An application of deviance regulation theory to organ donation promotion

ABSTRACT

Deviance regulation theory proposes that when a behavior is seen as common, a loss-frame message should be more effective; conversely, when a behavior is seen as uncommon, a gain-frame message should be more effective. The current study tests deviance regulation theory in the context of organ donation promotion. Non-donors (N = 386) were randomly assigned to view messages in a 2 (norm: high vs. low) x 2 (frame: gain vs. loss) factorial design. Dependent variables included behavioral intention and information seeking. Results were inconsistent with deviance regulation theory’s proposed interaction between norm and message frame. Rather, there was a main effect such that participants who read a low norm message engaged in greater information seeking than those who read a high norm message. Notably, the high norm message was seen as less believable than the low norm message. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Norms
• message framing
• organ donation

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Tobias Tylus for help designing the message stimuli.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/z5g8m/?view_only=322a774f747c4d7fb21d3ded65dadbb8

Open scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badge for Open Materials. The materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/z5g8m/?view_only=322a774f747c4d7fb21d3ded65dadbb8.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Percentages may not add up to 100% as participants were able to select one or more categories for race/ethnicity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tobias Reynolds-Tylus

Tobias Reynolds-Tylus (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2018) is an assistant professor in the School of Communication Studies at James Madison University. His research interests include health communication, persuasion, health campaigns, and media representations of health. To date, much of his work has been focused on the design and evaluation of organ donor registration campaigns.