No abstract

Expectancy value models (EVM) explain attitudes (evaluation), decision, and volitional behavior as outcomes of dispassionate processing of beliefs associating attitude objects (including decisions and potential actions, and more) with perceived attributes. More specifically, the strength and evaluation of each association are combined across all beliefs to determine overall response. EVM are predicated on the assumption that people will form attitudes, make decisions, and act in ways that maximize subjective expected values. Numerous specific models have woven these ideas into a variety of competing causal structures, as scholars elaborated on the processes linking EV, decision, and action. For example, normative considerations, perceived behavioral control, and intention formation have been added to some models. Although EVM were among the most productive frames for research from the 1970s into the 1990s, with applications to a wide range of volitional behavior (e.g., political, health, consumer), use has declined in recent years, with most applications focusing on use of new media. Several limitations and corresponding developments of alternative psychological models, such as dual‐process theory, among others, account for these trends.

No abstract

Background: Previous public health research has demonstrated that barbershop services in Sub-Saharan Africa involve close-shaving styles that may irritate the skin or cause injuries particularly among clients with razor bumps. Barbershop services may also facilitate client-to-client transmission of pathogens because they involve reuse of sharp implements (e.g., clippers) and other tools (e.g., brushes, towels and combs). The above concerns are compounded by limited access to adequate sanitization products in reasonably-priced barbershops. Focus of the Article: The goal of this formative research was therefore to identify and assess the structure of hygiene and hair care beliefs to be targeted by a social marketing intervention by integrating elements of the marketing mix and fundamental assumptions of the information-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model. Research Questions: To elicit hygiene and hair care beliefs, respondents were asked to state up to 9 beliefs specific to hygiene and safety information, perceived consequences of raising hygiene and safety concerns in barbershops (motivational beliefs) and efficacy skills in practicing hygiene and safety behaviors. To assess structural adequacy of the proposed IMB model, beliefs underlying information and motivation were hypothesized to be positively associated with beliefs underlying hygiene and safety negotiation skills as well as frequency of close-shave practices. To determine whether parameters of IMB model might differ across rural and urban settings, the following research question was considered: do individual paths and mediating mechanisms operate differently across rural and urban IMB models? Importance to the Social Marketing Field: This research provides empirical evidence for the integration of social marketing principles within the IMB framework and the potential of such integration in developing formative propositions for social marketing interventions in low-income contexts. Methods: This research was conducted in two phases. In phase one, data from a semi-structured survey ( N = 65) were analyzed to identify modal salient beliefs and set up subsequent survey research. Phase two consisted in collecting cross-sectional survey data ( N = 622) and using exploratory and structural equation modeling to assess the proposed model. Results: Together, identified beliefs and statically significant associations between IMB variables suggest that barbershop clients experience ambivalence toward risks associated with barbershop use, the relative benefits of alternative behaviors (e.g., use of personal shaving kits) and what it would cost them to receive the benefits. Recommendations for Research or Practice: Results in this study call attention to various ways in which the marketing mix can be used—to not only provide ecologically relevant information and increase motivation but also sell the benefits of hygienic barbershop use, offset prices of safer practices and draw attention of policy makers. There was no evidence of moderated mediation or moderation across individual paths to support significant differences between respondents in urban and rural settings, suggesting that a single-group model can be used to design interventions in both settings. Limitations: Future research should pre-test specific intervention features to identify audience reactions to preliminary propositions discussed in the current study.

This entry provides an overview of problematic integration (PI) theory, its relationship to communication, application to health communication, and evaluation in contexts where meaning is likely to be troublesome. PI theory posits that problematic meanings arise due to different forms of uncertainty (when we are not sure what to believe), ambivalence (when evaluative meanings are conflictual), divergence (when the desirable is unlikely or the undesirable is likely), and impossibility (when the desirable is simply out of reach or when the undesirable is inescapable or certain). The vast majority of PI applications have been in the domain of health communication where it has helped researchers refine forms of troublesome meanings in domains that involve uncertainty such as sex, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, genetics, hypercholesterolemia, aging, moving to assisted living, experiences with cancer (e.g., prostate, breast), advance care planning, end‐of‐life decision making, and hospice. A notable claim suggested by PI theory is that communication will be most valuable as a coping resource when adapted to specific forms of PI. However, communication may be problematic when uncertainty is “ontological” or when the problematic meanings involve ambivalence or impossibility.