From Clicks to Behaviors: The Mediating Effect of Intentions to Like, Share, and Comment on the Relationship Between Message Evaluations and Offline Behavioral Intentions

Advertisers and marketers are heavily investing in social media marketing in the hope that online engagement will lead to offline behaviors, however the likelihood of the success of this tactic is yet to be fully explored. The current study reports results of four experiments that investigate how the attitude–behavioral intentions relationship is mediated by intentions to like, share, and comment on persuasive social media. The results are mixed with regard to this mediating effect. Findings are discussed in relation to redefining persuasion models within the context of the new media environment and in relation to practical implications of valuing online behaviors.

[1]  Annie Lang,et al.  MiniMAM: Validating a Short Version of the Motivation Activation Measure , 2011 .

[2]  Lisa Henriksen,et al.  Receptivity to alcohol marketing predicts initiation of alcohol use. , 2008, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[3]  Elizabeth Taylor Quilliam,et al.  Between Likes and Shares: Effects of Emotional Appeal and Virality on the Persuasiveness of Anticyberbullying Messages on Facebook , 2013, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[4]  A. Lenhart,et al.  Teens, privacy and online social networks: How teens manage their online identities and personal information in the age of MySpace , 2007 .

[5]  D. McCaffrey,et al.  Does alcohol advertising promote adolescent drinking? Results from a longitudinal assessment. , 2005, Addiction.

[6]  Alan J. Dubinsky,et al.  The theory of planned behavior in e-commerce: Making a case for interdependencies between salient beliefs , 2005 .

[7]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  An Empirical Examination of the Structural Antecedents of Attitude toward the Ad in an Advertising Pretesting Context , 1989 .

[8]  Seok Kang,et al.  The Influence of Viewing an Entertainment–Education Program on Cornea Donation Intention: A Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior , 2008, Health communication.

[9]  P. Lance,et al.  From Subservient Chickens to Brawny Men , 2006 .

[10]  Aaron Smith,et al.  Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites , 2011 .

[11]  R. Scheines,et al.  Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 1977 .

[12]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  The Role of Attitude toward the Ad as a Mediator of Advertising Effectiveness: A Test of Competing Explanations: , 1986 .

[13]  Min-Sun Kim,et al.  Incorporating Culture into the Theory of Planned Behavior: Predicting Smoking Cessation Intentions among College Students , 2006 .

[14]  Peter Fischer,et al.  Bulletin Personality and Social Psychology the Racing-game Effect: Why Do Video Racing Games Increase Risk-taking Inclinations? on Behalf Of: Society for Personality and Social Psychology the Racing-game Effect: Why Do Video Racing Games Increase Risk-taking Inclinations? 1396 Personality and Social , 2022 .

[15]  Terence A. Shimp.  Attitude toward the AD as a Mediator of Consumer Brand Choice , 1981 .

[16]  A. Hayes.  Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach , 2013 .

[17]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research , 1977 .

[18]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[19]  S. Chaiken.  Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. , 1980 .

[20]  J. Parsons,et al.  Perceptions of the benefits and costs associated with condom use and unprotected sex among late adolescent college students. , 2000, Journal of adolescence.

[21]  Peter Fischer,et al.  Virtual driving and risk taking: do racing games increase risk-taking cognitions, affect, and behaviors? , 2007, Journal of experimental psychology. Applied.

[22]  H. Paek,et al.  How Media Campaigns Influence Children's Physical Activity: Expanding the Normative Mechanisms of the Theory of Planned Behavior , 2012, Journal of health communication.

[23]  T. Palfai,et al.  Social influence processes and college student drinking: the mediational role of alcohol outcome expectancies. , 2001, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[24]  Bertram Gawronski,et al.  Dual Process Theories , 2013 .

[25]  H. Saffer.  Alcohol advertising and youth. , 2002, Journal of studies on alcohol. Supplement.

[26]  J. Arnett.  Drunk driving, sensation seeking, and egocentrism among adolescents , 1990 .

[27]  P. Homer.  The Mediating Role of Attitude toward the Ad: Some Additional Evidence , 1990 .

[28]  David Trafimow,et al.  Evidence that the type of person affects the strength of the perceived behavioural control-intention relationship. , 2002, The British journal of social psychology.

[29]  A Mathieson.  Getting the bug. , 1995, Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987).

[30]  Charles D. Barrett.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[31]  L. T. Ross,et al.  Alcohol and Dating Risk Factors for Sexual Assault Among College Women , 1996 .

[32]  Peter Fischer,et al.  The Effects of Risk-Promoting Media on Inclinations Toward Risk Taking , 2008 .

[33]  Franziska Marquart,et al.  Communication and persuasion : central and peripheral routes to attitude change , 1988 .

[34]  Christine E. Rittenour,et al.  College Students' Sexual Health: Investigating the Role of Peer Communication , 2006 .

[35]  M. Conner,et al.  Can the Theory of Planned Behaviour mediate the effects of age, gender and multidimensional health locus of control? , 2002, British journal of health psychology.

[36]  P. Bentler,et al.  Risk factors for drug use among adolescents: concurrent and longitudinal analyses. , 1986, American journal of public health.

[37]  Stephen Griffin,et al.  Attitude change. , 2001, Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987).

[38]  Bob D. Cutler,et al.  Informational/Transformational Advertising , 2000 .

[39]  Kyle R. Andrews,et al.  Parents as Health Promoters: A Theory of Planned Behavior Perspective on the Prevention of Childhood Obesity , 2010, Journal of health communication.

[40]  W. Davison.  The Third-Person Effect in Communication , 1983 .

[41]  Saleem Alhabash,et al.  Redefining virality in less broad strokes: Predicting viral behavioral intentions from motivations and uses of Facebook and Twitter , 2015, New Media Soc..

[42]  David K. Perry,et al.  Viral Marketing or Electronic Word-of-Mouth Advertising: Examining Consumer Responses and Motivations to Pass Along Email , 2004, Journal of Advertising Research.

[43]  Justin W. Patchin,et al.  Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide , 2010, Archives of suicide research : official journal of the International Academy for Suicide Research.

[44]  Colette Langos,et al.  Cyberbullying: The Challenge to Define , 2012, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[45]  Jane D. Brown,et al.  The mass media and American adolescents' health. , 2002, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[46]  H. Wechsler,et al.  College Binge Drinking in the 1990s: A Continuing Problem Results of the Harvard School of Public Health 1999 College Alcohol Study , 2000, Journal of American college health : J of ACH.

[47]  Guy J. Golan,et al.  Creative Strategies in Viral Advertising: An Application of Taylor's Six-Segment Message Strategy Wheel , 2008, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..