Goal Compatibility and Emotional Intensity: An Experimental Study of Graphic Images in Strategic Communication

• Main Author: Klinger, Lauren Marie
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholar Commons 2011
• Subjects: attitude; behavioral intention; public relations; sadness; willingness to communicate; American Studies; Arts and Humanities; Mass Communication
• Online Access: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3186; http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4381&context=etd

The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine receiver variables involved in strategic communications and to look specifically at the use of graphic images in strategic communication materials. It argues that any complete, general model of persuasion effects will include both goal compatibility and emotional determinants. It argues that some influential theories used in strategic communications scholarship, including the situational theory of publics and the elaboration likelihood model, are incomplete because they have omitted these variables. This study also tests variables related to willingness to communicate, behavioral intention, and attitude towards the organization. These variables are drawn from prominent, well-tested theories in strategic communications, and used to begin building a new model of the effects of messages featuring graphic images.