The effect of concrete language use on the persuasiveness of governmental communication.
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2022-06-30
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en
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The use of words with a high degree of complexity is still too common in governmental communication. As a result, many citizens experience difficulties in understanding these texts. The aim of this study is to contribute to making governmental communication more accessible for everyone. More specifically, the current experiment focused on the effects of concreteness of the text on comprehensibility, credibility, and persuasion. The experiment consisted of a 2 (Version text: concrete vs. abstract) x (Education level: low-educated vs. high-educated) between-subjects design. The dependent variables were comprehensibility, credibility, and persuasion. The main effects and interactions were tested by means of a two-way analysis of variance. In addition, mediation analyses were performed to test possible predictors. The findings showed that the concrete version was better understood, which in turn had a positive effect on the persuasiveness of the text. However, no differences in credibility were found in the two texts. In addition, no direct effects were found of the concreteness of the text on persuasiveness. Finally, no difference was found between the low-educated and high-educated.
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