Motivational Persuasion toward Commitment

With green political theory and influential social marketing techniques as my service mission, the commitment-consistency theory applies most to my career aspirations and what I seek from my graduate school experience. Professors Vaidyanathan and Aggarwal (2005) describe how using the commitment-consistency theory, coupled with other important elements, influence consumer choices (p. 232). Their study’s findings can be best stated by two of their confirmed hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1—“Making a small, active commitment to an environmental cause results in a greater willingness to buy a product that advertises a donation to that cause” (p. 236).

Hypothesis 3—“Making an active commitment to an environmental cause results in a greater willingness to buy a product that donates to such a cause only if the donation does not entail an additional cost to the customer” (p. 238).

To effectively persuade people to make a commitment to ecological sustainability, the commitment-consistency theory suggests that the first goal of a strategy is to get consumers to make a small commitment to the cause (p. 232). The consistency portion of the theory suggests that people tend to want to remain consistent in their behaviors and, therefore, are likely to support future requests (p. 235). Even though the participants in the study said they were committed to action and support of a cause, they were only willing to exert contribution if that donation came at the expense of the company. In other words, their actions did not match up with their vocalized beliefs (hypothesis 3). I agree with their hypotheses and their results concur with these assumptions. By understanding and applying these concepts, I can reach targeted audiences more effectively and improve my professional communication skills.

I define persuasion as a form of social influential communication that is intended to invoke a certain behavioral or ideological shift in thinking or behavior. I believe that the art of persuasion is to convince and ultimately inspire actuation toward progressing the cause or movement. The most significant concept I learned is to apply cause-related marketing techniques to persuade adoption. One way to increase adopters of the Ecocity is to have them support other “environment enhancing” products and services and continue to participate in environmental activism (p. 232).

Understanding various theories of persuasion is needed to be an effective and influential leader in the 21st century. Many techniques that influence individualistic countries do not serve as motivators for collectivistic cultures. For example, persuading a behavior change in someone from Japan may start with influencing an opinion leader in the family, while influencing peers or socially similar individuals may be the tactics for someone in the United States. The motivators of persuasion differ greatly based on cultural frames of reference.

Vaidyanathan, R. & Aggarwal, P. (2005). Using commitments to drive consistency: Enhancing the effectiveness of cause-related marketing communications. Journal of Marketing Communications, 11(4), 231-246.