions of transaction value and purchase intention. Although price promotions have been the subject of previous research, a closer examination of the potential moderating influence of discount size in both contexts is warranted.

Two separate experiments were designed to isolate the effects of the manner in which discounts are numerically expressed and the size of the discount on consumers' perceptions of a retail price promotion in a low‐price and a high‐price product context.

The effects of discount framing in comparative price promotions are found to be influenced by discount size in the case of the low‐product context but not the high‐price one.

It is recommended that the study be replicated for other types of low‐price and high‐price products to confirm the generalisability of the results for each product context.

Retail managers' choice of discount presentation format for both low‐ and high‐price product contexts, and in the case of the former the additional manipulation of discount size, have an impact on the ability of comparative price promotions to accelerate purchases. Meanwhile policy makers should continue to assign significant time and resources to investigating concerns about misleading price comparison based promotions.

The paper provides original insights into the importance of considering the joint effects of discount presentation format and discount size on consumers' perceptual and behavioural responses to retail price promotions, unlike previous research, which has examined these framing effects separately.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between consumer risk perceptions and behaviour when information about food risks is framed in a positive or negative way.

Using food consumption scenarios in an on-line experiment consumers perceived risk and risk tolerance is examined when messages are framed in three different news-type stories.

As anticipated, message framing emerged as a significant predictor of perceived risk and the higher an individual’s self-reported tolerance of risk, the more risk they were willing to accept.

The use of hypothetical scenarios and relatively small convenience sample size could be improved by further research.

Through simple adjustments to wording, food crises of confidence may be reduced and the implications for communication management strategies are discussed.

Originality stems from being one of the first papers to use Framing and Prospect Theory in a food crisis situation, in which both risk and framing are operationalised in different ways and the risk was not specified by the researcher. Also, unlike previous research identical numerical facts were framed in a positive, negative or neutral light by changing the wording.

This study examines whether the absolute number heuristic holds for consumers' responses to higher-priced versus lower-priced products. Further, it explores whether the different construal level as induced from presence or absence of a product image can be a boundary condition for the absolute number heuristic.

Four experiments were conducted. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were presented with a discount either in the amount off or percent off format, for products whose prices were 99 Yuan, 100 Yuan and 101 Yuan, respectively. In Experiment 3, the prices were changed to be 90 Yuan, 900 Yuan and 9,000 Yuan, respectively. In Experiment 4, the prices were 48 Yuan and 480 Yuan, respectively.

Experiment 1 showed neither main effect of discount frame nor interaction between price level and discount frame for all dependent variables (i.e. willingness to pay or WTP, purchase intention, attitude and perceived value), thus posing a challenge to the absolute number heuristic. Notably, the lack of main effect and interaction for purchase intention, attitude and perceived value were replicated in Experiments 2, 3 and 4. With WTP being the dependent variable, however, Experiment 4 showed that the effect of discount frame was dependent on price level.

The current findings pose a challenge to the absolute number heuristic and contribute to the literature by revealing that the joint effects of price level and discount frame can be moderated by whether an ad contains the product image.

It is necessary for marketers to realize that inclusion of a product image may eliminate the effect of discount frame. Specifically, in terms of promoting a relatively expensive product, in order for the percent off discount to enhance the amount of money that consumers are willing to pay, an ad without a product image may be more favorable.

The current study is the first to challenge the absolute number heuristic by showing that the interaction between price level and discount frame is contingent on whether an ad contains the product image.

Previous research indicates that the goals consumers have when shopping influence their attention to and processing of information they encounter. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of consumers' pre‐purchase goals on their responses to price promotions.

In three experiments, the existence of consumer goals (i.e. with or without a pre‐purchase goal) were manipulated and promotion characteristics including message framing, promotion format, and promotion depth were systematically varied to examine how consumers respond to these price promotions.

Consumers with a pre‐purchase goal were found to be more attracted to the promotion than those without a goal. More importantly, pre‐purchase goals interact with promotion characteristics and produce differential effects on willingness to buy. Consumers with a pre‐purchase goal are more attracted to promotions emphasizing reduced losses while those without a goal responded more favorably toward promotions emphasizing gains. Moreover, consumers with and without a pre‐purchase goal respond differently to various discount levels.

Existing research on price promotions has not examined the influence of consumers' pre‐purchase goals. This paper brings a new dimension to price promotion research. Understanding these variations in pre‐purchase goals across consumers will help sellers design more effective promotion programs

The purpose of this paper is to review evidence related to the factors that influence people's understanding of health information and how miscommunication of health information can jeopardize people's health.

A literature review was conducted of English language articles, cited in major literature databases from the last 40 years, which describe factors related to comprehension of health information. A total of 93 articles were included.

The paper finds that health communication should take into consideration the role of the following factors on the processing and interpretation of health information: health literacy, format presentation of information, and human cognitive biases and affective/personal influences.

Health communication is a major component of health care. Every health care encounter involves exchange of information, which is intended to enhance people's knowledge in order to assist them to make an informed decision about their health care. However, the mere act of providing information does not guarantee comprehension. People's comprehension of information depends on several factors, including health literacy and numeracy skills, the format presentation of health information and human cognitive biases in the information processing and interpretation. Ineffective health communication can result in a wide range of direct and indirect health consequences including failure to understand and comply with treatment, poorer health status, increased risk of injuries, increased hospitalization, and decreased use of preventive services.

This paper provides health professionals and educators with an overview of important issues related to health communication and highlights strategies that facilitate effective communication to help people to make informed decisions about their health care.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the framing of numbers may be related to the distance between the information provider and information users.

The design of the paper is a case study, in an organizational situation where there are perceived problems in producing stable inscriptions for reporting to users at a distance. The study focuses on the top management level in a small‐sized publicly‐funded theater. The qualitative research design incorporates interviews, observations and document analysis.

The paper illustrates how knowledge and understanding of the circumstances of measurement form a substantial part of what constitutes “distance” between an accounting user and the referred context. It is argued that the framing of numbers may be utilized as a means to control action at a distance. The findings also imply that the use of measurements regarding intangibles may be perceived as useful for purposes beyond internal management.

The paper contributes in two ways to prior research on accountability relations and accounting as an enabler of action at a distance: it elaborates on what constitutes a distance, and it also adds an emphasis on reciprocal behavior by the provider of information in an accountability relation.

This study aims to analyze the relationship between the nonpathological traits of narcissism and decisions under conditions of uncertainty and risk in light of the prospect (PT) and fuzzy-trace theories (FTT).

This paper conducted an empirical-theoretical study with 210 Brazilian academics from the business area (accountants and managers), using a self-reported questionnaire to collect data. This paper analyzed the data through descriptive statistical techniques, correlation, test of hypotheses and logistic regression.

The results point to a lower disposition of respondents to narcissistic traits, although the characteristics of self-sufficiency, authority, exploitation and superiority have been demonstrated. Most participants chose the sure gain in positive scenarios and risk in light of possibility of losses. However, those with high levels of narcissism showed higher propensity to make risky decisions, both in positive and negative scenarios.

The empirical results about risky decision-making behavior of individuals with narcissist traits spur further investigation on the impacts of attitudes and behaviors in organizations as they are affected by psychosocial factors. These attitudes and behaviors, reflected in administrative and financial reports, influence future decisions of investors.

The interaction between the areas of business administration and psychology in regard to the effects of the narcissist personality trait and the FTT is both original and valuable for the business area. The simplest scenario based on the FTT theory can help eliminate issues around the interpretation and complexities of calculations regarding decision-making scenarios in PT format.