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Why comply?: risk and efficacy perceptions drive compliance in mass marketing scams

Why comply?: risk and efficacy perceptions drive compliance in mass marketing scams
Why comply?: risk and efficacy perceptions drive compliance in mass marketing scams

Using a mix-method design, we examined participants’ willingness to respond to mass marketing scams (MMS). In Experiment 1, we examined the effect of age (young versus older) and letter style (“hot” versus “cold”) on the intention to respond. The intention of responding was negatively associated with risk (p <.001) and having at least a high school education was positively associated with perception of benefits (b =.684, p <.001). In Experiment 2, we examined reward sensitivity on the intention to respond by manipulating reward amounts (low versus high) and the presence of an activation fee. The presence of an activation fee decreased intent to contact, but percentages remained high (25.75%). Analyses of qualitative data indicated that risk and benefit were both predicted by perceived self-efficacy. The results indicate that consumers’ beliefs about their ability to control the outcomes of future interactions affected how they behaved when provided with MMS materials.

consumer decision-making, elder financial exploitation, fraud, Consumer decision-making, Elder financial exploitation, Fraud
0894-6566
1-33
Wood, Stacey
9dcee02a-b4e4-44a4-812a-adf854985ae0
Hengerer, David
2a335621-069e-4021-899a-0eca09e12b22
Hanoch, Yaniv
3cf08e80-8bda-4d3b-af1c-46c858aa9f39
Liu, Pi-Ju
7ffcf01c-741e-4391-87cc-eb9376144b28
Xi, Patricia
622f1dd5-2da5-438b-a4fc-50dda222ff68
Paul, Joshua
56474c91-d2b8-434d-8f48-e7870c89605a
Klapatch, Lukas
af989cbe-0288-4c98-820e-ab9d569ec210
Wood, Stacey
9dcee02a-b4e4-44a4-812a-adf854985ae0
Hengerer, David
2a335621-069e-4021-899a-0eca09e12b22
Hanoch, Yaniv
3cf08e80-8bda-4d3b-af1c-46c858aa9f39
Liu, Pi-Ju
7ffcf01c-741e-4391-87cc-eb9376144b28
Xi, Patricia
622f1dd5-2da5-438b-a4fc-50dda222ff68
Paul, Joshua
56474c91-d2b8-434d-8f48-e7870c89605a
Klapatch, Lukas
af989cbe-0288-4c98-820e-ab9d569ec210

Wood, Stacey, Hengerer, David, Hanoch, Yaniv, Liu, Pi-Ju, Xi, Patricia, Paul, Joshua and Klapatch, Lukas (2023) Why comply?: risk and efficacy perceptions drive compliance in mass marketing scams. Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, 35 (1), 1-33. (doi:10.1080/08946566.2023.2197268).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Using a mix-method design, we examined participants’ willingness to respond to mass marketing scams (MMS). In Experiment 1, we examined the effect of age (young versus older) and letter style (“hot” versus “cold”) on the intention to respond. The intention of responding was negatively associated with risk (p <.001) and having at least a high school education was positively associated with perception of benefits (b =.684, p <.001). In Experiment 2, we examined reward sensitivity on the intention to respond by manipulating reward amounts (low versus high) and the presence of an activation fee. The presence of an activation fee decreased intent to contact, but percentages remained high (25.75%). Analyses of qualitative data indicated that risk and benefit were both predicted by perceived self-efficacy. The results indicate that consumers’ beliefs about their ability to control the outcomes of future interactions affected how they behaved when provided with MMS materials.

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MMS 2 2.09.23 author info - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 25 March 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 April 2023
Published date: 11 April 2023
Additional Information: Funding Information: This work was supported by a Scripps College research grant to Professor Stacey Wood. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Taylor & Francis.
Keywords: consumer decision-making, elder financial exploitation, fraud, Consumer decision-making, Elder financial exploitation, Fraud

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 477901
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/477901
ISSN: 0894-6566
PURE UUID: cca5bc1c-4c65-416e-a9f3-1142aabfb8f2
ORCID for Yaniv Hanoch: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9453-4588

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 16 Jun 2023 16:32
Last modified: 25 Mar 2024 05:01

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Contributors

Author: Stacey Wood
Author: David Hengerer
Author: Yaniv Hanoch ORCID iD
Author: Pi-Ju Liu
Author: Patricia Xi
Author: Joshua Paul
Author: Lukas Klapatch

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