Purpose

Research is needed regarding how to influence young adults’ patterns of cell phone use while driving, amid social pressures to stay connected to their peers. Such insight could form the basis of a social marketing campaign. This study aims to explore the potential of inoculation and narrative messages as strategies to protect (i.e. generate resistance against) negative attitudes toward texting and driving.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a three-phase experiment, the investigation explored the impact of different communication message strategies (i.e. inoculation, narrative, control) aimed at reducing texting while driving.

Findings

Results indicated that, for college students exposed to messages in support of texting and driving, inoculation messages were superior to both narrative and control messages. These findings can guide the development of strategic social marketing interventions.

Practical implications

Social marketing scholars and practitioners should consider weaving inoculation messages throughout social marketing campaigns focused on this important issue.

Originality/value

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate and compare inoculation and narrative strategies in the context of texting and driving.

中文翻译：

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预防和叙事信息对大学生发短信和驾驶的影响

目的

在与同龄人保持联系的社会压力下，需要研究如何影响年轻人开车时使用手机的模式。这种洞察力可以构成社会营销活动的基础。本研究旨在探索预防和叙事信息作为保护（即产生抵抗）对发短信和驾驶的消极态度的策略的潜力。

设计/方法论/途径

该调查通过三阶段实验，探讨了旨在减少开车时发短信的不同沟通信息策略（即预防、叙述、控制）的影响。

发现

结果表明，对于接触支持短信和驾驶信息的大学生来说，接种信息优于叙述性信息和控制性信息。这些发现可以指导战略性社会营销干预措施的制定。

实际影响

社会营销学者和从业者应该考虑在关注这一重要问题的整个社会营销活动中编织接种信息。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，这是第一项评估和比较发短信和驾驶背景下的接种和叙事策略的研究。