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The Journal of Social Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vsoc20
Effects of a Persuasive Communication on Beliefs, Attitudes, and Career Choice a
Marlene K. Strader & Barry M. Katz
b
a
School of Nursing Southern Illinois University , Edwardsville b
Department of Research Methodology , St. Louis University , USA Published online: 30 Jun 2010.
To cite this article: Marlene K. Strader & Barry M. Katz (1990) Effects of a Persuasive Communication on Beliefs, Attitudes, and Career Choice, The Journal of Social Psychology, 130:2, 141-150, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1990.9924564 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1990.9924564
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or
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This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
The Journal of Social Psycholou, 130(2), 141-150
Effects of a Persuasive Communication on Beliefs, Attitudes, and Career Choice
Downloaded by [UQ Library] at 08:46 02 November 2014
MARLENE K. STRADER School of Nursing Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville BARRY M. KATZ Department of Research Methodology St. Louis University
ABSTRACT. Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action was used to formulate a persuasive communication in an attempt to influence unclassified Americp college students’ beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors regarding signing up for a career as a registered nurse. A two-stage cluster sample was used to assign 90 male and female students to either an experimental or control group. After persuasive communication exposure, the experimental group showed a significantly more positive change in beliefs, attitudes, and intentions than did the control group exposed to a neutral message. Sign-up rate was also statistically significant for the experimental group. With the Fishbein model to predict sign-up behavior, no other scores were found to add to the prediction once behavioral intention was entered into the model. Change in behavioral intention explained 49% of the variation in behavior. Normative belief scores did not approach statistical significance.
THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for Health Care Recruitment Survey (1987) reports that every hospital in the United States has sustained vacancies in registered nurse positions. The shortage of registered nurses is a national health problem (Aiken & Mullinix, 1987). Concern has prompted hospitals, colleges, and universities to step up recruitment efforts. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of recruitment strategies or results obtained from present methods. Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), an expectancy-value model, seems well suited as a conceptual framework for application to Requestsfor reprints shouTd be sent to Marlene K. Strader, School of Nursing, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Lou& MO 63121-#99. 141
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career selection, even though it was not developed from career choice research (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1989; Fishbein, 1%7; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Nonetheless, selection of a career is a volitional behavior that is under an individual’s cognitive control and can be explained in terms of beliefs and attitudes. According to the TRA model, a person’s intention to perform or not to perform a specific behavior is the immediate determinant of behavior. Intention, in turn, is determined by two constructs: the individual’s personal attitude toward performing or not performing the behavior and the person’s perception of the social influence or normative pressure to perform or not to perform the behavior, which is referred to as the subjective norm. Both the attitudinal and the normative components of a decision are based on sets of specific beliefs held by the individual. Specifically, attitude is a multiplicative function of the person’s beliefs about the consequences of performing a behavior and the person’s evaluation of those consequences. Similarly, the subjective norm is a function of the person’s beliefs about what significant individuals wish the person to do multiplied by the person’s motivation to comply with each of these referents. Furthermore, according to the theory, other factors termed distal variables (e.g., demographics, personality traits) are external to the model and may influence one of the previously described components. The TRA has clear definitions and lends itself to specific operational concepts. Substantial research data support the predictive validity of the model for volitional behavior. Other facets and implications remain untested, however. Of specific interest is Fishbein’s (1973) speculation that a direct relationship exists between change in a significant model component and change in intention that may be the basis for developing a persuasive message to maintain or change behavioral intention. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) postulate that any persuasive attempt to change beliefs, attitudes, intentions, or behaviors must be directed at one or more of the person’s individual beliefs. Beliefs that are the fundamental determinants of the variables to be changed are called salient primary beliefs. Therefore, to change a person’s attitude, it is necessary to know the primary salient beliefs upon which the attitude is based and then to construct a message that provides information that either changes the person’s subjective perception that the attitude object has certain attributes or influences the evaluation of those attributes. The subjective norm can be changed by attacking or supporting either the specific normative beliefs relevant to each significant referent or the motivation to comply with a given referent. Changes in behavior and behavioral intentions can be induced by changing the beliefs underlying attitudes and subjective norms; thus, it is assumed that acceptance of the arguments will lead to behavioral change. Fishbein and Ajzen (1981) claim that persuasiveness of the message can be increased by meticulous attention to its content and the relationship of that content to behavior.
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Prestholdt, Lane, and Mathews (1987) used the TRA to build a model of nurse turnover and found the TRA accounted for 32% of the variance in predicting turnover. Numerous research studies involving complex decisions such as early retirement (Hwalek, Firestone, & Hoffman, 1985), abortion choices (Semtana & Adler, 1980), and smoking cessation (Chassin, Corty, & Presson, 1981) have repeatedly indicated the effectiveness of the TRA. The mean multiple R of these studies was .73, a value which accounts for just over 50% of the variance in behavioral intention. Fishbein, Ajzen, and McArdel (1980) and McCarty (1981) showed that the TRA could be also applied to the problem of changing behavior through a persuasive communication by manipulating the components of the model. Such reports of the significant relationship among constructs of the TRA model as well as the use of the TRA for behavioral change suggest the model’s applicability for this study. The present investigation was undertaken to determine the effects of a persuasive communication directed toward unclassified college students and designed to change beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behavior toward signing up for a career as a registered nurse. Method
Subjects A quasi-experimental two-stage cluster method of sampling was employed. Subjects ( N = 120) were full-time students from 28 sections of English Composition I late-morning classes held at a large midwestern junior college. According to Johnson, Good, and Canada (1984), students in English Composition I are usually undecided about careers and receptive to information and attitude change. Each section had an enrollment of 30 students. In the first stage, 4 sections were randomly selected from the 28 sections. In the second stage, two sections each were randomly assigned an experimental or control group, with all subjects being taken from each section. Latemorning sections were chosen on the basis of homogeneity of students. It was not feasible to do individual random selection of students from the 28 sections of English Composition I daytime classes because of time constraints and a high attrition rate. The final sample of 90 students was present for the entire study: the experimental group (n = 46; 19 male, 27 female) and the control group (n = 44; 21 male, 23 female). Sixty-eight percent of the control group and 62% of the experimental group stated they were undecided about a career choice, and none of the students was enrolled in a nursing program prior to the study. The majority (80%) of students were 18 to 21 years old, White (%To), and single (88%). Female students represented more than half the
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class. Eighty-six percent of students ranked themselves in the upper- or middle-third of their class academically. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) hold that the influence of demographic variables is mediated by the components of their model, mainly by beliefs. Although demographic data are not among the central constructs of the TRA, they were obtained to characterize the subjects, to minimize confounding of results, and to assure homogeneity of groups.
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Procedure Subjects were told that they were to participate in a study about career selection. An introductory cover letter, including a consent form, was distributed. The letter ensured anonymity, voluntary participation, and the subjects’ freedom to withdraw at any time for whatever reason. Administration of the survey to obtain salient belief items, questionnaires, and communications for each group took place within 1 month, consistent with the time factor of the target behavior. According to the TRA, behavioral criteria must be defined in measurable terms and must always involve a single action with respect to a given target in a given context at a given point in time (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). The TRA target behavior identified in this study was that of “signing up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month.” After belief elicitation procedures were complete, random assignment took place by class section to either an experimental or control group. Subjects provided the last four digits of a social security number for census purposes. All preliminaries were accomplished by the investigator within a 10-min time frame at class assemblies. During the first week, both groups were presented with consent letters and a belief survey. The questionnaire was then constructed and the persuasive message developed based on the modal salient set of beliefs. The questionnaire was pilot tested on a group of 38 students in an English Composition I class from another junior college and revised for clarity. During the third week, both experimental and control groups completed the questionnaire and demographic data form. The final week consisted of two time periods for each group. During the first time period, the experimental group received the 10-min persuasive communication and the control group heard a 10-min message on how to avoid test anxiety. In the second time period, both groups again completed the questionnaire and were given a request form to sign up for the nursing program and complete the application process. Only students present for all phases of the study were included in the final sample.
Instrument The TRA is explicit concerning guidelines for scale construction (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). First, the specific target behavior was identified as “signing
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up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month.” Then, an openended format was designed to elicit behavioral and normative beliefs salient to signing up for a career as a nurse. Subjects were asked to list the advantages or disadvantages of signing up for a career in nursing and the persons or groups of persons who would influence their decision. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) make several recommendations for belief selections to develop the questionnaire. One-designed to avoid the inclusion of items salient to only a very small minority of respondents-is to choose as many beliefs as would account for 75% of the total beliefs elicited. This selection criterion was used to approximate the five to nine salient beliefs an individual normally holds about an attitude object. In the original sample of 120 students, 407 total beliefs were expressed. To meet the 75% criterion, the first 11 beliefs were chosen and are rank ordered in terms of frequency as follows: 1. Sense of accomplishment helping others 2. Good salary
3. Exposure to unpleasant sights and smells 4. Length of study program 5 . Bad hours
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Working with illness and death Opportunities for the future Relief that career decision is made Meeting interesting people Difficulty of study courses 11. Female profession
In keeping with the elicitations, items most commonly given by subjects were adopted regardless of whether they were favorable or unfavorable. However, the questionnaire contains five positive and six negative values. Interrater reliability for the categorization of beliefs was 95%. From the most frequent responses, a 44-item close-ended questionnaire was designed and pretested with 38 students from a different junior college. The questionnaire is divided into five subscales: 1. (a) Behavioral beliefs: 11 items (e.g., “My signing up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month would mean I had made a choice that gives me a sense of accomplishment helping others.” How likely or unlikely?); (b) Outcome evaluations: 11 items (e.g., “How bad or good for you would it be to have a sense of accomplishment helping others?”) 2. Attitude: 4 items (e.g., “How foolish or wise would it be for you to sign up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month?”) 3. (a) Normative beliefs: 8 items (e.g., “Is your mother opposed or in favor of your signing up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month?” Significant referents were mother, father, brother, sister, girl-
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friend, boyfriend, spouse, friends.); (b) Motivation to comply: 8 items (e.g., “How much do you want to do what your mother wants you to do regarding signing up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month?”) 4. Subjective norm: 1 item (e.g., “Most people who are important to you think you should sign up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month.” How likely or unlikely?) 5 . Behavioral intention: I item (“DO you intend to sign up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month?” How likely or unlikely?) On behavioral and normative beliefs, outcome evaluations, attitude, subjective norm, and behavioral intention subjects responded to a 7-point bipolar scale scored from - 7 (e.g., unlikely, bad, foolish, harmful, unfavorable, opposed) to + 7 (e.g., likely, good, wise, beneficial, favorable, in favor), with 0 indicating neutral. Motivation to comply was scored on a scale from not at all (1) to very much (7). Behavioral beliefs were calculated by summing the 11 products of each pair of belief and outcome evaluation items. Normative beliefs were computed by summing the products of each specific referent and the related motivation-to-comply item.
Message construction Construction of the message was developed from the suggestions of Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) and focused on the target behavior, attitude toward signing up for a career as a registered nurse within 1 month. There were 11 argument statements based upon the 11 elicited beliefs. A positive-appeal format was used by linking sign-up behavior for a nursing career with positive consequences. For example, the message reinforcing the positive belief that a career as a registered nurse would provide a sense of accomplishment through helping others stated the following: Remember the times in your life when you did something for someone or helped your family d o something nice for someone? Didn’t that make you feel good inside, and wasn’t that a neat feeling? When you choose a career as a nurse, you have this feeling most of the time, because your job is helping people.
Negative items were countered by presenting positive factual evidence. The following is an example of the message to counter bad hours: Many students d o not understand the flexibility nurses have with their hours. Most of your friends get up early in the morning, leave late in the evening, and have to fight rush hour traffic all of their life. Nurses are flexible and can chose whenever they want to work. Most nurses can choose the type of schedules that accommodate their life style. If you are a night person who likes basking in the sun during the day and wants to make extra money, nights may be for you. If you are a morning person, you can find a job in or outside the hospital on a day shift.
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Although Fishbein and his colleagues did not specify how information should be presented, the communication contained many details including salaries, various scheduling plans, and job opportunities within the nursing profession that were presumed to be difficult items to present. Chaiken and Eagly (1976) found that both persuasion and comprehension of persuasive material are greater when a difficult message is written. After pilot testing the message on several groups of college students, it was determined that statements about salaries, scheduling, job opportunities, and cumculum requirements could be comprehended more clearly by the use of overhead transparencies in conjunction with a verbal message. The communication was rehearsed until it could be given in 10 min by the investigator. The tone was informal, and the vocabulary was kept simple in order to maintain interest. The message ended with a specific recommendation urging students to sign up now for a career as a registered nurse. The control message was of similar length and was presented in 10 min by the investigator.
Results For each of the following variables-behavioral belief, attitude, normative belief, subjective norm, and behavioral intention-change scores were calculated by computing post-minus pretest scores. The five change-score measures were subjected to a 2 x 2 multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) with sex and treatment condition as the variables. With the Wilk’s lambda criterion, a statistically significant main effect for treatment was noted, f l 5 , 82) = 7.84, p c .001. Neither a main effect for sex nor a Treatment x Sex interaction was found, suggesting that the effect of the persuasive communication was similar across sexes. To follow up the significant MANOVA main effect for treatment, univariate 2 x 2 ANOVAs were carried out, with significance found for three of the five dependent measures. A treatment effect for belief-change data was significant, F(1, 86) = 31.55, p < .001. The mean change for the experimental group was 13.46, and that for the control group was -5.25. Thus, there is strong evidence that the experimental group changed in a more positive way than did the control group. Regarding attitude-change data, a significant main effect for treatment was noted, F(1, 86) = 11.65, p < .001. It was also found that the mean change for the experimental group was 2.07 and that for the control group was -0.75. Hence, results in the experimental group indicate a more positive attitude change than those in the control group. Normative belief and subjective norm analyses did not approach statistical significance. For behavioral intention data, again there seems to be strong evidence of a positive change within experimental subjects. There was a significant main effect for treatment, fl1, 86 = 7.73, p < .001. In addition, mean
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change for the experimental subjects was .76, compared with that for the control subjects of .07. A persuasive communication based on the constructs of the TRA model had a positive impact on the behavior of the subjects relative to signing up for a career as a registered nurse. In the experimental group, 8 of 46 students signed up to receive an application form to the nursing program after the treatment. This is a success rate of 1770. For the control group, 0 of 44 students signed up for an application form. With a one-tailed z test for equality of proportions, the difference between 17% and 0% was found to be statistically significant, z = 2.17, p < .05. Thus, there is evidence that the experimental treatment, a persuasive communication, changed behavior by more than chance. In a &week follow-up, all students (17%) who signed up and received an application form completed the process and returned their forms to the nursing department. It is not known, however, whether the students were accepted into the program. The final portion of the analysis focused on only the experimental group to determine the extent to which change in belief, attitude, normative belief, subjective norm, and behavioral intention can be used to predict behavior. Behavior was scored as 1 = signing up, 2 = not signing up. Of the five change variables, only two were found to correlate significantly with sign-up behavior. These were change in attitude and change in behavioral intention, r = - .36, p < .05 and r = - .70, p < .001, respectively. In the scoring of the behavior variable, the negative nature of the correlations suggests that positive or favorable changes in either behavioral intentions or attitude resulted in greater likelihood of signing up for nursing. When the TRA model was used to predict the behavior of signing up for a career as a registered nurse, no other scores were found to add to the prediction of sign-up behavior once the behavioral intention was entered into the model. Change in behavioral intention accounted for 49% of the variation in sign-up behavior. Discussion
In the present study, intention and behavioral change in the experimental group after exposure to a persuasive communication demonstrates that the TRA suggests a useful methodology for further research in the field of career selection. As the TRA predicted, a change in a significant component of the intention dynamics was necessary before intention change was observed. The model explained a substantial amount of the variance of intention when applied to students’ career selection, enhancing confidence
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that any observed relationship between such variables is causal and flows from predictors of behavior. The lack of a Treatment x Sex interaction on any of the dependent measures suggests that message persuasiveness was no different for male than for female students in either group. This result is surprising, because traditionally a career as a registered nurse is a female pursuit, but it may also reflect a trend for American female students to reject stereotypical female professions such as nursing. Changes in the normative components of the TRA model, subjective norm and normative belief, did not reach statistical significance after exposure to the persuasive communication. This finding was not surprising, because no part of the message addressed normative beliefs. Belief elicitation procedures indicated that mother and father were significant referents for students’ career choices. In addition, results of pretest scores indicated that students wished to comply “moderately” to “very much” with parents’ wishes about a career decision. It was assumed that parents would be unfavorable toward a son’s choice of a career as a nurse. What emerged was evidence of negative parental beliefs about a nursing career for either sex. Without more specific information about the negative beliefs of parents, it was deemed unethical, in an experimental situation, to attack either specific normative beliefs relevant to a parent referent or the motivation to comply with a given referent. Although the 17% success rate may seem modest, the effect of the message was considerable. Male and female students were exposed only once to a 10-min communication asking them to make a choice within 1 month about a career not previously considered desirable. The results must be interpreted with caution because of the lack of random assignment and the need to test an alternative message based on a traditional approach. However, the Fishbein model can be successful in providing a method to construct a persuasive message and measure its effects. The present study’s support of. the model’s assumption about creating persuasive messages may encourage its application to recruitment efforts.
REFERENCES Aiken, L. H., & Mullinix, C. F. (1987). The nurse shortage: Myth or reality. New England Journal of Medicine. 317, 641-646. Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Chaiken, S., & Eagly, A. H. (1976). Communication modality as a determinant of message persuasiveness and message comprehensibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 605614.
Chassin, L.,Corty,E., & Presson, C. D. (1981). Predicting adolescents’ intentions to smoke cigarettes. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22, 445-455.
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Fishbein, M. (1%7). Attitude and the prediction of behavior. In M. Fishbein (Ed.), Attitude theory and measurement: Readings in attitude theory (pp. 477-492). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Fishbein, M. (1973). The prediction of behavior from attitudinal variables. In C. D. Martensen & K. K. Sereno (Eds.), Advances in communication research (pp. 3-31). New York: Harper and Row. Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). BelieJ attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1981). Acceptance, yielding, and impact: Cognitive processes in persuasion. In R. E. Petty, T. M. Ostrom, & T. C. Brock (Eds.), Cognitive responses in persuasion (pp. 334-359). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I., & McArdle, J. (1980). Changing the behavior of alcoholics: Effects of a persuasive communication. In I. Ajzen & M. Fishbein (Eds.), Understanding attitudes and predicting behavior (pp. 218-242). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Hwalek, M., Firestone, I., & Hoffman, P. M. (1985). Alternative opportunities and withdrawal decisions: Empirical and theoretical discrepancies and an integration. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 233-250. Johnson, M., Good, S., & Canada, B. (1984). Male attitudes towards nursing as a career. Journal of Nursing Education, 23, 387-392. McCarty, D. (1981). Changing contraceptive usage intention: A test of the Fishbein model of intention. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 11, 192-211. National Association for Health Care Recruitment Survey (1987). Springhouse, PA: Springhouse Corporation. Prestholdt, P. H., Lane, 1. M., & Mathews, R. C. (1987). Nurse turnover as reasoned action: Development of a process model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 221-227. Smetana, J., & Adler, N. (1980). Fishbein's Value x Expectancy model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 6, 89-96.
Received June 23, 1989
The Journal of Social Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vsoc20
Effects of a Persuasive Communication on Beliefs, Attitudes, and Career Choice a
Marlene K. Strader & Barry M. Katz
b
a
School of Nursing Southern Illinois University , Edwardsville b
Department of Research Methodology , St. Louis University , USA Published online: 30 Jun 2010.
To cite this article: Marlene K. Strader & Barry M. Katz (1990) Effects of a Persuasive Communication on Beliefs, Attitudes, and Career Choice, The Journal of Social Psychology, 130:2, 141-150, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1990.9924564 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1990.9924564
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or
indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
Downloaded by [UQ Library] at 08:46 02 November 2014
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
The Journal of Social Psycholou, 130(2), 141-150
Effects of a Persuasive Communication on Beliefs, Attitudes, and Career Choice
Downloaded by [UQ Library] at 08:46 02 November 2014
MARLENE K. STRADER School of Nursing Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville BARRY M. KATZ Department of Research Methodology St. Louis University
ABSTRACT. Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action was used to formulate a persuasive communication in an attempt to influence unclassified Americp college students’ beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors regarding signing up for a career as a registered nurse. A two-stage cluster sample was used to assign 90 male and female students to either an experimental or control group. After persuasive communication exposure, the experimental group showed a significantly more positive change in beliefs, attitudes, and intentions than did the control group exposed to a neutral message. Sign-up rate was also statistically significant for the experimental group. With the Fishbein model to predict sign-up behavior, no other scores were found to add to the prediction once behavioral intention was entered into the model. Change in behavioral intention explained 49% of the variation in behavior. Normative belief scores did not approach statistical significance.
THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for Health Care Recruitment Survey (1987) reports that every hospital in the United States has sustained vacancies in registered nurse positions. The shortage of registered nurses is a national health problem (Aiken & Mullinix, 1987). Concern has prompted hospitals, colleges, and universities to step up recruitment efforts. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of recruitment strategies or results obtained from present methods. Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), an expectancy-value model, seems well suited as a conceptual framework for application to Requestsfor reprints shouTd be sent to Marlene K. Strader, School of Nursing, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Lou& MO 63121-#99. 141
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career selection, even though it was not developed from career choice research (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1989; Fishbein, 1%7; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Nonetheless, selection of a career is a volitional behavior that is under an individual’s cognitive control and can be explained in terms of beliefs and attitudes. According to the TRA model, a person’s intention to perform or not to perform a specific behavior is the immediate determinant of behavior. Intention, in turn, is determined by two constructs: the individual’s personal attitude toward performing or not performing the behavior and the person’s perception of the social influence or normative pressure to perform or not to perform the behavior, which is referred to as the subjective norm. Both the attitudinal and the normative components of a decision are based on sets of specific beliefs held by the individual. Specifically, attitude is a multiplicative function of the person’s beliefs about the consequences of performing a behavior and the person’s evaluation of those consequences. Similarly, the subjective norm is a function of the person’s beliefs about what significant individuals wish the person to do multiplied by the person’s motivation to comply with each of these referents. Furthermore, according to the theory, other factors termed distal variables (e.g., demographics, personality traits) are external to the model and may influence one of the previously described components. The TRA has clear definitions and lends itself to specific operational concepts. Substantial research data support the predictive validity of the model for volitional behavior. Other facets and implications remain untested, however. Of specific interest is Fishbein’s (1973) speculation that a direct relationship exists between change in a significant model component and change in intention that may be the basis for developing a persuasive message to maintain or change behavioral intention. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) postulate that any persuasive attempt to change beliefs, attitudes, intentions, or behaviors must be directed at one or more of the person’s individual beliefs. Beliefs that are the fundamental determinants of the variables to be changed are called salient primary beliefs. Therefore, to change a person’s attitude, it is necessary to know the primary salient beliefs upon which the attitude is based and then to construct a message that provides information that either changes the person’s subjective perception that the attitude object has certain attributes or influences the evaluation of those attributes. The subjective norm can be changed by attacking or supporting either the specific normative beliefs relevant to each significant referent or the motivation to comply with a given referent. Changes in behavior and behavioral intentions can be induced by changing the beliefs underlying attitudes and subjective norms; thus, it is assumed that acceptance of the arguments will lead to behavioral change. Fishbein and Ajzen (1981) claim that persuasiveness of the message can be increased by meticulous attention to its content and the relationship of that content to behavior.
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Prestholdt, Lane, and Mathews (1987) used the TRA to build a model of nurse turnover and found the TRA accounted for 32% of the variance in predicting turnover. Numerous research studies involving complex decisions such as early retirement (Hwalek, Firestone, & Hoffman, 1985), abortion choices (Semtana & Adler, 1980), and smoking cessation (Chassin, Corty, & Presson, 1981) have repeatedly indicated the effectiveness of the TRA. The mean multiple R of these studies was .73, a value which accounts for just over 50% of the variance in behavioral intention. Fishbein, Ajzen, and McArdel (1980) and McCarty (1981) showed that the TRA could be also applied to the problem of changing behavior through a persuasive communication by manipulating the components of the model. Such reports of the significant relationship among constructs of the TRA model as well as the use of the TRA for behavioral change suggest the model’s applicability for this study. The present investigation was undertaken to determine the effects of a persuasive communication directed toward unclassified college students and designed to change beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behavior toward signing up for a career as a registered nurse. Method
Subjects A quasi-experimental two-stage cluster method of sampling was employed. Subjects ( N = 120) were full-time students from 28 sections of English Composition I late-morning classes held at a large midwestern junior college. According to Johnson, Good, and Canada (1984), students in English Composition I are usually undecided about careers and receptive to information and attitude change. Each section had an enrollment of 30 students. In the first stage, 4 sections were randomly selected from the 28 sections. In the second stage, two sections each were randomly assigned an experimental or control group, with all subjects being taken from each section. Latemorning sections were chosen on the basis of homogeneity of students. It was not feasible to do individual random selection of students from the 28 sections of English Composition I daytime classes because of time constraints and a high attrition rate. The final sample of 90 students was present for the entire study: the experimental group (n = 46; 19 male, 27 female) and the control group (n = 44; 21 male, 23 female). Sixty-eight percent of the control group and 62% of the experimental group stated they were undecided about a career choice, and none of the students was enrolled in a nursing program prior to the study. The majority (80%) of students were 18 to 21 years old, White (%To), and single (88%). Female students represented more than half the
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class. Eighty-six percent of students ranked themselves in the upper- or middle-third of their class academically. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) hold that the influence of demographic variables is mediated by the components of their model, mainly by beliefs. Although demographic data are not among the central constructs of the TRA, they were obtained to characterize the subjects, to minimize confounding of results, and to assure homogeneity of groups.
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Procedure Subjects were told that they were to participate in a study about career selection. An introductory cover letter, including a consent form, was distributed. The letter ensured anonymity, voluntary participation, and the subjects’ freedom to withdraw at any time for whatever reason. Administration of the survey to obtain salient belief items, questionnaires, and communications for each group took place within 1 month, consistent with the time factor of the target behavior. According to the TRA, behavioral criteria must be defined in measurable terms and must always involve a single action with respect to a given target in a given context at a given point in time (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). The TRA target behavior identified in this study was that of “signing up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month.” After belief elicitation procedures were complete, random assignment took place by class section to either an experimental or control group. Subjects provided the last four digits of a social security number for census purposes. All preliminaries were accomplished by the investigator within a 10-min time frame at class assemblies. During the first week, both groups were presented with consent letters and a belief survey. The questionnaire was then constructed and the persuasive message developed based on the modal salient set of beliefs. The questionnaire was pilot tested on a group of 38 students in an English Composition I class from another junior college and revised for clarity. During the third week, both experimental and control groups completed the questionnaire and demographic data form. The final week consisted of two time periods for each group. During the first time period, the experimental group received the 10-min persuasive communication and the control group heard a 10-min message on how to avoid test anxiety. In the second time period, both groups again completed the questionnaire and were given a request form to sign up for the nursing program and complete the application process. Only students present for all phases of the study were included in the final sample.
Instrument The TRA is explicit concerning guidelines for scale construction (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). First, the specific target behavior was identified as “signing
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up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month.” Then, an openended format was designed to elicit behavioral and normative beliefs salient to signing up for a career as a nurse. Subjects were asked to list the advantages or disadvantages of signing up for a career in nursing and the persons or groups of persons who would influence their decision. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) make several recommendations for belief selections to develop the questionnaire. One-designed to avoid the inclusion of items salient to only a very small minority of respondents-is to choose as many beliefs as would account for 75% of the total beliefs elicited. This selection criterion was used to approximate the five to nine salient beliefs an individual normally holds about an attitude object. In the original sample of 120 students, 407 total beliefs were expressed. To meet the 75% criterion, the first 11 beliefs were chosen and are rank ordered in terms of frequency as follows: 1. Sense of accomplishment helping others 2. Good salary
3. Exposure to unpleasant sights and smells 4. Length of study program 5 . Bad hours
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Working with illness and death Opportunities for the future Relief that career decision is made Meeting interesting people Difficulty of study courses 11. Female profession
In keeping with the elicitations, items most commonly given by subjects were adopted regardless of whether they were favorable or unfavorable. However, the questionnaire contains five positive and six negative values. Interrater reliability for the categorization of beliefs was 95%. From the most frequent responses, a 44-item close-ended questionnaire was designed and pretested with 38 students from a different junior college. The questionnaire is divided into five subscales: 1. (a) Behavioral beliefs: 11 items (e.g., “My signing up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month would mean I had made a choice that gives me a sense of accomplishment helping others.” How likely or unlikely?); (b) Outcome evaluations: 11 items (e.g., “How bad or good for you would it be to have a sense of accomplishment helping others?”) 2. Attitude: 4 items (e.g., “How foolish or wise would it be for you to sign up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month?”) 3. (a) Normative beliefs: 8 items (e.g., “Is your mother opposed or in favor of your signing up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month?” Significant referents were mother, father, brother, sister, girl-
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friend, boyfriend, spouse, friends.); (b) Motivation to comply: 8 items (e.g., “How much do you want to do what your mother wants you to do regarding signing up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month?”) 4. Subjective norm: 1 item (e.g., “Most people who are important to you think you should sign up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month.” How likely or unlikely?) 5 . Behavioral intention: I item (“DO you intend to sign up for a career as a registered nurse within the next month?” How likely or unlikely?) On behavioral and normative beliefs, outcome evaluations, attitude, subjective norm, and behavioral intention subjects responded to a 7-point bipolar scale scored from - 7 (e.g., unlikely, bad, foolish, harmful, unfavorable, opposed) to + 7 (e.g., likely, good, wise, beneficial, favorable, in favor), with 0 indicating neutral. Motivation to comply was scored on a scale from not at all (1) to very much (7). Behavioral beliefs were calculated by summing the 11 products of each pair of belief and outcome evaluation items. Normative beliefs were computed by summing the products of each specific referent and the related motivation-to-comply item.
Message construction Construction of the message was developed from the suggestions of Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) and focused on the target behavior, attitude toward signing up for a career as a registered nurse within 1 month. There were 11 argument statements based upon the 11 elicited beliefs. A positive-appeal format was used by linking sign-up behavior for a nursing career with positive consequences. For example, the message reinforcing the positive belief that a career as a registered nurse would provide a sense of accomplishment through helping others stated the following: Remember the times in your life when you did something for someone or helped your family d o something nice for someone? Didn’t that make you feel good inside, and wasn’t that a neat feeling? When you choose a career as a nurse, you have this feeling most of the time, because your job is helping people.
Negative items were countered by presenting positive factual evidence. The following is an example of the message to counter bad hours: Many students d o not understand the flexibility nurses have with their hours. Most of your friends get up early in the morning, leave late in the evening, and have to fight rush hour traffic all of their life. Nurses are flexible and can chose whenever they want to work. Most nurses can choose the type of schedules that accommodate their life style. If you are a night person who likes basking in the sun during the day and wants to make extra money, nights may be for you. If you are a morning person, you can find a job in or outside the hospital on a day shift.
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Although Fishbein and his colleagues did not specify how information should be presented, the communication contained many details including salaries, various scheduling plans, and job opportunities within the nursing profession that were presumed to be difficult items to present. Chaiken and Eagly (1976) found that both persuasion and comprehension of persuasive material are greater when a difficult message is written. After pilot testing the message on several groups of college students, it was determined that statements about salaries, scheduling, job opportunities, and cumculum requirements could be comprehended more clearly by the use of overhead transparencies in conjunction with a verbal message. The communication was rehearsed until it could be given in 10 min by the investigator. The tone was informal, and the vocabulary was kept simple in order to maintain interest. The message ended with a specific recommendation urging students to sign up now for a career as a registered nurse. The control message was of similar length and was presented in 10 min by the investigator.
Results For each of the following variables-behavioral belief, attitude, normative belief, subjective norm, and behavioral intention-change scores were calculated by computing post-minus pretest scores. The five change-score measures were subjected to a 2 x 2 multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) with sex and treatment condition as the variables. With the Wilk’s lambda criterion, a statistically significant main effect for treatment was noted, f l 5 , 82) = 7.84, p c .001. Neither a main effect for sex nor a Treatment x Sex interaction was found, suggesting that the effect of the persuasive communication was similar across sexes. To follow up the significant MANOVA main effect for treatment, univariate 2 x 2 ANOVAs were carried out, with significance found for three of the five dependent measures. A treatment effect for belief-change data was significant, F(1, 86) = 31.55, p < .001. The mean change for the experimental group was 13.46, and that for the control group was -5.25. Thus, there is strong evidence that the experimental group changed in a more positive way than did the control group. Regarding attitude-change data, a significant main effect for treatment was noted, F(1, 86) = 11.65, p < .001. It was also found that the mean change for the experimental group was 2.07 and that for the control group was -0.75. Hence, results in the experimental group indicate a more positive attitude change than those in the control group. Normative belief and subjective norm analyses did not approach statistical significance. For behavioral intention data, again there seems to be strong evidence of a positive change within experimental subjects. There was a significant main effect for treatment, fl1, 86 = 7.73, p < .001. In addition, mean
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change for the experimental subjects was .76, compared with that for the control subjects of .07. A persuasive communication based on the constructs of the TRA model had a positive impact on the behavior of the subjects relative to signing up for a career as a registered nurse. In the experimental group, 8 of 46 students signed up to receive an application form to the nursing program after the treatment. This is a success rate of 1770. For the control group, 0 of 44 students signed up for an application form. With a one-tailed z test for equality of proportions, the difference between 17% and 0% was found to be statistically significant, z = 2.17, p < .05. Thus, there is evidence that the experimental treatment, a persuasive communication, changed behavior by more than chance. In a &week follow-up, all students (17%) who signed up and received an application form completed the process and returned their forms to the nursing department. It is not known, however, whether the students were accepted into the program. The final portion of the analysis focused on only the experimental group to determine the extent to which change in belief, attitude, normative belief, subjective norm, and behavioral intention can be used to predict behavior. Behavior was scored as 1 = signing up, 2 = not signing up. Of the five change variables, only two were found to correlate significantly with sign-up behavior. These were change in attitude and change in behavioral intention, r = - .36, p < .05 and r = - .70, p < .001, respectively. In the scoring of the behavior variable, the negative nature of the correlations suggests that positive or favorable changes in either behavioral intentions or attitude resulted in greater likelihood of signing up for nursing. When the TRA model was used to predict the behavior of signing up for a career as a registered nurse, no other scores were found to add to the prediction of sign-up behavior once the behavioral intention was entered into the model. Change in behavioral intention accounted for 49% of the variation in sign-up behavior. Discussion
In the present study, intention and behavioral change in the experimental group after exposure to a persuasive communication demonstrates that the TRA suggests a useful methodology for further research in the field of career selection. As the TRA predicted, a change in a significant component of the intention dynamics was necessary before intention change was observed. The model explained a substantial amount of the variance of intention when applied to students’ career selection, enhancing confidence
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that any observed relationship between such variables is causal and flows from predictors of behavior. The lack of a Treatment x Sex interaction on any of the dependent measures suggests that message persuasiveness was no different for male than for female students in either group. This result is surprising, because traditionally a career as a registered nurse is a female pursuit, but it may also reflect a trend for American female students to reject stereotypical female professions such as nursing. Changes in the normative components of the TRA model, subjective norm and normative belief, did not reach statistical significance after exposure to the persuasive communication. This finding was not surprising, because no part of the message addressed normative beliefs. Belief elicitation procedures indicated that mother and father were significant referents for students’ career choices. In addition, results of pretest scores indicated that students wished to comply “moderately” to “very much” with parents’ wishes about a career decision. It was assumed that parents would be unfavorable toward a son’s choice of a career as a nurse. What emerged was evidence of negative parental beliefs about a nursing career for either sex. Without more specific information about the negative beliefs of parents, it was deemed unethical, in an experimental situation, to attack either specific normative beliefs relevant to a parent referent or the motivation to comply with a given referent. Although the 17% success rate may seem modest, the effect of the message was considerable. Male and female students were exposed only once to a 10-min communication asking them to make a choice within 1 month about a career not previously considered desirable. The results must be interpreted with caution because of the lack of random assignment and the need to test an alternative message based on a traditional approach. However, the Fishbein model can be successful in providing a method to construct a persuasive message and measure its effects. The present study’s support of. the model’s assumption about creating persuasive messages may encourage its application to recruitment efforts.
REFERENCES Aiken, L. H., & Mullinix, C. F. (1987). The nurse shortage: Myth or reality. New England Journal of Medicine. 317, 641-646. Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Chaiken, S., & Eagly, A. H. (1976). Communication modality as a determinant of message persuasiveness and message comprehensibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 605614.
Chassin, L.,Corty,E., & Presson, C. D. (1981). Predicting adolescents’ intentions to smoke cigarettes. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22, 445-455.
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Fishbein, M. (1%7). Attitude and the prediction of behavior. In M. Fishbein (Ed.), Attitude theory and measurement: Readings in attitude theory (pp. 477-492). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Fishbein, M. (1973). The prediction of behavior from attitudinal variables. In C. D. Martensen & K. K. Sereno (Eds.), Advances in communication research (pp. 3-31). New York: Harper and Row. Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). BelieJ attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1981). Acceptance, yielding, and impact: Cognitive processes in persuasion. In R. E. Petty, T. M. Ostrom, & T. C. Brock (Eds.), Cognitive responses in persuasion (pp. 334-359). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I., & McArdle, J. (1980). Changing the behavior of alcoholics: Effects of a persuasive communication. In I. Ajzen & M. Fishbein (Eds.), Understanding attitudes and predicting behavior (pp. 218-242). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Hwalek, M., Firestone, I., & Hoffman, P. M. (1985). Alternative opportunities and withdrawal decisions: Empirical and theoretical discrepancies and an integration. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 233-250. Johnson, M., Good, S., & Canada, B. (1984). Male attitudes towards nursing as a career. Journal of Nursing Education, 23, 387-392. McCarty, D. (1981). Changing contraceptive usage intention: A test of the Fishbein model of intention. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 11, 192-211. National Association for Health Care Recruitment Survey (1987). Springhouse, PA: Springhouse Corporation. Prestholdt, P. H., Lane, 1. M., & Mathews, R. C. (1987). Nurse turnover as reasoned action: Development of a process model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 221-227. Smetana, J., & Adler, N. (1980). Fishbein's Value x Expectancy model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 6, 89-96.
Received June 23, 1989
