ABSTRACT

Social media messages promoting vaccination are often presented with information showing (a) the number of Likes received (i.e., ‘number of Likes’ cue) and (b) whether such messages are liked by friends or followers of the recipients (i.e., ‘Liked by’ cue). This study examines if and how these cues influence vaccination intention by implementing an experiment with a 2 (‘Liked by’ cue: no vs. yes) × 2 (‘number of Likes’ cue: low vs. high) between-subjects factorial design with current flu immunization status as a measured moderator. Results from an experimental study (N = 182) showed that exposure to ‘Like’ cues including ‘Liked by’ cue and ‘number of Likes’ cue in a social media post led to favorable behavioral intention toward the flu vaccine through perceived descriptive social norms. The indirect effect of ‘Like’ cues on behavioral intention toward the flu vaccine through perceived normative perceptions was greater among participants without current immunization status while the direct effect of ‘Like’ cues on behavioral intention was not significant. Collectively, the results of this study offer important theoretical and practical implications for interactive health marketing communication endeavors on social media.

摘要

宣传疫苗接种的社交媒体消息通常会附带显示以下信息：(a) 收到的点赞数（即“点赞数”提示）和 (b) 此类消息是否被接收者的朋友或关注者点赞（即“点赞数”）通过'提示）。本研究通过实施 2（“喜欢”提示：否与是）× 2（“喜欢数量”提示：低与高）受试者间因子设计实验，探讨这些提示是否以及如何影响疫苗接种意愿。以当前的流感免疫状况作为衡量的调节因素。实验研究结果 ( N = 182）表明，在社交媒体帖子中接触“喜欢”提示（包括“喜欢”提示和“喜欢数量”提示）会通过感知的描述性社会规范，导致对流感疫苗产生有利的行为意图。在目前没有免疫状态的参与者中，“喜欢”线索通过感知到的规范认知对流感疫苗行为意图的间接影响更大，而“喜欢”线索对行为意图的直接影响并不显着。总的来说，这项研究的结果为社交媒体上的互动健康营销传播工作提供了重要的理论和实践意义。