Explaining the Effectiveness of the Integrated Model of Advice-Giving in Supportive Interactions: The Mediating Roles of Politeness and Normativeness

Abstract

The current study examined the effect of the Integrated Model of Advice-giving (Emotional Support—Problem Inquiry and Analysis—Advice) on recipients’ responses to advice, exploring the mediating roles of perceived regard for face and normativeness. Participants read and responded to a conversation in which they received advice from a friend regarding a problematic situation. Results indicated that perceived regard for positive face mediated the relationship between the sequential placement of emotional support and recipients’ responses to advice. Neither perceived regard for face nor normativeness mediated the relationship between the sequential placement of problem inquiry and analysis and recipients’ responses to advice. Findings of this study suggest that the provision of emotional support has a primary role in IMA and is effective in addressing the positive face needs of advice recipient.

Keywords:

• Advice
• Emotional Support
• Evaluation of Advice Quality
• Facilitation of Coping
• Implementation Intention
• Normativeness
• Problem Inquiry and Analysis
• Regard for Face

Notes

^[1] Given the documented role of gender in supportive communication (e.g., Burleson et al., 2005), the gender of advice giver may influence participants’ perceptions and responses. However, since gender is not a variable of theoretical interest in the current study, we decided not to specify the friend’s gender in the hypothetical scenarios.

^[2] The MEDIATE macro uses the ordinary least squares regression to estimate both direct and indirect effects. It is exclusively used to assess mediation effects. Thus, we chose this macro to fit the purpose of the present study.

^[3] Problem type was included in the current experimental design to assess generalizability of findings. Preliminary analyses were conducted to examine if problem type had any interaction with the independent variables or mediators in their effects on the dependent variables. No interaction was detected. Given that problem type was not a variable of theoretical interest and the absence of interaction between problem type and the independent variables or the mediators, it was not analyzed further in the subsequent hypothesis-testing analyses.