View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by The University of Utah: J. Willard Marriott Digital Library THE EFFECT OF IN-GROUP AND OUT-GROUP PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATIONS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL BELIEFS AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS OF WINTER RECREATIONISTS by Philip J. Sarnoff A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism University of Utah December 2012 Copyright © Philip J. Sarnoff 2012 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of ___________________Philip J. Sarnoff______________________ has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: _____________Kelly Bricker________________ , Chair _____10/2/2012____ Date Approved ___________Daniel L. Dustin________________ , Member _____10/2/2012____ Date Approved ____________Mary S. Wells_________________ , Member _____10/2/2012____ Date Approved _____________Carol Werner________________ , Member _____10/2/2012____ Date Approved ______________Larry Beck_________________ , Member _____10/4/2012____ Date Approved and by ______________________Daniel L. Dustin_____________________ , Chair of the Department of _________________Parks, Recreation, and Tourism____________ and by Charles A Wight, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT Climate change has become a ubiquitous topic in society. The majority of the scientific community has concluded that climate change is occurring and that humans are primarily responsible. However, there is less agreement among the general public. Within the winter recreation industry, inconsistent precipitation and higher global surface temperatures associated with climate change have the potential to be problematic. There is a need to effectively influence beliefs about climate change and the behavioral intentions of individuals for those who have an interest in preserving climatic conditions favorable for winter recreation. Persuasive messaging has the potential to leverage an individual's involvement in and social identity with winter recreation activities. This study examined the impact of socially relevant persuasive message sources on the environmental beliefs and behavioral intentions of winter recreationists. This research is presented in a three article dissertation format. The first article addresses a preliminary pilot study developed to test persuasive messages about climate change using criteria outlined in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). This study tested strong and weak messages to determine the ELM's effectiveness using the real-world issue of climate change. The messages did not meet the established criteria, confirming the difficulties previously identified with applying the ELM to issues in an applied, nonlaboratory setting. The purpose of the second article was to determine the most effective communicator of climate change messages in order to elicit changes in environmental belief and behavioral intention. This study assessed participant environmental beliefs and behavioral intentions in three message treatment groups (in-ski resort source, ski equipment manufacturer source, climate scientist source) and a control group (no message) while accounting for leisure involvement and social identity. An analysis of variance yielded no significant main or interaction effects. Manipulation checks yielded higher cognitive processing and source credibility for the climate science message source. The third article was a practical application on current climatic conditions, perceptions of the general public and winter recreationists, and implications of climate change for winter recreation. In addition, this article proposes actions for the winter recreation industry in order to help mitigate the effects of climate change. The culminating discussion is a reflection on the findings of all three articles. Recommendations include development of more comprehensive messaging strategies surrounding climate change and a more thorough evaluation of the ELM when applied in nonlaboratory settings. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. xi I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….…………….. 1 Statement of the Problem ………………………………………………………… 8 Significance of Research ………………………………………………………… 9 Hypotheses ……………………………………………………………………….. 10 Summary of Methods ……………………………………………………………. 12 Delimitations …………………………………………………………………….. 13 Limitations ……………………………………………………………………….. 13 Definition of Terms ……………………………………………………………… 13 Structure of the Dissertation …………………………………………………….. 14 References ………………………………………………………………………. 16 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ………………………………………………………. 19 Climate Change …………………………………………………………….......... 19 Perceptions of Climate Change ……………..………………………………... 22 Climate Change and Winter Recreation ……………………………………… 24 Delivering the Climate Change Message ……..…………………………….... 27 Environmental Belief …………………………………………………………….. 29 Schema ………………………………………………………………………... 30 Outdoor Recreation and Environmental Beliefs …..………………………….. 31 Operationalization of Environmental Belief …………...……………………... 33 Behavioral Intention ………………………………………………………...…… 34 Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior ………………………… 35 Outdoor Recreation and Environmental Behavior ………………….………... 36 Operationalization of Behavioral Intention ………………………………….. 37 Elaboration Likelihood Model …………………………………………………… 38 Operation of the Elaboration Likelihood Model ……………….……………. 39 Involvement ……………………………………………………………………… 43 Involvement and the Elaboration Likelihood Model ……………………….... 44 Leisure Involvement ………………………………………………………….. 45 Social Identity ……………………………………………………………………. 47 Social Categorization ………………………………………………………… 48 Self-Categorization …………………………………………………………… 49 In-Groups and Out-Groups …………………………………………………… 51 Social Identity Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model ……………… 52 Summary of Reviewed Literature ………………………………………………. 55 References ………………………………………………………………………. 56 III. METHODS …………………………………………………………………………. 66 Pilot Study ………………………………………………………………………... 66 Argument Development and Testing ................................................................. 67 Message Development and Testing of Intended Outcomes .............................. 68 Testing of Message Parallelism ......................................................................... 70 Population and Setting …………………………………………………………… 73 Sampling …………………………………………………………………………. 75 Measurement …………………………………………………………………….. 76 Dependent Variable ………………………………………..……..…………... 77 Environmental Belief ……………………………………………………… 77 Behavioral Intention ………………………………………………………. 77 Independent Variables ………………………………………………………... 79 Message Source …………………………………………………………… 79 Leisure Involvement ……………………………………………………… 80 Social Identity …………………………………………………………….. 80 Manipulation Checks …………………………………………………………. 82 Cognitive Processing ……………………………………………………… 82 Source Credibility ………………………………………………………… 83 Source Influence ………………………………………………………….. 83 Sociodemographics .................................................................................... 84 Materials …………………………………………………………………………. 85 Procedures ……………………………………………………………………….. 85 Data Analysis ……………………………………………………………………. 89 Data Cleaning ………………………………………………………………… 89 Power Analysis ………………………………………………………………. 89 Testing of Statistical Hypotheses ………………………………………………... 90 Threats to Validity ……………………………………………………………….. 94 Threats to Internal Validity …………………………………………………… 94 Threats to Statistical Conclusion Validity ……………………………………. 96 Threats to Construct Validity …………………………………………………. 97 Threats to External Validity …………………………………………………... 98 References ……………………………………..………………………………… 99 vi IV. ARTICLE I: THE DEVELOPMENT OF REAL-WORLD PERSUASIVE MESSAGES ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE USING THE ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL……................................... 101 Abstract ………………………………………………............................................ 101 Introduction ……..……………………………………………………………….. 102 The Climate Change Message ………………………………………………… 102 Dual-Process Models ……………………….…………………………………. 104 Methods ………………………………………..………………………………… 109 Participants ……………………………………………………..…………….. 109 Procedures ……………………………………………………………………. 109 Results ……………..……………………….……………………………………. 113 Argument Development and Testing ………………………………………… 113 Message Development and Testing of Intended Outcomes ………………….. 114 Testing of Message Parallelism ……………………………………………… 115 Discussion ………………………………………………………………………… 116 Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………. 119 Research and Practical Implications ……………………………………………… 119 References ………………………………………………………………………… 121 V. ARTICLE II: THE EFFECT OF IN-GROUP AND OUT-GROUP PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATIONS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL BELIEFS AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS OF WINTER RECREATIONISTS.............................. 124 Abstract ………………………………………………............................................ 124 Introduction ……..……………………………………………………………….. 125 Climate Change …………….………………………………………………… 125 Environmental Belief ……………………….…………………………………. 130 Behavioral