Do Messages Matter? Investigating the Combined Effects of Framing, Outcome Uncertainty, and Number Format on COVID-19 Vaccination Attitudes and Intention.

Chen, Tianen; Dai, Minhao; Xia, Shilin; Zhou, Yu

Guided by prospect theory, the current study aims to explore Chinese adults' attitudes and intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and investigate the effects of message frames (gain vs. loss), outcome uncertainty (certain vs. uncertain), and number format (frequency vs. percentage) on vaccination attitudes and intention. Participants (n = 413) were randomly assigned to one of the eight experimental conditions and participated in the online experiment. The results showed that Chinese adults' attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination were highly favorable, and the vaccination intention was high; age and education were positively correlated with attitudes and intention. The results also showed that message frames, outcome uncertainty, and number format did not have significant main or interaction effects on vaccination attitudes and intention. The discussion focused on how Chinese culture and contextual factors may have influenced the results of the study, as well as the implications and suggestions for future studies.