Does Culture Matter?: A Cross-National Investigation of Women's Responses to Cancer Prevention Campaigns

Abstract

We examined how culture influences the persuasive effects of health campaigns that promote early screening for cancers that occur in women. Two message dimensions were included: individualistic vs. collectivistic appeal and gain vs. loss frame. A total of 955 females from three countries—the United States, South Korea, and Japan—participated in the experiment. From the results, we found that message framing alone did not significantly influence the effectiveness of public campaigns for women's cancer prevention; and this tendency was similar across the three countries. Gain-framed messages are likely to be more persuasive when combined with a collectivistic appeal, however, whereas loss-framed messages tend to be more effective when combined with an individualistic appeal in both the United States and South Korea; but this result was not the case for Japan. Based on the findings, we suggested theoretical and managerial implications as well as several directions for future research.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the SRC Research Center for Women's Diseases of Sookmyung Women's University.