An exploratory study of order effect in persuasive communication

Abstract

In order to test for the existence of order effect in persuasive communication, four short speeches on the topic of a guaranteed annual income were transmitted via video tape to eight groups with the serial combination of the messages based on the pro‐con and weak/strong dimensions. While the general hypothesis that audience evaluation is a function of the order of presentation was not supported, seven specific interactions were observed to result from the factors of message strength, sequential length, and message valence.