Description
Previous communication studies pertaining to organ procurement and donation have identified attitudinal and knowledge characteristics that accompany the (un)likely donor, but have yet to fully investigate the influence and interactions of dual processing and prospect frames employed by organ donation campaign messages. A randomized 3 (Appeal: narrative vs. statistical vs. combination) x 3 (Frame: gain vs. loss vs. combination) factorial design (N=962) was conducted to partially replicate and extend the previous findings of Kopfman, Smith, Yun, and Hodges (1998) and Feeley, Marshall, and Reinhart (2006) to further investigate the combination of narrative versus statistical appeals as well as the combination of gain versus loss message framing in the promotion of organ donation. Results indicated that no message was more persuasive in changing the intention of the participant to sign an organ donor card. Additionally, personality characteristics such as openness (intellect), conscientiousness, and agreeableness were seen to have an effect on intent to sign an organ donor card when compared to identifying highly with personality characteristics such as extraversion or neuroticism. The health communication literature has been extended in this study and can be used as a foundational application when including personality characteristics into organ procurement efforts. Keywords: Organ Donation, Narrative, Statistical, Prospect Theory, Message Framing
