The impact of frequent appeals to authority on public response to climate change communication: Evidence from text analysis and online experiments
DOI:
Author:
Affiliation:

Clc Number:

Fund Project:

  • Article
  • |
  • Figures
  • |
  • Metrics
  • |
  • Reference
  • |
  • Related
  • |
  • Cited by
  • |
  • Materials
  • |
  • Comments
    Abstract:

    Appeal to authority is a wellrecognized strategy in climate communication aimed at improving public response. However, existing research has primarily assessed the inclusion of this strategy, neglecting the impact of its frequency on public response. This study explores how the frequency of appeals to authority influences public response to climate communication and how the type of authority structure moderates this influence, using comprehensive text analysis and two experimental studies. The results reveal that frequent appeals to authority, compared to occasional ones, significantly reduce public attitude and emotional response to climate communication, mediated by the perceived intent to persuade. This conclusion holds only under a lowequilibrium authority type structure. Conversely, in a highequilibrium authority type structure, frequent appeals to authority significantly enhance public attitude and emotional response, independent of the perceived intent to persuade. These insights offer valuable guidance for effectively utilizing the appeal to authority strategy in climate communication, aiming to improve public response.

    Reference
    Related
    Cited by
Get Citation
Share
Article Metrics
  • Abstract:
  • PDF:
  • HTML:
  • Cited by:
History
  • Received:
  • Revised:
  • Adopted:
  • Online: January 20,2025
  • Published:
You are the th visitor Address:Room 908, Building A, 25th Teaching Building, Tianjin University, 92 Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin Postcode:300072
Telephone:022-27403197 Email:jmsc@tju.edu.cn