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Adding Regret to Fear Appeals: When the Going Gets Difficult, Regret Gets Action
Author(s) -
Passyn Kirsten
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/joca.12254
Subject(s) - regret , psychology , salient , task (project management) , social psychology , action (physics) , perception , fear appeal , inclusion (mineral) , cognitive psychology , economics , law , political science , computer science , physics , management , quantum mechanics , machine learning , neuroscience
In accord with Protection Motivation Theory, this article finds fear appeals ineffective at motivating health protection behaviors perceived to be difficult; when task difficulty is high, there is a decrease in perceptions of self‐efficacy and a reduction in health protection behaviors. This research examines a novel way to motivate health protection when task difficulty is salient by adding regret to fear appeals. The inclusion of regret, an emotion that motivates corrective behavioral change, bolsters self‐efficacy and enhances health protection intentions. In fact, even when task difficulty is made salient, self‐efficacy and behavioral intentions remain strong in the fear plus regret condition. Thus, in contrast to straight fear appeals, adding regret to fear appeals results in a reversal effect enhancing self‐efficacy and behavioral intentions when task difficulty is made salient. This research highlights the independence of task difficulty, self‐efficacy, and the role of regret in motivating difficult health protection behaviors.