Affiliation:
1. The University of Texas at Austin, USA
2. University of Houston, USA
Abstract
TikTok is a social media channel for light entertainment and humor. Then what happens when TikTok tries to persuade users with serious health messages? A between-subject study ( N = 189) induced expectancy violation by using six COVID-19 vaccination videos with a varied level of seriousness. Among those who held stronger perceptions of TikTok as an entertainment channel, the seriousness of videos was associated with increased expectancy violation and message effectiveness. Those who held more negative vaccine attitudes experienced greater expectancy violation as video seriousness increased, and expectancy violation was a positive predictor for message effectiveness and vaccine-related intentions among this group.
Subject
Sociology and Political Science