Abstract
This study synthesized components of the elaboration likelihood model with recent theorizing on persuasion through narrative. Specifically, it examines the relationship of perceived salience, transportation, and character identification with respect to narrative, argument, and combination (narrative +argument) messages. Two hundred fifty-five university students were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 conditions, read a blog about the institution of an exit exam policy at an unnamed university, and filled out an online questionnaire. As anticipated, salience was found to mediate the relationship between transportation and acceptance of the message when narrative messages were followed by epilogues. Participants in the narrative condition were more accepting of the message than participants in the argument condition.
Notes
*p < .05; **p < .01.