The ambivalence story: using refutation to counter the negative effects of ambivalence in two-sided messages

Abstract

This research establishes attitude ambivalence as an explanation for previous inconsistent results concerning two-sided messages’ effectiveness. The results of a regression study show that the more ambivalence a two-sided message evokes, the less effective it is in terms of attitudes and intentions (study 1a). In a second study (study 1b), we validate this effect in a between-subjects factorial design, and confirm that when a two-sided message evokes high (vs. low) ambivalence, message effectiveness deteriorates. Study 2 shows that these dire effects of high ambivalence in two-sided messages can be resolved by explicitly refuting the negative attributes in the message. Refutational messages overcome the negative effects of high ambivalence on attitudes and intentions. This research advances and deepens literature on message sidedness and refutational messages, while also offering practical recommendations on how to remedy cases of high ambivalence in two-sided messages.

Keywords:

• Two-sided messages
• subjective attitude ambivalence
• refutation
• attitudes
• purchase intentions

Disclosure statement

There was no conflict of interest or relationship, financial or otherwise, that could have been perceived as influencing the authors’ objectivity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erlinde Cornelis

Erlinde Cornelis, Ph.D. (San Diego State University) is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Fowler College of Business. Her research interests include persuasion, consumer psychology, wellbeing and health, social and environmental marketing, and entrepreneurship. She currently conducts experimental studies in the areas of attitude ambivalence, message sidedness, crowdfunding, morality, and biophilic design. Her work has been published in international journals such as Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Advertising, European Journal of Marketing, amongst others.

Nico Heuvinck

Nico Heuvinck, Ph.D. (IESEG School of Management) is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at IÉSEG School of Management. His research focuses on behavioral economics, irrational consumer behavior, nudging, health & wellbeing, sensory marketing, store atmospherics, goals, motivation, and attitude theory. His research was published in international journals such as the Journal of Consumer Research and has been mentioned by international media outlets such as The Times, The Independent, The Mirror, The Sun, The Daily Mail, Metro, De Telegraaf, and The Marketing Science Institute.

Anuja Majmundar

Anuja Majmundar, M.B.A., M.A. (University of Southern California) is a Doctoral student in Health Behavior Researcher at the Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine (University of Southern California). She is interested in behavioral science, message design and persuasion. Her interdisciplinary work is published in marketing and medical journals and has been featured in several news outlets including Quartz, US News & World, Washington Post and Business Insider.