Typologies of rejected requests and compliance-resistance strategies in various interpersonal influence contexts

ABSTRACT

This study examined compliance resistance to highlight the active role of persuasion targets in interpersonal influence interactions. The data gathered from 242 respondents through an online questionnaire were used to identify the types of rejected requests and the strategies used to refuse compliance. Findings from a qualitative content analysis revealed four categories that formed a request typology: requests (1) for company or presence, (2) for action (benefitting the agent, benefitting other people), (3) for material support, and (4) for relational commitment. The messages utilized to communicate compliance resistance were grouped into two: refusals (1) with another verbal message and (2) with no other remark. The verbal expressions of refusal belonging to the first category were each accompanied by a simple explanation, a message of apology and/or gratitude, an offer of future commitment, or a proposal of alternative. The various kinds of denied requests and the different techniques persuasion targets use to convey noncompliance demonstrate that refusal to comply is not merely a passive reaction to a compliance-gaining effort.

Author note

This paper is part of the author’s doctoral dissertation submitted to The University of Alabama (UA). Although this research was done during the author’s doctoral program at UA, he declares both the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) and UA as his institutional affiliations because he was a regular faculty member on study leave at UPD while he was doing his PhD at UA. Prior to its acceptance for publication in this journal, an earlier version of this paper was accepted for presentation at the 73rd Annual International Communication Association Conference.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank his dissertation advisor, Dr. Joshua R. Pederson, for guiding him in the process of writing his doctoral dissertation from which this paper is derived.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by research funds from the Graduate School and the College of Communication and Information Sciences of The University of Alabama. The author also acknowledges the Office of the Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Diliman, through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development, for funding support through the PhD Incentive Award.