Can Divine Intervention Aid in Domestic Violence Prevention? An Analysis of Bystanders' Advertising Attitudes and Reporting Intentions in India

The research explores how religious symbols can be used in advertising to encourage bystander intervention in the context of domestic violence. Using symbolic interactionism as the theoretical framework, a 4 (Ad type: Control vs. Visual vs. Verbal vs. Visual/Verbal) × 2 (Religiosity: Low vs. High) between-subjects experimental design was conducted to assess impact on attitudes toward the ad and intention to help. A national sample (N = 402) of Hindu adults from India was recruited. The findings suggest level of religiosity is critical to the process with highly religious individuals displaying higher levels of involvement, concern for others and willingness to report abuse. No significant differences were found across visual and verbal religious symbol conditions. Implications for advertisers and government agencies are presented.     

What triggers young Millennials to purchase eco-friendly products?: the interrelationships among knowledge,perceived consumer effectiveness,and environmental concern

As the attention to environmental sustainability heightens, marketers increasingly claim that their products help preserve the environment. Without proper understanding of how emerging target markets, such as young Millennials, are triggered to purchase green claims, their efforts may be futile. Accordingly, the current study examined the interrelationships among major environmental antecedents, such as environmental knowledge (EK), perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE), and environmental concern (EC) on environmentally conscious consumer behaviour (ECCB). The results of an online survey with younger Millennials revealed that EK and EC were significant predictors of ECCB, with EC being the stronger predictor. Unlike past literature, PCE was not directly related to ECCB. The study also found a strong mediating role of EC between EK and ECCB, as well as PCE and ECCB. Implications for green marketers are discussed, along with theoretical discussion.     

A Green Picture is Worth A Thousand Words?: Effects of Visual and Textual Environmental Appeals in Advertising and the Moderating Role of Product Involvement

This study examined the main effects and interaction effects of textual environmental claims and green visuals on attitude-toward-the-ad (A_ad), attitude-toward-the-brand (A_b), purchase intention (PI), and green brand associations. In general, the use of textual environmental claims and green visuals lead to more positive advertising responses and more favorable perception of the brand's environmental effort. Textual environmental claims had stronger impact, but if no textual information was available, the use of green visuals could also generate positive perception of the brand's environmental effort. In addition, when textual claims or green visuals are present, participants perceived high involvement products as more environmentally friendly than low involvement products.     

Studying the impact of religious symbols on domestic violence prevention in India: applying the theory of reasoned action to bystanders' reporting intentions

Using the theory of reasoned action (TRA), the study examines the process of religious beliefs, social norms and attitudes toward women to predict people's intentions to intervene when confronted with domestic violence. Drawing from a nationwide sample in India and the religion of Hinduism, the structural equation modeling (SEM) findings show support for the hypothesized models. The religious symbol primed one's level of religiosity, generating positive ad attitudes and intentions to report domestic violence. For both ads, beliefs in gender equality and social norms about helping were critical to reporting intentions. More importantly, the study extends the TRA by showing religion's relevance in public service persuasion. The study provides both theoretical and managerial implications as well as avenues for future research.     

Evaluation of the Reggio approach to early education

We evaluate the Reggio Approach using non-experimental data on individuals from the cities of Reggio Emilia, Parma and Padova belonging to one of five age cohorts: ages 50, 40, 30, 18, and 6 as of 2012. The treated were exposed to municipally offered infant-toddler (ages 0–3) and preschool (ages 3–6) programs in Reggio Emilia. The control group either did not receive formal childcare or were exposed to programs offered by municipal systems (outside of Reggio Emilia), or by state or religious systems (in all three cities). We exploit the city-cohort structure of the data to estimate treatment effects using three strategies: difference-in-differences, matching, and matched-difference-in-differences. Most positive and significant effects are generated from comparisons of the treated with individuals who did not receive formal childcare. Relative to not receiving formal care, the Reggio Approach significantly boosts outcomes related to employment, socio-emotional skills, high school graduation, participation in elections, and obesity. Comparisons with individuals exposed to alternative forms of childcare do not yield strong patterns of positive and significant effects. This suggests that differences between the Reggio Approach and other alternatives are not sufficiently large to result in significant differences in outcomes. This interpretation is supported by a survey we conduct, which documents increasing similarities in the administrative and pedagogical practices of childcare systems in the three cities over time.     

Mediating roles of karma and self-enhancement in the effect of religious and spiritual primes on bystanders' reporting intention

Religious priming promotes engagement in prosocial action; however, findings about spiritual priming are relatively scant. Using Hindu (India) and Christian (U.S.) participants, a two-part study was conducted. The aim of the first part (i.e., Study 1) was to observe which motives to volunteer (i.e., egoistic or altruistic) related to religiosity and spirituality. Findings show that religiosity had a positive impact on egoistic volunteering, while spirituality had a positive impact on altruistic volunteering. The aim of the second part (i.e., Study 2) was to apply the findings from Study 1 to test priming effects in public service announcements about domestic violence prevention. The mediating effects of karma and self-enhancement in the relationship between religiosity or spirituality and reporting intention were also examined. Findings show that the religious ad was more effective than the spiritual ad in priming religiosity and spirituality among Hindus; that is, karma mediated the effect of religiosity and spirituality on their reporting intention. Among Christians, spiritual primes were effective, and self-enhancement mediated the impact of spirituality on reporting intention; at the same time, religious primes led to the direct impact of religiosity and spirituality on reporting intention. Overall, the apparent efficacy of religious and spiritual priming is promising, and the findings indicate the significance of spirituality in domestic violence prevention messaging. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.