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Although voice endorsement is essential for individuals, teams and organizational performance, leaders who consider followers' voice to be threatening are reluctant to implement followers' ideas. The authors, taking note of this phenomenon, investigate why leaders who feel a threat from followers' voice exhibit voice rejection at the workplace and when this detrimental tendency can be diminished. Thus, based on the self-defense tendency as per self-affirmation theory, the authors argue that those leaders who experience threat triggered by followers' voice, justify voice rejection through the self-defense tactics: message derogation and source derogation. In addition, the authors also propose that a leader's positive (negative) affect experienced before voice exposure may decrease (increase) self-defense and voice rejection.

To test the authors’ moderated mediation model, they conducted two independent vignette studies (N = 269; N = 208). The purpose of the first vignette study was to test the simple mediation (i.e. the direct and indirect effects), whereas the second study aimed to test the moderated mediation model.

In Study 1, the authors found that the leader's perceived threat to competence provoked by followers' voice was positively related to voice rejection, and the relationship was partially mediated by message derogation and source derogation. In line with this, in Study 2, the authors tested the moderated mediation model and replicated the findings of Study 1. They found that the effects of leader's perceived threat to competence on voice rejection through self-defense tactics are weaker (stronger) at the high (low) values of a leader's positive affect. In contrast, the effects of a leader's perceived threat to competence on voice rejection through self-defense tactics are stronger (weaker) at the high (low) values of a leader's negative affect.

This study suggests that leaders who experience a threat to competence instigated by employee voice are more likely to think that ideas proposed by employees are non-constructive and employees who suggest those ideas are not credible, and these appraisals have a direct influence on voice rejection. However, if leaders are in a good mood vs. bad mood, they will be less likely to think negatively about employees and their ideas even when they experience psychological threats. The findings highlight several avenues for future researchers to extend the literature on employee voice management and leadership coaching by providing theoretical and managerial implications.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of self-affirmation on African American smokers' intentions to quit smoking sooner and desire to stop smoking altogether in response to viewing graphic cigarette warning labels. It also tested the mediating role of perceived susceptibility and self-efficacy in explaining the impact of self-affirmation.

African American smokers (N = 158) were recruited to participate in a controlled experiment. Participants first completed a short questionnaire about their demographic background and smoking-related attitudes and behavior. They were then randomly assigned to engage in either a self-affirmation task or a control task and viewed two graphic cigarette warning labels subsequently. Participants then responded to a questionnaire about their perceived susceptibility to smoking-related diseases, perceived self-efficacy to quit smoking, intentions to quit smoking and desire to stop smoking altogether.

Results showed that engaging in self-affirmation prior to exposure to graphic cigarette warning labels increased African American smokers' perceived susceptibility to smoking-related diseases, but decreased their perceived self-efficacy to quit smoking. Furthermore, self-affirmation indirectly enhanced smokers' intentions to quit smoking sooner and desire to stop smoking altogether through increased perceived susceptibility. It also had an unexpected negative indirect effect on intentions to quit smoking sooner through decreased self-efficacy.

This study is one of the few studies that investigates the effect of self-affirmation on African American smokers' responses toward graphic cigarette warning labels.

Tests the effectiveness of three different types of service company employees as advertising spokespersons in an experiment involving print advertisements for a bank and a hotel. Reveals that front‐office employees functioned best as print advertising spokespersons and that CEOs were adequate and back‐office employees were least effective.

In response to concerns regarding frequent uses of emotional appeals and endorsers in DTCA, this paper aims to investigate the relative effects of fear‐eliciting and non‐fear‐eliciting DTC ads on elaboration and attitude change regarding the drug and health issue, and evaluation of endorser credibility.

A between‐subject experiment was conducted with 96 students in a large state university. Fear appeals and endorser credibility were manipulated via stimulus ads. Participants' responses on elaboration, attitudes, and behavior intentions after ad exposure were compared between fear and non‐fear conditions. In addition, the directions of influence among these variables and endorser credibility were examined via path analyses.

Fear elicitation had little effect on the type of elaboration generated since the elaboration was dominated by message‐related (vs endorser‐related) thoughts. However, the fear‐eliciting ad affected brand‐related and health‐related outcomes differentially. It had positive influence on attitudes toward the health issue, but negative influence on ad attitudes. Furthermore, ad attitudes had little impact on brand attitudes or brand‐related behavior intentions when fear was elicited in the ad.

Considering a paucity of research on the effects of emotional appeals and endorsers in DTCA, the authors' findings provide important insights for researchers and practitioners about how a specific emotion elicited in the ad has differential impact on brand‐related and health‐related outcomes and how the effectiveness of emotional appeals and endorser credibility can be maximized.

The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of cigarette warning labels that used text-only or text-plus relevant graphics. The labels were framed in terms of either the negative consequences of smoking (loss frame) or the benefits of not smoking (gain frame). The role of smoking identity – the centrality of being a smoker to one's self-concept – in the effects of the warning labels was also examined.

An experiment was conducted online with 132 college smokers. Participants were randomly assigned to viewing either graphic or text-only labels that were either gain or loss framed. Smoking identity was measure prior to viewing. Message evaluations and smoking intentions were assessed after exposure as dependent measures.

A consistent interaction between graphics and framing emerged across a number of dependent measures. For graphic warning labels, the loss frame was more advantageous than the gain frame. For text-only warning labels, framing did not make any difference. This two-way interaction was further qualified by smoking identity for some, but not all, dependent measures.

Findings from this study support the use of graphic warning labels that focus on the negative health consequences of smoking.

Experimental research on graphic cigarette warning labels is limited and rarely considers the roles of framing and smoking identity. This study offered an initial test of the complex interaction among these message and audience variables as they jointly influence message reception and smoking intentions.

Guilt appeals are increasingly being used in road safety campaigns, despite recent research that has raised doubts about their effectiveness and the potential for triggering defensive responses. Building on the extended parallel process model, this study aims to add to this growing body of research by evaluating whether combining a hope message with guilt appeals can solve this problem.

An online experiment with a 2 (Appeal type: Guilt vs Guilt+hope) × 2 (Language intensity: Low vs High) between-subjects design was conducted. A total of 399 participants recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk were randomized to view one of the four advertisements discouraging texting while driving (TWD). Their affective responses, perceptions about the advertisements and intentions to not TWD were measured.

The results showed that compared to guilt-only appeals, guilt+hope appeals directly reduced defensive responses (i.e. perceived manipulative intent and anger) across varying levels of language intensity. In addition, guilt+hope appeals mitigated the negative impacts of manipulative intent on intended emotions and intentions to not TWD.

Findings of this study mark the first to support the idea that communicating hope within guilt appeals is a promising social marketing strategy to discourage TWD.

Reactance theory is applied to investigate consumer responses to “buy local” campaigns initiated by government to counteract the effects of an economic crisis, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustrative context.

A conceptual model is developed, aimed at revealing the extent to which “buy local” campaigns – explicitly justified by the need to fight an economic crisis – are likely to lead to (a) compliance (i.e. support for local products/retailers) or (b) freedom restoration (i.e. support for foreign products/retailers). The model is subsequently tested on samples of German (N = 265) and Italian (N = 268) consumers.

“Buy local” campaigns are likely to generate reactance amongst consumers and such reactance can lead to both non-compliance and, albeit less so, freedom restoration outcomes. At the same time, consumer ethnocentrism acts as a countervailing influence by attenuating the effects of generated reactance and its undesirable outcomes.

Psychological reactance theory offers a novel perspective for conceptually approaching the likely responses of consumers towards “buy local” campaigns and the empirical findings support the use of the theory in this context.

Policymakers seeking to encourage consumers to support the local economy during times of an economic crisis need to be aware that “buy local” campaigns may, against their intended communication goals, result in non-compliance as well as consumer responses in the opposite direction. Thus, the reactance-generating potential of such campaigns needs to be explicitly considered at the planning/implementation stage.

The findings confirm the relevance of reactance theory as a conceptual lens for studying the effects of “buy local” campaigns and have important implications for domestic/foreign firms as well as for policy makers seeking to encourage consumers to support the local economy during times of an economic crisis.

The purpose of the study is to highlight the relevance of reactance theory for modeling consumer responses to COVID restrictions. The study also aims to critically evaluate the appropriateness of the most established reactance model (the intertwined model) for studying reactance specifically in relation to freedom threats arising from measures aimed at combatting the spread of the pandemic.

Following a conceptual analysis of the intertwined model of reactance, structural equation modeling is applied to Rain's (2013) meta-analytic data to compare the model to alternative model specifications.

The analysis reveals both conceptual and statistical shortcomings of the intertwined model of reactance in its current/traditional form. It also draws attention to other model specifications that provide just as good statistical fit and offer promising alternative ways of modeling reactance in a COVID context.

The study is the first attempt to explicitly discuss conceptual and statistical problems associated with the most widely accepted model of reactance, illustrate these issues with specific reference to consumer reactions to COVID restrictions, identify alternative promising model specifications and suggest a respecification of the intertwined model.

This study examines a controversial issue (biotechnology) and how news disputes about misinformation related to the issue impacts individuals' attitudes toward a biotechnology company and their trust in the media source.

This study conducts a 2 (risk: low vs. high) x 2 (pre-existing attitude: anti gene-editing technology vs. pro gene-editing technology) x 2 (dispute message: absent vs. present) x 2 (media source: Buzzfeed vs NYT) factorial online experiment using a Qualtrics panel (N = 1,080) to examine the impact on individuals' attitudes toward a biotechnology company and trust in the media source.

Results indicate that dispute messages enhance attitudes toward the company but decrease trust in media sources. Interaction effects between pre-existing attitude and the dispute message, along with perceived risk and the dispute message, illustrate stark differences in how individuals with favorable vs. unfavorable pre-existing attitudes assessed the company after viewing the dispute message.

This study applies arguments from extant literature about prebunking and debunking misinformation. Specifically, this study investigates how dispute messages, a form of debunking through source derogation, actually impact individuals' perceptions of media credibility and/or their attitudes about the content they are reading. The study findings also reveal new insights regarding the interaction between pre-existing attitudes and perceived risk, as well as how dispute messages interact with each of the aforementioned factors.

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the consequences of using national celebrities, local celebrities and disaster victims as spokespersons in a public service radio announcement (PSA) soliciting contributions for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Subjects were exposed to one of three public service announcements and were then asked to report their reactions to the messages. Differences in the self‐reported reactions of subjects were used to test a series of hypotheses regarding the effectiveness of the three different types of spokespersons.

The paper finds that the hurricane victim was the most credible and believable spokesperson. The national celebrity, Ashlee Simpson, was the least credible and the least believable. The local celebrity was more credible and believable than the national celebrity, but no more so than the hurricane victim.

In this paper a small student sample was used in an experimental setting involving one set of stimuli and one set of spokespersons. It cannot be said that the results would generalize to other celebrities, non‐celebrities, video formats, or non‐experimental settings.

The paper shows that nonprofit agencies considering using celebrity spokespersons in PSAs should do so with caution. There is no evidence that they increase their effectiveness and, at least in the case of the national celebrity, the use of national celebrities may reduce the effectiveness of the PSA.

The paper applies the concepts developed in the study of celebrity spokespersons in advertising and applies them to PSAs. The effects of celebrity spokespersons in PSAs are not the same as in conventional advertising messages.