The effects of five public information campaigns: The role of interpersonal communication

Adriana Solovei, Bas van den Putte*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

For five Dutch public information campaigns, this study assessed whether interpersonal communication mediated the effects of exposure (to TV, radio, or online banners) on five persuasive outcomes: awareness, knowledge, attitude, intention, and self-reported behavior. Structural equation modeling was used to test 23 models relating exposure to one of these outcome variables. Few direct effects of media exposure were found (for online banners, TV, and radio in, respectively, one, four, and seven of the 23 models). In contrast, results revealed that interpersonal communication had direct effects on the outcomes in 17 of the 23 models. Moreover, indirect effects of media exposure via interpersonal communication were found for online banner, TV, and radio exposure in, respectively, eight, nine, and ten models. These results indicate that interpersonal communication plays an important role in explaining media exposure persuasive effects and should be taken into account in the development and evaluation of public information campaigns.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)586-602
Number of pages17
JournalCommunications-European Journal of Communication Research
Volume45
Issue numbers1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2020

Keywords

  • BEHAVIOR
  • DIFFUSION
  • HEALTH COMMUNICATION
  • IMPACT
  • MASS-MEDIA
  • SEEKING
  • interpersonal communication
  • media exposure effects
  • public information campaigns

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