Directiveness in promotional communications

The style of a communication may influence a receiver's responses as well as the message's factual, informational content. The degree to which a promotional communication attempts to control a receiver's responses can be defined as a relational and therefore a stylistic variable. This dissertation operationalizes a stylistic variable, directiveness, as the degree to which a persuasive communication instructs the receiver how to respond in terms of action, attitudes and beliefs. Directive messages attempt to limit the receiver's responses while less directive or suggestive messages encourage the reader to make up his or her own mind. Using Attribution Theory and the Cognitive Processing Model as theoretical bases, experimental hypotheses were tested involving the impact of directive versus suggestive messages on receiver responses to one-sided and two-sided communications and high and low involvement topics. Directiveness was found to have significant impact on receiver responses depending on the receiver's level of involvement. The main implication of this research is that how a persuasive communication is worded may influence a receiver's responses to what informational content is presented.