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Prior researches on the adoption of mobile health services (MHS) concentrate on the subjective cognitive appraisals resulting in technology adoption, while ignoring how to shape those cognitive appraisals by the objective message design strategies which are easier to operate in practice. Based on protection motivation theory (PMT), the current research aims to explore the antecedents of cognitive appraisals by focusing on message design strategies of fear appeal and coping appeal.

A two-stage scenario-based survey of 204 participants was conducted to collect data. The authors chose SPSS and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) approach with the software LISREL 8.8 to test our model.

The results show that the relationship between fear appeal and fear arousal is inverted U-shaped such that the degree of fear arousal is the greatest when the fear appeal is at a moderate level. Perceived usefulness for the message with negative framing is higher than that with positive framing. Furthermore, fear appeal and coping appeal have a significant interaction on the adoption of MHS at different stages.

The sample data of this study come from a special health service of a special group in China, which limits the universality of our research results for other groups or health care services. Therefore, future researchers can validate the model in other research scenarios and sample populations.

This study shows how fear appeal and coping appeal work together to influence individuals' adoption intention. The authors’ findings expand the theoretical depth of PMT and fear theory, enriching the theoretical connotation of framing effect in mobile health technology adoption context, which add new insights to design more persuasive messages through fear appeal and coping appeal for researchers and MHS providers in mobile health communication or propaganda.

This article aims to lend insight into the consumption situation wherein consumers are unmotivated to try new products or behaviors that they perceive as too difficult to adopt as a result of low self-efficacy.

Two experiments were introduced to test hypotheses. In Studies 1 and 2, we demonstrated that enhancing specific self-efficacy (SSE) by repositioning the self, through marketing messages, increased participants’ behavioral intentions toward difficult to adopt (DTA) products.

In this research, an important issue is elucidated in consumer behavior: a phenomenon wherein consumers lack the motivation, as a result of low self-efficacy (i.e. assessing the disparity between their current situation and some desired goals as too wide to bridge over), to try a product that would benefit them. Thus, the marketer’s role in this case is to convince the consumers that they are able to achieve these goals.

This study focuses on health and fitness products and on the effectiveness of messages targeted at raising SSE among undergraduate students through verbal persuasion. For better generalizability, it is recommended that future research focus on other product categories (e.g. do-it-yourself products, technological products) aimed at other segments (e.g. elderly consumers) and use other means of boosting consumers’ self-efficacy.

The practical importance of the findings is especially relevant in DTA situations in which marketers aim to motivate consumers to engage in effortful consumption tasks.

The uniqueness of our approach is, in addition to introducing the theoretical concepts, to demonstrate that marketers can boost individuals’ self-efficacy by means of marketing messages that emphasize their ability to face challenges and, consequently, increase their preferences, behavioral intentions and financial commitments toward a DTA product.

The quality of the relationship between leaders and their followers appears to be one of the critical determinants of employees’ commitment at work. For instance, it has been empirically established that the impressions that managers convey of themselves to their subordinates, is a critical factor in the leader-follower relationship. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between leaders’ intimidation impression management (IM) and subordinates’ affective job commitment in the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.

The design adopted for this study is the cross-sectional survey design. The questionnaire was utilized to generate data from a sample of 306 employees from the six major telecommunication companies in Nigeria. The Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient was used as the inferential test statistic for assessing the relationship between leaders’ intimidation IM and subordinates’ affective job commitment.

The results showed that leaders’ threat, warning, fear-arousal, and discomfort-arousal all had significant but weak association with subordinates’ affective job commitment. The study thus found that as leaders apply intimidation IM strategies, workers’ sense of emotive attachment to their organization only improves minimally.

Data were generated from employees, indicating that the outcome is based on their perception which may be skewed.

The outcome of the study will help managers in the Nigerian telecommunication industry to avoid the pitfalls that are associated with the arbitrary and excessive use of intimidation as an IM tactic. Rather, they would be guided to encourage good quality leader-member-exchange between them and their subordinates in enhancing individual and organizational performance.

This is the first main work to examine and identify the nature of the predictive effect of leaders’ intimidation IM on subordinates’ affective job commitment in the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of personality traits on the perception of key message characteristics in road safety advertising.

The advertisement uses visual imagery and imagery methods to examine key message characteristics. An online survey questionnaire was used to obtain responses of 947 driver perceptions with various personality traits; and the data are explored using multiple linear-regressions.

The findings of the research indicate the importance of using key message characteristics based upon established scientific theory to developing messages, more particularly in road safety and other social marketing campaigns. The role of personality traits and its relevance also appear to be of primary importance and can be used to segment the market; guide message designs and development, as different personality traits are found to be significant for different message characteristics.

This research varies from preceding efforts as it examines the influence of personality traits on drivers’ perceptions of messages using established scientific theory, and bridging the gap in the research between two main paths of research with reference to fear-based messages: the process that influences an individual response to key messages; and the influences of personality trait differences on message perceptions.

This study extends the knowledge in several essential areas and offers a set of recommendations to assist marketers in developing effective message strategies and segmentation based on personality traits. Besides advancing theory, this study enhances the understanding of how to develop more effective road safety messages that will save lives and prevent injuries.

This study aims to examine the effect of cybersecurity threat and efficacy upon click-through, response to a phishing attack: persuasion and protection motivation in an organizational context.

In a simulated field trial conducted in a financial institute, via PhishMe, employees were randomly sent one of five possible emails using a set persuasion strategy. Participants were then invited to complete an online survey to identify possible protective factors associated with clicking and reporting behavior (N = 2,918). The items of interest included perceived threat severity, threat susceptibility, response efficacy and personal efficacy.

The results indicate that response behaviors vary significantly across different persuasion strategies. Perceptions of threat susceptibility increased the likelihood of reporting behavior beyond clicking behavior. Threat susceptibility and organizational response efficacy were also associated with increased odds of not responding to the simulated phishing email attack.

This study again highlights human susceptibility to phishing attacks in the presence of social engineering strategies. The results suggest heightened awareness of phishing threats and responsibility to personal cybersecurity are key to ensuring secure business environments.

The authors extend existing phishing literature by investigating not only click-through behavior, but also no-response and reporting behaviors. Furthermore, the authors observed the relative effectiveness of persuasion strategies used in phishing emails as they compete to manipulate unsafe email behavior.

High levels of anger have been associated with forensic learning disabled populations. The role of gender within the experience of anger is not clear. This study aims to start exploring the question “Do female forensic patients with learning disabilities have different needs in relation to anger?”

This study used a between‐subjects design with one independent variable: gender. The Novaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory was applied. Scores obtained by 12 females were compared with those of 23 males within a forensic psychiatric service for learning disabled patients.

Significant differences were found between scores, suggesting female forensic patients with learning disabilities experience higher levels of anger than do males, particularly in the arousal domain, and demonstrate difficulties in regulating anger.

The use of a single measure of anger and the small, forensic nature of the sample limits this study. It is recommended that further research address these issues and extend the exploration of this issue to non‐forensic populations.

Gender specific differences, and the potential influence of learning disabilities should be considered when assessing and treating anger difficulties. Female forensic patients with learning disabilities may benefit from a greater emphasis on anger arousal reduction work.

This study highlights how the impact of gender and learning disabilities on the experience of anger is currently insufficiently understood.

This study forms a preliminary study of anger in the under‐researched population of females with learning disabilities.

Firms continue to struggle with end users who do not follow recommended actions for safeguarding information security. Thus, the authors utilize insights gained from studies on heuristic processing of risk information to design cues in fear appeal messages more effectively so as to more strongly engender fear among users, which can in turn lead them to take protective actions toward information security. Specifically, four types of fear appeal cues are identified: numeric risk communication, social distance and goal framing in verbal risk communication and visual risk communication.

Drawing from protection motivation theory, the authors hypothesize that these fear appeal cues can engender fear among users to a greater extent. In addition, the authors hypothesize that users will perceive a higher level of severity and susceptibility when they perceive a large amount of fear. The research hypotheses were tested employing data collected through a laboratory experiment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analyses were performed to analyze the data.

The study's results suggest that numeric and visual risk communication cues in security notices can significantly increase the amount of fear felt by users. In addition, social distance was found to marginally increase the amount of fear felt by users. However, unlike our expectation, goal framing was not found to increase the amount of fear when the other three types of fear appeal cues were also given in a security notice. It was also found that induced fear can increase the severity and susceptibility of threats as perceived by users.

The study contributes to the literature on fear appeal cues designed to promote users' security protection behaviors. No prior study has designed security notices featuring the four different types of fear appeal cues and empirically tested the effectiveness of those cues in inducing fear among users. The findings suggest that the design of fear appeal cues can be improved by understanding individuals' heuristic processing of risk information, which can be subject to cognitive biases.

Recent research including advances in neuro‐imaging indicates a profound effect on brain development as a result of exposure to abuse and neglect in childhood. This new area is called developmental traumatology. Areas of the brain that may particularly be affected are important in arousal control and executive function. Many adolescents presenting to forensic services have histories of neglect and abuse and deficits in key brain developmental functions. The management and treatment options for young people with developmental trauma and forensic needs are explored.

The purpose of the study is to develop a valid measure of stereotype threat.

A convenience sample of 2,900 respondents from different occupational sectors, including managers, engineers and health-care professionals, was used for the present study. The data were collected from various government and private organizations in North India. The questionnaire survey was administered in three phases. During the first phase, 800 questionnaires were circulated, followed by 1,200 questionnaires in the second phase, and the third phase involves 900 questionnaires. The data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

The results indicate nine dimensions, namely, occupational identification, occupational stigma consciousness, gender identification, gender stigma consciousness, religion identification, religion stigma consciousness, caste identification, caste stigma consciousness and negative effect of stereotype threat. The study ensures the reliability and validity of the stereotype threat scale. The measure also fulfils the assumptions of nomological validity.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is the first of its kind to develop and validate the stereotype threat scale adhering to scale development procedures.

Financial threat is defined as fearful-anxious uncertainty regarding one’s current and future financial situation. The purpose of this paper is to examine predictors and outcomes of financial threat in two samples of students who completed an online questionnaire for course credit. The theoretical model the authors proposed tested the association between personal debt, anxiety, and economic hardship with financial threat, and in turn, financial threat’s relationship with willingness to change financial behavior (e.g. increase income, cut expenses, and reduce debt), job search activity, and psychological distress. Consistent across samples, structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that the data fit the model and supported all four hypotheses. Debt, economic hardship, and anxiety were all related positively to financial threat, which itself related positively to willingness to change, job search, and psychological distress. Importantly, financial threat mediated the relationship between these economic-situational predictors and affective-behavioral outcomes of financial stain. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Using an online questionnaire, participants completed measures of economic hardship, intolerance of uncertainty, job search behavior, financial threat, life satisfaction, general health, perceived stress, and willingness to change to financial behavior. The authors developed and tested a model that explores emotional and cognitive reactions to financial stressors following the recession.

Results of SEM revealed that the data fit the model and no modification indices were suggested. Examination of parameter estimates indicated that total debt, economic hardship, and anxiety were positively related to financial threat. Financial threat, in turn, positively related to willingness to change one’s financial behaviors, job search, and psychological distress. In addition, economic hardship and anxiety were positively related to psychological distress. That is, individuals who were feeling more threatened by their financial situation were more willing to change their financial situation and were more likely to engage in job search behavior. They were also more likely to report more psychological distress than individuals reporting lower levels of financial threat.

This study was cross-sectional and therefore precludes causal interpretations of the findings. Longitudinal data with repeated assessments of all measures would help determine the direction of causation. Also, the study relied on self-report data, which is prone to bias. For example, it is possible that some participants did not know their exact debt levels, which may have resulted in an under- or overestimation of debt levels. Future research should extend this line of research using objective measures. While the model tested in this study examined the impact of economic factors on perceived threat, behavior, and psychological distress, it did not include social and psychological resources. For example, the authors did not include measures of social support, coping, or personality, which may moderate the impact of economic variables and stress on psychological distress. Although financial knowledge/literacy was not studied here, future research could include it since it has been associated with a variety of financial behaviors such as cash-flow management, credit management, saving, and investing. There is some evidence that financial literacy can decrease emotional stress and anxiety (Vitt et al., 2000).

The current study can help researchers and practitioners understand the concept of financial threat among university students. For example, if students have incurred student loans and debt and begin displaying symptoms of distress, like anxiousness, worry, and irritability, they could be referred to a professional experienced in working with emotional and behavioral disorders related to financial issues. It can also help practitioners gain an understanding and insight into clients’ poor financial decision making. Government could initiate programs that help individuals cope with the negative effects of unemployment. Given that young people are experiencing disproportionately high unemployment that can have a lasting adverse effect on employment prospects and future earnings, the current post-secondary curriculum needs to prepare young people for the world of work, and gain a footing in the labor market. One way to achieve this is through high-quality work experiences (e.g. internships/apprenticeships). Identifying ways to mitigate the effects of debt and economic hardship is also imperative. For example, money and debt advice may improve one’s financial circumstances, which, in turn, may improve their physical and psychological well-being.

Future studies could focus on developing models predicting to financial stress using personality, psychological resources, and an objective measure of financial knowledge. Despite these limitations, this research demonstrates how emotional factors need to be included in economic models that also include debt and economic hardship. The study contributes to the economic and psychological literature by documenting how economic hardship and debt influence perceptions of threat, planned behavior, and psychological distress. The authors take a unique approach to describing economic hardship and financial threat as antecedents of distress, job search, and willingness to change. Future research could be directed toward employing the model for predicting behavior that would lessen economic stress and thereby leading to increased psychological well-being.

The study develops and tests an original theoretical model linking financial, emotional, and psychological variable in a comprehensive framework that is then tested empirically. This model is original with this paper.