Masters Degrees (Business Management)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Business Management) by Author "Boshoff, Marne"

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    The influence of fear- and guilt-fear appeals on consumers in different stages of change: A study on high-sugar-content products
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Boshoff, Marne; Toerien, Lucea; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Business Management.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : The alarming growth in sugar intake and related health conditions in South Africa has prompted the need for effective warning label interventions on products with a high sugar content to discourage excessive consumption. Despite the need for warning labels, little is known how these labels should be designed to maximise their effectiveness. Although the existing literature provides overwhelming support for the use of fear appeals to discourage unhealthy behaviours, its effectiveness has also been questioned. Consequently, it has been suggested to add guilt to a fear appeal to strengthen persuasive outcomes, given that the two negative emotions complement each other. Guilt arousal in sugar consumption settings seems plausible as the emotion is known to lead to decreased unhealthy choices. However, growing evidence suggests that the emotion can also remind the consumer of the potential pleasure that will be experienced during consumption, which in turn may lead to increased, excessive consumption. Given the contradicting findings on these negative emotional appeals, the current study investigated the effectiveness of fear and guilt-fear appeals, for the recently government-suggested warning labels on high-sugar-content products. When considering the effectiveness of communication appeals in behaviour change contexts, scholars advise against a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, as consumers demonstrate distinct differences that influence their behaviour. More specifically, consumers are at different stages of readiness to change their behaviour, and this level of readiness in turn has an impact on how they respond to communication messages. It is against this background that the study investigated the responses of consumers to the negative emotional appeal warning labels by considering the different stages of change they may be in. A true experimental post-test-only control group design was conducted, with a total sample size of 460 respondents, obtained through convenience sampling. Respondents were classified into their appropriate stage of change and were then randomly exposed to either a fear appeal, a guilt-fear appeal, or they were assigned to the control group. The results indicated that while different negative emotional appeal warning labels did not influence consumers’ cognitive responses differently, it influenced their emotional responses differently. Based on these results, it is recommended that social marketers continue to explore alternative approaches to fear and guilt-fear appeals, as their use does not significantly influence consumers’ cognitive responses. However, when emotional responses are considered, fear appeals in particular are recommended for consumers in the pre-contemplating and those in the preparation stage, and guilt-fear appeals for consumers in the contemplation stage. Overall, three key findings of the study are apparent. Firstly, consumers are not all ready to change their behaviour, and different negative emotional appeals are more effective in eliciting negative emotions among pre-contemplators, contemplators, and those in the preparation stage of change. Meaning, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ warning-label approach might not always be effective. Secondly, however, given the insignificant cognitive responses to the negative emotional appeals in each stage of change, either a fear appeal or a guilt-fear appeal can be used for high-sugar-content product warning labels should social marketers want to target consumers’ cognitive responses only. Finally, despite researchers maintaining that guilt evocation leads to enhanced anticipated pleasure from anticipated consumption, the current study found no support for this argument. In fact, the use of a guilt-fear appeal shows promising results in decreasing anticipated pleasure in certain instances. Therefore, the study concludes that the emotion of guilt can be incorporated on warning labels in high-sugar-content settings.