Graduate School of Communication
Instagramming your way to a healthy lifestyle:
A quantitative study on the influence of fitness brands vs. fitness peers on
Instagram on the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle and the moderating role
of persuasion knowledge
Master’s Thesis of Shelley Barendregt (10791221)
Supervised by Dr. E. S. Smit
Master’s programme Communication Science
26 June 2015
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Abstract
This research examined the influence of fitness brands vs. fitness peers on Instagram on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle and if and how persuasion knowledge moderated this effect. It was expected that fitness peers would have a stronger influence than fitness brands, and that this effect would be stronger for people with high persuasion
knowledge than for people with low persuasion knowledge. A pre-test was conducted and the stimuli were improved according to the results of this pre-test. An online experiment with a 1 x 2 (source: fitness brand vs. fitness peer) between-subjects design was conducted, using convenience sampling to gather the 102 respondents. The respondents were randomly
assigned to be exposed to either Instagram posts of a fictive fitness brand or of a fictive fitness peer, which dealt with healthy food, working out and motivation to work out. The fictive Instagram posts were the same except for the difference in the name of the fitness peer (Hannah Haven) and the fitness brand (Healthy Haven) and their description. Unfortunately, the manipulation check showed that the manipulation had not succeeded. The results showed that the fitness brand and fitness peer did not differ in perceived credibility and that the fitness peer did not have a stronger influence on the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle than the fitness brand. This could imply that the fitness brand was not perceived as using persuasion techniques, or at least not more than the fitness peer. Furthermore, persuasion knowledge did not play a moderating role. This is interesting for fitness brands, as they could possibly interact with their customers on Instagram without coming across as using persuasion techniques. Furthermore, health communication campaigns can use both fitness peers and fitness brands as ambassadors, since one is not perceived as less credible than the other. Future research should try to replicate this study but ensure a successful manipulation, and examine if and why fitness brands are not perceived as using persuasion techniques on Instagram.
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Introduction
The mobile photo-sharing app Instagram was founded in 2010 and in its short life span it has already gathered over 300 million users (Instagram, n.d.). Instagram enables its users to easily tweak the appearances of photos and then share it with their social network. Research on Instagram has been conducted in relation to museums (Weilenmann, Hillman & Jungselius, 2013), connecting with undergraduates (Salomon, 2013), visual signatures of global cities (Hochman & Manovich, 2013), conflict photojournalism (Alper, 2013), business purposes (Leahey, 2012), and social media campaigns (Howard, Mangold & Johnston, 2014).
However, other than the research by Galica and Chou (2014), no research has been done on the topic of health communication in relation to Instagram.
A message can spread rapidly and effortlessly in online communities such as Instagram, which provides campaigners with new opportunities to influence population health, for example by spreading public health messages about sun safety awareness or the risks of smoking. However, despite the low cost and wide reach, social media remain underused by public health professionals (Vance, Howe & Dellavalle, 2009). Chou, Hunt, Beckjord, Moser and Hesse (2009) claim that research has shown that social media possesses a health-enhancing potential through different mechanisms, such as increasing perceived social support. Moreover, social media sites are rapidly becoming popular sources of health information for teenagers and adolescents (Vance et al., 2009). Nonetheless, Moorhead et al. (2013) state that there is currently a lack of knowledge concerning the uses, benefits and limitations of social media for health communication and call for more research in this field.
Although some research has been done on social media sites such as Twitter in relation to health communication and it has been shown that social media can be useful for spreading innovative ideas in health communication (Hawn, 2009), research on health communication through Instagram has hardly been published. Still, social media such as
Page | 4 Instagram are being used by more and more individuals to promote health in online
communities (Galica & Chou, 2014). Galica and Chou (2014) argue that the rapid growth of Instagram is unique and that evaluation of user engagement with the content on the medium can provide valuable insights on how health campaigners can utilize the influence of fitness peers for public health communication. In contrast with Facebook and Twitter, Instagram only allows its users to upload visuals, whereas on Facebook or Twitter one can also choose to upload only text or share a link. Instagram can be considered a more simplistic social medium, with limited possibilities for its users, which makes it different from the other existing social media platforms. In case the user engagement with fitness peers is higher on than it usually was with an institution attempting to convey a health communication message, Instagram could be utilized as a tool to spread health communication messages in a more effective way: reaching more people and getting the message across.
Besides the fitness peers on Instagram, fitness brands are also utilizing the medium for their business. For instance, fitness brands like Nike (17 million followers), Adidas (4 million followers) and Under Armour (239.000 followers) are actively sharing their vision and products on their Instagram accounts. Fitness photos explaining and/or showing how to achieve a certain (physical) result can be very motivating to people looking at them and with that in mind, social media such as Instagram can be the driving engine behind a fitness brand’s revenue (Heitner, 2014).
Thus, a distinction can be made between these two health actors: one the one hand there are fitness brands, which aim to sell fitness- and health-related products, and on the other hand there are fitness peers, who are people sharing their fitness and health experiences, for example by posting a recipe and explaining why it is healthy. This study focuses on these two sources and how they influence an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle, which is defined as working out regularly and eating healthily. The fitness brand is selling a
Page | 5 product and thus has a commercial goal, whereas the fitness peer is not likely to have any commercial goals. This difference in goals could lead to different perceived source credibility according to the source credibility model, which is discussed next.
One of the most important parts of source credibility is trustworthiness, which is a prominent aspect when assessing the source’s intentions. Trustworthiness is defined as the perceived willingness of a communicator to make valid assertions, and it influences the degree of trust the receiver has in the sender (McCracken, 1989). There are many studies that show that information that comes from a source that is considered to be trustworthy can result in more persuasiveness of the message than a source that is not perceived as such (Hovland & Weiss, 1951; Wilson & Sherrell, 1993). Furthermore, Eagly, Wood and Chaiken (1978) found that a key factor in the perception of trustworthiness is the audience’s attributions of a
source’s intention. The fitness brand is likely to have a clear intention of selling a product or service, whereas the fitness peer’s intentions could be perceived as sharing experiences. This difference in intentions can largely affect the perception of the audience of the source’s trustworthiness, leading the fitness brand to be trusted less as Phelps, Lewis, Mobilio, Perry and Raman (2004) found that a social tie (versus a marketer) is perceived as a more credible source of a message.
Furthermore, the perception of the source’s credibility could differ when people are aware of the persuasion techniques that are being used by marketers in comparison to when they are not aware of them. This awareness and knowledge is defined as persuasion
knowledge (Friestad & Wright, 1994). If persuasion knowledge is high, people are very aware of the ways they can be manipulated and therefore are more critical about the content of a persuasive message. Thus, in the case of a fitness brand, individuals with high persuasion knowledge could be more critical towards the message because they recognize the advertising techniques that are being used.
Page | 6 Discovering how Instagram could be utilized in contemporary health communication can provide new insights for health campaigners. Currently, the average health campaign affects the target group approximately by only five percentage points (Snyder, 2007). If there would be more knowledge on how fitness brands and fitness peers on Instagram impact individuals’ intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle, perhaps health campaigns aiming to increase the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle could benefit from this knowledge and use it in future campaigns. For instance, it could be incorporated by making use of a seeding campaign. A seeding campaign spreads a message with the help of influential individuals, which contributes to the credibility of the campaign and results in better targeting of
consumers (Liu-Thompkins, 2012). Knowing to what extent fitness peers and brands have an influence on consumers’ intentions to pursue a healthy lifestyle can be vital in the decision which source (brand vs. peer) to incorporate in a public health campaign.
Furthermore, this research could potentially fill in a part of the knowledge gap currently existing about Instagram in relation to health communication. Except for the research of Galica and Chou (2014), no research on Instagram in relation to health communication has been published yet. However, Moorhead et al. (2013) call for more
research on the use of social media for health communication. This research attempted to fill a part of the academic knowledge gap.
All in all, this research focused on answering the question ‘to what extent do fitness peers on Instagram versus fitness brands on Instagram have an influence on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle and how does persuasion knowledge moderate this effect?’. The research focused on individuals within the age range of 18 years to 34 years old, since they compose the main group of users of Instagram (Smith, 2014).
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Theoretical Framework
Instagram as a public health communication channel
Vance et al. (2009) argue that social media are underused when it comes to public health campaigns, although the costs are low and the reach extensive. Social media are mostly used by young adults and therefore present a good opportunity to reach this group with
targeted messages about topics that are specifically relevant to them (Vance et al., 2009). The authors discuss, among other media, Twitter as an example of how social media can be used for public health communication. For instance, it could be utilized by reminding a group of young adults about the importance of wearing a condom during sex. Targeting young adults with health communication messages that aim to increase their intention to eat healthier and increase their level of physical activity might help them adopt these healthy habits in their adolescent years, which they then perhaps continue throughout their adult life.
Furthermore, Chou et al. (2009) add that social media attract the most users in comparison to online support groups and blogs and are therefore very useful for maximizing the reach and impact of public health communication efforts. After having conducted their study, they even conclude that health communication through social media has the broadest reach and the most impact when the target audience consists of young adults. Hawn (2009) examined how Twitter was utilized for health communication and found that it helps health messages to spread more broadly and effectively and that it speeds up and enriches
communication as it is a many-to-many communication form. Another similar platform, Facebook, was heralded by Abroms and Lefebvre (2009) for its contribution to the success of Obama’s presidential election campaign. Facebook added an impressive reach to the
campaign and enabled supporters to engage with and inspire others. The authors conclude by stating that public health campaigns should consider making use of social media for it can considerably increase the reach, engagement and effectiveness of these campaigns.
Page | 8 Although social media like Facebook and Twitter have thus been studied moderately with regard to health communication, Instagram has not. Instagram is different since it does not allow its users to upload only text. All posts on Instagram must contain a visual and adding text is optional, in contrast with Facebook and Twitter, where the user can freely choose between a visual and/or text. Therefore, a public health communication campaign would look different on Instagram than on other social media since the main focus has to be on the visual rather than the text. This requires a different approach to a campaign.
Due to the fact that Instagram has only existed for five years, it has not yet been researched extensively in relation to health communication and thus it is still unknown how health communication campaigns can benefit from using Instagram. Considering the large and continually growing database of Instagram users and the different options the platform offers from Facebook and Twitter, Instagram could potentially enhance the impact of public health communication by serving as a new and different platform for health campaigns. Galica and Chou (2014) argue that the visual emphasis of Instagram is an important element that elicits emotion and engagement. The evoked emotion and engagement can offer valuable insights and guidance for public health professionals which can be used in the development of the campaign. Thus, the potential of Instagram to health communication is worth examining.
The role of source credibility of fitness brands vs. fitness peers
In order to use Instagram for health communication, there are two actors who can be utilized: fitness brands and fitness peers. Earlier research showed that changes in an
individual’s opinion are significantly related to the perceived trustworthiness of the communicator (Hovland & Weiss, 1951). The source credibility model is based on this finding and contends that the effectiveness of a message is largely dependent on the trustworthiness of the source (McCracken, 1989). The trustworthiness is defined as the
Page | 9 perceived willingness of the source to make these valid claims. A source which is perceived as high in trustworthiness is considered to be credible, and, to this extent, persuasive
(McCracken, 1989).
Expanding the source credibility model, the source attractiveness model states that the effectiveness of a message relies for the most part on the likeability and/or similarity of the source. Likeability consists of the affection for the source depending on his/her physical appearance and behavior. The perceived resemblance between the source and the receiver of the message makes up the similarity. The higher the likeability and the similarity are, the more effective the message will be according to the source attractiveness model (McGuire, 1985, as cited in McCracken, 1989).
Along the lines of these two models, fitness peers would be more effective in influencing an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle with their Instagram messages than fitness brands. Fitness peers are individuals who are sharing their fitness and health experiences with others on a personal and informal note. Since fitness peers are people, just like everybody else, it is likely to be easy to experience a feeling of similarity and/or likeability. The perception that the communicator is similar to the receiver of the message can result in a stronger persuasive effect (Hass, 1981, as cited in Bickart & Schindler, 2001). Moreover, likeability enhances attitude change (Dholakia & Sternthal, 1977) and a likeable source is more persuasive than a non-likeable source (Chaiken, 1980). In contrast, a fitness brand is an entity, not a person, which could make it more difficult to generate a feeling of similarity and/or likeability.
Furthermore, in email usage, consumers often discard messages that come from
marketers, whereas they are more reluctant to delete a message that comes from someone they know (Phelps et al., 2004). This could have to do with the fact that a key factor in the
Page | 10 source’s intentions (Eagly et al., 1978), which is in alignment with the source credibility model. In the case of marketers, or brands, the audience is mostly aware that they are aiming to sell you their product or service. However, when it comes to peers, it is not likely that you expect them to have a commercial intention. Bickart and Schindler (2001) found that online discussions among peers were more effective in creating product interest than marketers due to their greater credibility and greater ability to generate empathy. The other forum users were fellow consumers and therefore they were perceived to be trustworthy because they were not expected to gain a financial benefit from selling the product and to have no intentions to manipulate the reader (Bickart & Schindler, 2001). Previous research has shown that
communicators who are perceived as highly trustworthy are more persuasive than those who are perceived to be trustworthy to a lesser extent (Bickart & Schindler, 2001; Harmon & Coney, 1982; Hovland & Weiss, 1951; McCracken, 1989; Sternthal, Dholakia & Leavitt, 1978; Wilson & Sherrell, 1993).
Concluding, it is likely that fitness peers are perceived as higher in trustworthiness, similarity and likeability and thus in credibility. Therefore the prediction was that fitness peers are also more persuasive than fitness brands and thus have a stronger influence on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle.
H1: Fitness peers on Instagram have a stronger influence on an individual’s intention
to pursue a healthy lifestyle than fitness brands on Instagram.
Persuasion knowledge as a moderator
The effect of fitness peers on individuals’ intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle could possibly be partly explained by the level of persuasion knowledge of an individual.
Page | 11 are used in persuasion attempts. This knowledge helps them to recognize situations in which people are trying to influence them, how they are doing this and what their motives are to persuade them. Persuasion knowledge is developed throughout an individual’s life and helps one cope with persuasion attempts (Friestad & Wright, 1994).
Individuals may use their persuasion knowledge to assess what the intentions of the communicator are. According to Campbell and Kirmani (2000), suspicion arises if individuals consider the possibility that a communicator may have a hidden motive. When persuasion knowledge is high, individuals are aware that the other person is attempting to influence them and therefore analyze and interpret the tactics that are used. The communicator will be
perceived as manipulative and insincere if the consumer realizes he/she has ulterior motives for the message, which results in a more negative image of the communicator (Campbell & Kirmani, 2000), ultimately leading to less persuasion according to the source credibility model discussed earlier. Previous research has shown that the activation of persuasion knowledge can therefore negatively impact the effectiveness of the sales tactic (Campbell & Kirmani, 2000; Wei, Fischer & Main, 2008). However, the role of persuasion knowledge in relation to health communication has not been researched yet.
Concluding from this, it was expected that fitness brands would be trusted less by individuals with high persuasion knowledge, since the brand has an ulterior motive: selling products and making profit. Fitness peers on the other hand generally do not have commercial goals and do not gain financially from persuading individuals to pursue a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, it was hypothesized that persuasion knowledge moderates the influence of fitness peers compared with fitness brands on Instagram on the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle in the sense that individuals with high persuasion knowledge would realize that there could be an ulterior motive to the message of fitness brands, which results in stronger influence by fitness peers than fitness brands. People with low persuasion knowledge would be influenced
Page | 12 by both fitness peers and fitness brands since they have more difficulty recognizing
advertising and persuasion strategies.
H2: Fitness peers on Instagram have a stronger influence on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle than fitness brands on Instagram, but this effect is
stronger for people with high persuasion knowledge than for people with low persuasion knowledge.
Method
Sample
The participants for both the pre-test and the experiment were recruited through convenience sampling, which is a non-probability sampling technique (Fogelman & Comber, 2002). The link to the online experiment was distributed through the social media network of the researcher, with no incentive to fill in the survey other than to help the researcher gather data. The only criteria for the participants were that they were between the ages of 18 and 34 years old and were using or were familiar with Instagram. The participants were asked this question before the start of the survey in order to avoid gathering data that would not be used.
Pre-test
A pre-test was conducted to test whether the fitness brand was perceived as less credible than the fitness peer. Participants were exposed to either three Instagram posts of a fictitious fitness brand or to three Instagram posts of a fictitious fitness peer (see Appendix A for the Instagram posts). One post was about healthy food (protein pancakes), one was about working out (sport tights), and one was about motivation to work out. The text under the picture was kept the same as much as possible for the fitness brand and peer. The fitness
Page | 13 brand was called Healthy Haven and was described as being a company selling fitness
accessories such as weights and food supplements such as various superfoods. The fitness peer was called Hannah Haven and was described as a woman of 27 years old who is sharing her experiences with working out and eating healthy on her Instagram account. After
exposure to the stimuli, the participants were asked to what extent they perceived the source to be credible. Lastly, they were asked for several demographics.
The pre-test showed that the fitness brand was perceived as less credible (M=3.83;
SD=.80) than the fitness peer (M=2.70; SD=1.04), but not significantly so; t(8)=1.93, p=.090.
Therefore, in the description of the fitness brand and fitness peer, several words were changed into bold as to emphasize the intention of the brand vs. the peer. In the case of Healthy Haven, the words ‘brand’, ‘sell’ and ‘profitable’ were put in bold. In the case of Hannah Haven, ‘young woman’ and ‘share her experiences’ were put in bold. This was done in order to improve the stimuli and to emphasize the difference in intentions (commercial vs. noncommercial).
Research design and procedure
The experiment employed a 1 x 2 (source: fitness brand vs. fitness peer) between-subjects design. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions. The online experiment started out by informing the participant of the research. The specific purpose of the study was not elaborated on in order to avoid priming the participants toward any direction. Instead, they were told that the research focused on examining how Instagram sources could be used in health communication. Furthermore, the participant was informed that his/her anonymity would be safeguarded, that he/she would be able to halt their
participation at any time and that the study would not entail the participant being subjected to any appreciable risk or discomfort. After this information, participants were asked to give
Page | 14 their informed consent by ticking a box stating that they were informed about the research in a clear manner and that they agreed to the specified terms.
Subsequently, depending on which condition the participant was assigned to he/she was exposed to either stimuli with a fictitious fitness brand as a source or stimuli with a fictitious fitness peer as a source. The stimuli of the pre-test were improved as previously discussed and used in the experiment. After viewing the stimuli, the participants were asked to rate the source’s credibility as a manipulation check. Furthermore, their intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle was measured. Lastly, their level of persuasion knowledge was measured, after which the participants were asked for several demographics such as age, gender,
nationality and level of education. Finally, the participants were thanked for their participation and were given the possibility to leave their e-mail address behind in case they wanted to receive the results of the study. See Appendix A for the complete survey.
Measures
Manipulation check
Source credibility served as a manipulation check and was measured by the scale used by Jiwa, Millett, Meng and Hewitt (2012). This scale measured source credibility by six items on a 7-point bipolar Likert scale. The participants were asked to rate the source on the
following items: honest/dishonest, untrustworthy/trustworthy, honorable/dishonorable,
moral/immoral, unethical/ethical, and phony/genuine. The items untrustworthy/trustworthy, unethical/ethical and phony/genuine were reverse coded in order for all items to be coded
from positive to negative. Thus, the lower the score on this question, the more credible the source was perceived to be.
Page | 15 To see if all items loaded on one factor, a principle component analysis was
conducted. This analysis indicated that one factor was reliable (EV=5.56; R2=.93).
Furthermore, a Cronbach’s Alpha of .98 was found, meaning that the scale is highly reliable.
Intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle
The intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle was split up in two aspects: the intention to eat healthier and the intention to increase physical activity levels. Rise, Kovac and Moan (2008) used three items to measure intention with regard to smoking cessation. The words ‘quit smoking’ have been adapted in this study to ‘increase my physical activity level’ and ‘make healthier food choices’. Participants were asked to rate their opinion on a 7-point Likert scale, on which 1 means strongly disagree and 7 means strongly agree. The three items that measured intention to make healthier food choices were: During the next 3-4 months… I
intend to make healthier food choices, I expect to make healthier food choices, and I will try to make healthier food choices. The three items that measured intention to increase the
physical activity level were: During the next 3-4 months… I intend to increase my physical
activity level, I expect to increase my physical activity level, and I will try to increase my physical activity level.
The items that measured the intention to make healthier food choices all loaded on one factor (EV=2.70, R2=.90). The Cronbach’s Alpha was found to be .94, thus the scale was highly reliable. The items that measured the intention to increase the level of physical activity all loaded on one factor as well (EV=2.72, R2=.91) and Cronbach’s Alpha was .95, proving this scale to be highly reliable.
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Persuasion knowledge
Persuasion knowledge is the knowledge an individual holds about the tactics and motives used in persuasion attempts (Friestad & Wright, 1994). The measurement scale of persuasion knowledge with regard to television commercials used by Rossiter (1977) has been slightly amended for this study as ‘television commercials’ were replaced by
‘advertisements’. Persuasion knowledge was measured by seven items with a 4-point Likert scale, where 1 means strongly disagree and 4 means strongly agree. The participants were asked to indicate to what extent they agreed with the statements: advertisements tell the truth,
most advertisements are poor in taste and very annoying, advertisements tell only the good things about a product – they don’t tell you the bad things, I like most advertisements, advertisements try to make people buy things they don’t really need, you can always believe
what the people in advertisements say or do, and the products advertised most are always the best products to buy. Since the statements differ in sentiment, the items advertisements tell the truth, I like most advertisements, you can always believe what the people in advertisements say or do and the products advertised most are always the best products to buy were reverse
coded to make sure that all items scored from low persuasion knowledge to high persuasion knowledge. The items loaded on one factor (EV=2.16, R2=.31). The average reliability found with Cronbach’s Alpha was .59, indicating a moderate reliability of the scale.
Analysis plan
Firstly, the demographics of the samples of the pre-test and experiment were analyzed by running frequencies on gender and age. This way the sample could be analyzed in terms of demographics.
Concerning the experiment, the independent variable consisted of fitness brands and fitness peers on Instagram, the dependent variable the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle
Page | 17 and the moderator is persuasion knowledge. First, a bivariate correlation analysis was
conducted to make sure there was no significant relation between the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle and age. Subsequently, two chi-square tests were done to ensure there was also no significant correlation between the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle and gender. To ensure that age and gender were equally distributed across the two conditions, an
independent sample t-test and a chi-square test were conducted.
The two hypotheses of the research were analyzed separately. Hypothesis 1 stated that fitness peers on Instagram have a stronger influence on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle than fitness brands on Instagram. Hypothesis 1 was tested by conducting two independent sample t-tests, since two groups of different people need to be compared and the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle was split up into two segments: the intention to eat healthier and the intention to increase the level of physical activity. Fitness peers and fitness brands were the independent variable in the analysis and the intention to eat healthier and to increase the level of physical activity were the dependent variables.
Hypothesis 2 stated that the effect described in hypothesis 1 is stronger for people with high persuasion knowledge than for people with low persuasion knowledge. Hypothesis 2 was tested by conducting two multiple regression analyses, since the interaction effect between persuasion knowledge and the source provided information about the moderating effect of persuasion knowledge. Fitness peers and fitness brands and persuasion knowledge were the independent variables and the intention to eat healthier was the dependent variable in the first analysis. In the second analysis, fitness peers and fitness brands and persuasion knowledge were the independent variables and the intention to increase the level of physical activity was the dependent variable.
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Results
Sample
In the pre-test, 10 people participated of which 90% was female and 10% was male. The age of the participants ranged from 19 years old to 35 years old (M=25.30, SD=4.90).
In the experiment, 102 people participated in total, of which 76.2% was female and 23.8% was male. Age varied, according to the criteria, from 18 years to 34 years old (M=23.0,
SD=2.3).
Preparatory analyses
In order to verify whether the manipulation had succeeded, a manipulation check was conducted. However, it turned out that like in the pre-test, the fitness brand was not perceived as significantly less credible (M=3.28; SD=.76) than the fitness peer (M=3.36; SD=.83); t(100)=-.50, p=.619. Therefore, the manipulation was not successful.
A bivariate correlation analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between the intention to eat healthier and the intention to increase the level of physical activity, and age, respectively. Furthermore, a chi-square test showed that there was no significant correlation between the intention to eat healthier and gender, χ(13)=16.623,
p=.217. Another chi-square test showed that there was also no significant correlation between
the intention to increase the level of physical activity and gender, χ(13)=17.303, p=.186. Thus, any effect of the variables gender and age on the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle could be ruled out.
Lastly, an independent sample t-test showed that age was equally distributed across the two conditions. A chi-square test showed that gender was equally distributed across the two conditions as well. Therefore, randomization had succeeded.
Page | 19 The influence of fitness brands vs. fitness peers on Instagram on the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle
It was expected that fitness peers had a stronger influence on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle than fitness brands. However, the first independent sample t-test showed that the fitness peer did not have significantly more influence on the intention to eat healthier (M=5.12; SD= 1.39) than the fitness brand (M=5.31; SD=1.02); t(100)=.81, p=.420. Thus, fitness peers do not have a stronger influence on an individual’s intention to eat
healthier than fitness brands.
The second independent sample t-test showed that fitness peers neither have a stronger influence on the intention to increase the level of physical activity (M=5.31; SD=1.34) than fitness brands (M=5.44; SD=.93); t(100)=.57, p=.569. Therefore, it can be concluded that fitness peers on Instagram do not have a stronger influence on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle than fitness brands on Instagram and thus, hypothesis 1 was rejected.
The moderating effect of persuasion knowledge
It was hypothesized that the effect of fitness peers on Instagram on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle would be stronger than the influence of fitness brands on Instagram, but that this effect would be stronger for people with high persuasion
knowledge than for people with low persuasion knowledge.
Running frequencies showed that the median of persuasion knowledge was 3.00. Therefore, all participants scoring an average on persuasion knowledge ranging from 1.00-3.00 were labeled as having low persuasion knowledge and all participants scoring an average ranging from 3.01-7.00 were labeled as having high persuasion knowledge. The average
Page | 20 persuasion knowledge was moderate (M=3.07; SD=.32). In total, 51% of the respondents had low persuasion knowledge and 49% had high persuasion knowledge.
A multiple regression analysis showed that persuasion knowledge did not significantly moderate the effect of fitness brands or fitness peers on Instagram on the intention to eat healthier, F(3, 98)=1.006, p=.170, R2=.030. Thus, the effect of fitness peers on Instagram versus fitness brands on Instagram on the intention to eat healthier was not stronger for people with high persuasion knowledge than for people with low persuasion knowledge.
Regarding the intention to increase the level of physical activity, another multiple regression analysis showed that again, persuasion knowledge did not play a significant moderating role, F(3, 98)=.139, p=.939, R2=.004. Therefore, it can be concluded that the effect of fitness peers on Instagram versus fitness brands on Instagram on the intention to increase the level of physical activity was again not stronger for people with high persuasion knowledge in comparison to people with low persuasion knowledge. Thus, taking both results into account, hypothesis 2 was rejected.
Conclusion & Discussion
Findings
The primary aim of this study was to examine the influence of fitness brands on Instagram versus fitness peers on Instagram on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle and to discover if and how persuasion knowledge moderated this effect. The results indicated that there was no difference in influence between fitness peers and fitness brands and that persuasion knowledge did not play a statistically significant moderating role.
Surprisingly, fitness brands and fitness peers on Instagram were not considered to differ in credibility, although the stimuli were improved after the pre-test. The source credibility (McCracken, 1989) and source attractiveness model (McGuire, 1985, as cited in
Page | 21 McCracken, 1989) would indicate that fitness peers were likely to be perceived as more credible than fitness brands since they should be scoring higher on the scales of likeability and similarity. Furthermore, Hass (1981, as cited in Bickart & Schindler, 2001) argues that when a communicator is perceived as similar to the receiver of the message it can result in more persuasion than when a communicator is not perceived as similar to the receiver. However, the results show that fitness peers on Instagram are not perceived as higher in credibility than fitness brands on Instagram, and that fitness peers do not have more influence on an
individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle than a fitness brand.
A possible explanation could be that people do not recognize advertising on Instagram yet due to the fact that it has not existed for very long yet. It could be the case that the
Instagram posts of the fictive fitness brand were too similar with the Instagram posts of a ‘normal’ person like a fitness peer. If there was even more emphasis on the promotion and advertising in the post, people might recognize the persuasion techniques that are being used and perhaps then the fitness brand and fitness peer would differ in perceived credibility.
Although Phelps et al. (2004) claim that people are more reluctant to discard a message from someone they know in comparison to a message that comes from a marketer, the Instagram posts from a fitness peer were equally received as those from a fitness brand. This could implicate that the fitness peer is not perceived as someone the receiver of the message knows, or that the fitness brand is not perceived as exerting marketing efforts. If the latter is true, this would be interesting for companies in their decision on whether or not to set up an Instagram account of the business. Since they might not be perceived as marketing their products, being active on Instagram could potentially enhance their engagement with their target audience without coming across as a marketer. According to Phelps et al. (2004), this would result in less rejection of the message, which can be beneficial to the company image and commercial goals.
Page | 22 However, if the fitness peer was not perceived as someone the receiver of the message knew, that could also be due to the fact that the fitness peer was fictive and specifically created for this research. When an individual follows an Instagram account of a fitness peer on Instagram, he/she knows who the fitness peer is. The fact that the fitness peer was fictive therefore might have had consequences on the outcomes.
Moreover, persuasion knowledge did not play a moderating role, thus the influence of fitness peers on Instagram versus fitness brands on Instagram on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle was not stronger for people with high persuasion knowledge. This could again implicate that the fitness brand was not perceived as using persuasion techniques in their Instagram posts, or at least not more so than the fitness peer. Campbell and Kirmani (2000) argue that the sender of the message is more negatively evaluated by the receiver of the message when he/she realizes that the sender has an ulterior motive, for instance such as selling a product. Since 49% of the participants had high persuasion knowledge, it would have been likely that participants with high persuasion knowledge who were exposed to the fitness brand would have experienced a weaker effect on their intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle in comparison to participants with high persuasion knowledge who had been exposed to the fitness peer. However, this was not the case.
This calls for further research on whether brands are perceived as using persuasion techniques and promoting their products when posting on their Instagram account. If not, this would be interesting for fitness brands to know, for Instagram could then be an interesting social media channel for them to engage and interact with their customers. Building on this, future research should examine if fitness brands can successfully increase sales by posting on their Instagram account without being perceived as using persuasion techniques. This could open up a whole new range of possibilities for fitness brands to increase profits.
Page | 23 Moreover, since fitness peers on Instagram do not have a stronger influence on
individuals’ intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle than fitness brands for people with high persuasion knowledge, it could also implicate that both peers and brands can be utilized for health communication campaigns rather than solely peers, as Galica and Chou (2014) implied. Especially if brands are not perceived as using persuasion techniques, they can be useful to have as senders of health communication messages as well.
Limitations
The manipulation check showed that the manipulation of the stimuli had not
succeeded in the experiment. Effort was made to improve the stimuli after the pre-test and to make it clear that the fitness brand had commercial goals whereas the fitness peer did not; however, it did not lead to less credibility of the fitness brand for the respondents. This is a large limitation of this research, since it is possible that the results could have been different in the case of a successful manipulation. In order to achieve a successful manipulation, it might help to have different content in the case of the fitness brand in comparison to the fitness peer, which makes it clear that the brand is promoting a product and is engaging in advertising.
Moreover, the convenience sampling technique might have attracted a homogeneous audience since the experiment was distributed in the social media network of the researcher. For instance, the majority of the sample was between 21 and 23 years old. Another sampling technique such as stratified sampling could ensure a more balanced sample in terms of demographics.
It should be mentioned that this research showed the participant only three (fictive) Instagram posts and the participants were asked questions immediately after viewing the posts. It would be interesting to study the long-term results of following a fitness brand or
Page | 24 fitness peer on Instagram and measure the intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle after having been exposed to the stimuli for a longer period of time, such as one to three months. This resembles real life much more, since people mostly follow an account for a certain amount of time that is longer than just a couple of minutes of viewing the posts. Perhaps then the fitness brand would be perceived as using persuasion techniques since the participant would
continually be exposed to promotion messages that aim to sell a product and realize that the fitness brand has an ulterior motive.
Future research and practical implications
In this research, the fitness peer (Hannah Haven) and the fitness brand (Healthy
Haven) were not perceived as differing in credibility. Therefore, future research could attempt to replicate this study but with a successful manipulation in order to find out whether the influence of a fitness brand vs. a fitness peer on Instagram on an individual’s intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle differs. A successful manipulation could be ensured by making the Instagram posts of the fitness brand and fitness peer different instead of nearly identical. The posts of the brand could focus more on, for example, the price of a product or a special discount to sell the product, whereas the post of the peer could focus more on personal achievements like a personal record in running. In that case, it could be clearer to the participants that the fitness brand has a commercial goal and is trying to sell a product.
Furthermore, future research should also attempt to discover if and why fitness brands on Instagram are not perceived as promoting their products or using persuasion techniques. If this is the case, it could be interesting for brands to use this medium to increase engagement with their customers without coming across as marketers, which could lead to an increase of acceptance of their messages. Future research could also focus on if fitness brands can
Page | 25 successfully increase sales through posting on Instagram without coming across as using persuasion techniques.
All in all, this research made a start in examining the influence of fitness brands and fitness peers on Instagram on individuals’ intention to pursue a healthy lifestyle and the possible moderating role that persuasion knowledge plays. The findings of this research implies that both fitness brands and fitness peers could be utilized as actors in a health
communication campaign since one is not perceived as less credible than the other. Thus, it is not needed to focus on fitness peers as ambassadors of a campaign only; fitness brands could be included in a health communication campaign as well.
This research has attempted to fill in a part of the knowledge gap regarding Instagram in relation to health communication. It has also raised questions about whether a fitness brand on Instagram is perceived as using persuasion techniques or not. If not, this has interesting implications for any fitness brand looking to interact with its customers on Instagram. Future research directions have been laid out which could yield interesting results both for academic as well as practical purposes.
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Appendix A: Survey
Dear participant,
Thank you for participating in this research! Before we begin, I'd like to tell you a bit more about this study. It is a study for my Master thesis, carried out under the supervision of the ASCoR research institute, which is part of the University of Amsterdam. ASCoR conducts scientific research into media and communications in society. This particular study looks at how Instagram can be used in health communication.
Your participation is voluntary. Participating in the study will not entail your being subjected to any appreciable risk or discomfort, the researcher will not deliberately mislead you, and you will not be exposed to any explicitly offensive material. The survey will take
approximately 5-10 minutes of your time.
Please confirm that you understand the terms above to start the survey. If you do not agree, please close this window.
I hereby declare that I have been informed in a clear manner about the nature and method of the research, as described above, and agree with the following statements:
I agree, fully and voluntarily, to participate in this research study. With this, I retain the right to withdraw my consent, without having to give a reason for doing so, within 24 hours. I am aware that I may halt my participation at any time. If my research results are used in scientific publications or are made public in another way, this will be done such a way that my anonymity is completely safeguarded. My personal data will not be passed on to third parties without my express permission.
Page | 31
If I wish to receive more information about the research, either now or in the future, I can contact Shelley Barendregt, s-barendregt@hotmail.com.
Should I have any complaints about this research, I can contact the designated member of the Ethics Committee representing ASCoR, at the following address: ASCoR secretariat, Ethics Committee, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 15793, 1001 NG Amsterdam; 020-525 3680, ascor-secr-fmg@uva.nl.
Again, thank you for participating in this research! Click the button in the right lower corner of this screen to go to the next page
Best,
Shelley Barendregt
[PAGE BREAK]
Are you between 18-34 years old and are you using or familiar with Instagram?
Yes
No (please do not proceed and close this window)
[PAGE BREAK]
FITNESS BRAND
The following Instagram posts are from Healthy Haven, a brand that sells a wide range of products that are related to a healthy lifestyle. They sell sports clothing, sports accessories and food supplements like protein powder and superfoods. Healthy Haven was established in 1988
Page | 32 and is still profitable nowadays.
Please take a look at the following Instagram posts as if you were scrolling through your Instagram feed.
Page | 34 [PAGE BREAK]
Page | 35 1. Please indicate to what extent you agree with the following statements.
[7-point bipolar scale with randomized questions] I find Healthy Haven…
Honest ….. Dishonest Untrustworthy ... Trustworthy Honorable …… Dishonorable Moral ….. Immoral Unethical ….. Ethical Phony …… Genuine OR FITNESS PEER
The following Instagram posts are from Hannah Haven, a young woman that lives a very active and healthy lifestyle. She likes to share her experiences of her healthy lifestyle with others through her Instagram account. Hannah Haven was born in 1988 and is now 27 years old.
Please take a look at the following Instagram posts as if you were scrolling through your Instagram feed.
Page | 38 [PAGE BREAK]
Page | 39 [7-point bipolar scale with randomized questions]
I find Hannah Haven…
Honest ….. Dishonest Untrustworthy ... Trustworthy Honorable …… Dishonorable Moral ….. Immoral Unethical ….. Ethical Phony …… Genuine [PAGE BREAK]
2. Please indicate to what extent you agree with the following statements.
[7-point Likert scale of which 1 means ‘Strongly Disagree’ and 7 means ‘Strongly Agree’]
During the next 3-4 months…
I intend to make healthier food choices
I expect to make healthier food choices
I will try to make healthier food choices
3. Please indicate to what extent you agree with the following statements.
[7-point Likert scale of which 1 means ‘Strongly Disagree’ and 7 means ‘Strongly Agree’]
During the next 3-4 months…
I intend to increase my physical activity level
Page | 40
I will try to increase my physical activity level
[PAGE BREAK]
4. Please indicate to what extent you agree with the following statements. There are no right or wrong answers, this is about your opinion.
[4-point Likert scale with randomized questions of which 1 means ‘Strongly Disagree’ and 4 means ‘Strongly Agree’]
Advertisements tell the truth
Most advertisements are poor in taste and very annoying
Advertisements tell only the good things about a product – they don’t tell you the bad things
I like most advertisements
Advertisements try to make people buy things they don’t really need
You can always believe what the people in advertisements say or do
The products which are advertised most are always the best products to buy
[PAGE BREAK]
These are the last questions. Your personal information will be treated confidentially and you will remain anonymous.
5. What is your gender?
Male
Page | 41 6. What age are you?
___
7. What nationality are you? ___
8. What is the highest form of education you have completed or are currently doing?
Elementary school High school MBO HBO WO / Bachelor’s Degree WO / Master’s Degree Doctoral Degree Other: ___
Thank you for participating!
If you wish to receive information about the results of this study, you can provide your e-mail address below. Your e-mail address will not be shared with third parties and will be treated confidentially. If you do not wish to receive information about the results, you can leave this question open.
Page | 42 IMPORTANT: your answers are not submitted until you click the button in the lower right corner. Please do so before you close this window, otherwise I won't be able to use your answers.
___
