The Influences of Political Values Manifested in Advertisements on Political Participation: Moderating Roles of Self-transcendence and Conservation

Abstract

This study seeks to explain how political participation is influenced by cultural values manifested in political advertising. In this regard, this study proposes a model that encompasses the concepts of Schwartz’ basic human values in which self-transcendence and conservation interact with three political values manifested in advertisements, namely law and order, civil liberties and patriotism, to determine political participation. Analyses were performed on a random sample of 834 Pakistanis collected through a survey. Structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques were employed, and analysis of moment structures (AMOS) was used to determine political participation. The findings of this study revealed that self-transcendence and conservation, albeit varied intensity, interact with political values manifested in advertisements. The findings also provide theoretical and managerial implications, which are discussed in greater detail in this article.

Keywords

Political communications advertising political participation human values Pakistan

Introduction

Research has substantiated that advertising, because of its persuasive nature, is not only, by far, the most effective way to promote a brand or product, but it is also an opportunity to tap into other aspects such as politics or health; thus, it creates competitive advantage for advertisers. Despite the applied relevance of advertising as an instrument to manipulate individuals’ actions, there is, however, a long-standing inconclusive question about advertising’s trade-off with societal values (Czarnecka & Schivinski, 2019). Scholars have found that advertisements play a prominent role in shaping the society, for instance, the impact of sociocultural factors on gender stereotyping (Chin et al., 2013) and collective identity (Westjohn et al., 2012). For the above reasons, advertisements are often used in various disciplines such as marketing, communication and awareness as a promotional strategy. By virtue of its persuasive strength, political advertising is considered the foundation of political marketing around the globe; hence, it is often used in promoting political ideas or candidate characteristics.

Political advertisement was first used in political campaigns in the 1950s, and it has since grown into a prevailing form of persuasive communication targeting voters’ attitudes, thereby shaping their behaviour (Kaid, 2004). Thus, in every election campaign, political parties often spend a huge amount of money to exert influence and engage people in political activities; in essence, the goal is to shape voters’ intention to vote for a particular candidate (Schmuck & Matthes, 2017). Ergo, political advertising has become a staple of communication in augmenting political campaigns, ranging from political values to political participation (Kaid, 2012). Thus, research on political advertising has developed into one of the most imperative components of the marketing communications discipline. Communication scholars have engaged in diverse researches in political advertising, such as on the effect of political advertisements in the context of political polarisation (Ridout et al., 2018), voter’s cynicism (Lovejoy et al., 2010), advocacy in political advertising (Halle, 2017), negative effects related to political advertising (Jayswal, 2017), issue involvement (Han et al., 2018), sponsorship (Dowling & Wichowsky, 2015) and political advertorials (Golan & Viatchaninova, 2014).

Given that political advertising has been extensively regarded as an effective persuasive technique with a variety of optimistic effects on voters’ attitudes, political leaders have therefore used it as a potent medium to package their images, as well as to reach voters effectively. Conversely, scholars have also identified that persuasion is not a straightforward process and can be affected by message frames (Han et al., 2018), message tone (advocacy or attack) (Halle, 2017), two-sided persuasion (Kim, 2020) and personal traits (Tory Higgins et al., 2003). In this respect, the content of political advertisements interact with other influential factors such as personality traits or values and, consequently, trigger either promotion- or prevention-oriented apprehensions. The success of an ad campaign depends on the effectiveness of the communicated message; not only will it result in the change of recipients’ attitudes in an anticipated way, but these altered attitudes will also result in profound effects on the recipients’ behaviour, causing it to shift over time. Ergo, the content and execution of an advertisement remain crucial in determining the success of the advertisement.

In line with the above assertion, recent studies have found that basic human values like benevolence serve as an underlying mechanism between core political values and political choices (Schwartz et al., 2010; Vecchione et al., 2013). Likewise, studies have also indicated that political actions and choices depend on individual values (Vecchione et al., 2015). However, to our knowledge, not much research has been done in relation to how individuals respond to political values like civil liberties, as framed in political ads. Consequently, there seems to be a research lacuna in addressing the question of how messages framed in political ads influence individuals in taking political actions. This study is therefore an attempt to bring the understudied influential factors in the relationship between political and human values to the fore.

Building on the analogy that individuals rely on their past knowledge and experiences in evaluating messages in advertisements (O’Keefe, 2013), we presume that political values in advertisements explicate the learned or acquired values of an individual through cultural socialisation, which may in turn motivate the individual to process messages either in a positive or negative manner. Further, the intensity of political advertisements’ influence on an individual may depend on the individual’s level of interest and concern that emanate from the deeply rooted human values of the individual, which in turn lead to political participation, such as voting behaviour.

Drawing upon Schwartz’ values theory (Schwartz et al., 2012), this study investigates the influence of the commonly used political values, such as law and order, civil liberties and patriotism manifested in political advertisements, on the political choices of the Pakistani people. In this study, the emphasis is on the implications of human values in relation to political behaviour or political participation. In other words, this study probes into how individuals refer to their human values to rationalise their political choices and/or political participation, research upon which remains minimal in literature. More specifically, this study underlies the interaction of two human values—self-transcendence and conservation—based on their affinity with the promoted political values in Pakistan. To exemplify, Schwartz’ (2012) operationalisation of self-transcendence and conservation based on a set of values such as benevolence, security and tradition is consistent with the populous/strong political values of South Asian politics (Sohal & Kaur, 2018). Consequently, individuals’ perspectives derived from their cultural orientations (i.e., human values) may interact with the received political values through political advertisement to improve or diminish their political choices. In this manner, the study fills the research lacuna by exploring the relationships between human values, political advertisements and political participation, which define voting behaviour. Specifically, this research provides important information on the interaction between political advertisements and political participation in the understudied context of Pakistan.

Literature Review

Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development

Schwartz Values

The notion of values is fundamental to numerous disciplines, including communications, cultural studies and promotional management (Choi et al., 2016). Over the decades, research has seen a growing body of literature on values which has dwelt on content, domain (e.g., individual values or societal) and the outcomes of values in various cultures (de Mooij, 2015). Values reflect what is imperative for people in their lives (Schwartz et al., 2012). Values also serve as motivators and act as guiding principles in everyday life; they influence certain perceptions, attitudes and behaviour (Lee et al., 2019). However, the construct of values is often mixed up with personal characteristics, for instance, attitudes or traits (Sagiv & Roccas, 2017). Nevertheless, values are a discrete concept, different from other individual characteristics in several ways. For instance, distinct structures of values have inferences for their influence on certain behaviour (Lee et al., 2019). Thus, it is imperative to define the similarities and differences in the elements that make up the notion of values and their related concepts, along with their implications for expected behaviour in a culture.

For this study, values conceptualised based on Schwartz’ (2012) concept of human values are defined as the cognitive representations of individual motivations. According to Schwartz (1992) values are abstract, desirable goals, relatively stable over time and across situations. Besides, values denote the degree of importance; the higher the importance an individual attributes to a specific value, the more likely they are to act in ways that would help in the accomplishment of such value. Therefore, human values serve as standards or criteria that offer social reasoning to a person in choosing a behaviour (Schwartz et al., 2012). This attribute of human values differentiates it from individual traits or behaviour. However, Schwartz (2012) noted that individuals refer to their values when they desire to rationalise their choices or actions as legitimate or valid. Certainly, values are beliefs that are connected inextricably to affect the conation among values and behaviour (Roccas & Sagiv, 2010). In this study, the emphasis is on the implications of human values in relation to political participation. Scholars usually equate participation with electoral activities, such as voting and working for political parties (Conway, 1985).

This study is built upon Schwartz’ theory of human values (1992, 2012), which presents a list of human values that serve as motivational constructs that drive individuals to act, and each of these values has a role to play in influencing different motivational goals (Schwartz et al., 2012). The more imperative a value is to an individual, the more he or she is inspired to achieve the goal it signifies. It is also central to comprehend the structure of Schwartz’ values so as to delineate the conflicts and compatibility between them. Schwartz indicated that although the structures of all values are culturally distinct, at the same time, it is not possible for individuals to achieve all goals at once. To exemplify this, Sagiv and Roccas (2017) noted that actions taken in pursuit of a specific value are possibly incompatible with actions that endorse other values.

Perhaps, the Schwartz theory presents a circular structure of values wherein some values are compatible, such as achievement and hedonism. Both refer to the compatible motivational aim of self-satisfaction that can be achieved together with the same behavioural pattern (Schwartz et al., 2017). Another important principle is the relationship of values and anxiety. The pursuit of values reflects self-protective attributes, such as tradition and achievement, and serves to deal with anxiety due to social uncertainty (Sverdlik & Oreg, 2015). Individuals strive to evade conflict (tradition) and uphold the existing social order. Conversely, self-expansive values (e.g., universalism, benevolence) reflect motivations free of anxiety. For instance, benevolence affirms social values, diminishes anxiety and affirms one’s personal satisfaction (Cieciuch et al., 2014). Consistent with Schwartz’ theory, we ground the current study on two sets of human values, namely self-transcendence and conservation.

Self-transcendence combines the benevolence and universalism values. These two express social interests but involve an anxiety-free pursuit. Individuals appreciating benevolence are anxious about upholding and emphasizing other individuals’ benefits. In contrast, individuals upholding universalism value egalitarianism and zeal about ecological matters. Therefore, individuals who are vastly self-transcendence-oriented give further consideration to shared benefits. Once they realise that certain behaviour is good for the whole society, they are determined to acknowledge such behaviours. For instance, a political campaign focused on issues such as civil liberties and social justice in a country like Pakistan would interact with individuals who uphold self-transcendence.

While conservativeness consists of three dimensions: tradition, security and conformity. Individuals who maintain traditional values uphold sensitivity about religious and social norms. Individuals emphasising security value more care about national safety. Given Pakistan’s security situation over the last decade, law and order has become increasingly important among the public and has reshaped political agenda. Thus, political advertisements disseminated during the 2018 election campaign also embraced security issues. This study underpins this dimension. In general, people who are conservative depend more on the strength of the community to better survive in society, and the ‘ego’ is reduced, while the status of other people and the community is considered especially important (Schwartz, 1994). Individuals of collectivistic societies such as Pakistan are likely to be inclined towards social traditions (Raza et al., 2019). Some Pakistani political parties, therefore, focus on conversational values to grab the attention of the masses, which are measured in this study.

Literature (Braddock & Dillard, 2016) indicates that the persuasive process engages a cognitive process as the individual cautiously scrutinises and appraises the issues raised in messages based on his or her prior experience and knowledge. Thus, the message that appears in advertisements determines the process of evaluation, and people vigorously engender positive or negative judgments in responding to the message (Czarnecka & Schivinski, 2019). Furthermore, to evaluate advertisement messages, individuals must have adequate motivation to anticipate the merits of the given information (Cartwright & Opree, 2016). This is in line with the premise of cultural theories such as Schwartz’ (2012) that values are the ‘cognitive representations’ of individuals’ motivations. Similarly, in political science literature, scholars such as Quintelier and Hooghe (2012) have identified that political attitudes and political participation are almost interchangeable, as both of them bear similar effects. Furthermore, studies have suggested that the connection between attitudes and behaviour is far from flawless (Ajzen & Fishbein, 2005).

In psychology, various contributory mechanisms have been used to explain behavioural outcomes. For instance, numerous cultural theories explicitly associate culture with behaviour (i.e., Berry, 1980; Triandis, 1972). Triandis (1972), for example, suggests a subjective cultural approach according to which values influence behaviour through a person’s emotional condition, in addition to cognitive processes. Thus, it is imperious to draw assumptions based on various environmental and intrinsic mechanisms, such as values, to predict forthcoming/expected behaviours.

To this end, we argue that political values manifested in political advertisements contain information concerning security, for example, where it is expected that human values would determine the motivation required to process and pursue it. The quality of the security-related message would also assist individuals in positively or negatively evaluating its merits based on the current scenario of their country. This suggests that this vigilant and organised processing of communicated messages is a result of individuals’ actions (Ault et al., 2017).

Drawing on Schwartz’ (2012) prediction, we are of the view that human values, as a source of motivation, may interact with political values seen in political advertisements. To illustrate this interaction, if the political advertisement corresponds with human values then individuals will process it through central route, and thus predicts and strengthens political participation. On the contrary, when human values and advertisement messages (describing political values) do not agree, it may result in diminished political participation, as seen in the proposed model presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Source: The Authors.

In a nutshell, by underpinning self-transcendence and conservation, this study contributes to the understanding of the relationship between human values and political participation in the context of Pakistan, that is, how human values–based motivations affect political participation of Pakistanis. In addition, it provides interesting information in terms of how human values interact with political advertisement messages representing political values. For example, do security-related messages increase anxiety among Pakistanis, and does this affect their political engagement? The hypothesis section discusses each aspect in detail.

Political Advertising and Political Participation

A plethora of studies in various disciplines have established that advertisements can affect certain behaviours in individuals, including eco-friendly buying (Shin et al., 2017) or political participation (Walsh et al., 2014), and perception-related outcomes such as brand image or candidate image. Research has also provided interesting insights into influential factors that can intensify or diminish these effects. For instance, Halle (2017) noted that the tone of a message, such as advocative or attacking, in political advertising determines its impact. Similarly, Han et al. (2018) found that political advertisements can be more effective when the message frame is congruent with the regulation cues.

In addition, literature suggests that advertisement messages contain informational and emotional cues that activate the evaluation process (Raza et al., 2018). The more an individual finds that these cues correspond with his or her prevailing experiences or knowledge, the more likely will the individual be to acquire the behaviour in question. To exemplify, advertisements are designed to achieve the desired perpetual or behavioural changes. When a person is exposed to an advertisement, the ad evaluation involves contemplation about several elements, such as experience, cultural cues and values, which serve as points of reference. Thus, the effect of an advertisement’s content (e.g., political ideology) on an individual would be high insofar as the content involves cues similar to those held by the individual.

Political values represent a specific class, or a particular stratum, as an organised social force (Vecchione et al., 2013). In this case, political values are sets of ideas that a person has cultivated which determine one’s perception of how political stakeholders should function, whom one should serve or not serve (Kim, 2005), etc. These abstract ideas may derive the one's predisposition and political beliefs. Consequently, political advertisements are seen as a deliberate effort exerted by political stakeholders to manipulate a person’s political attitude or behaviour. Thus, political advertisements contain informational and emotional cues based on political statements, issues, priorities and manifestos depicting some political values or ideologies (Ridout et al., 2014). For instance, when a voter is exposed to a political advertisement with information about the policy of a candidate, on security matters, for example, the effect of such message may trigger positive action in case the person feels that there is a security problem.

Conversely, exposing a voter to information that is against his or her political ideology may result in either negative evaluation or refuting support for the party which sent the advertisement message. Similarly, Nelson et al. (1997) noted that distinct representations of a policy controversy produce distinct responses by manipulating the relevance of particular values to the conflict at hand. Literature clearly indicates that if an advertisement message does not appeal to a person’s ideology or value, it stands the risk of being rejected, as it seems like there is no positive content, appearing to attack the values or ideologies of the recipient (Cui et al., 2012; Raza et al., 2018).

Furthermore, there is an agreement in the literature about the hierarchically structured nature and contextual constancy of individuals’ political choices and values (Swedlow & Wyckoff, 2009). However, some studies have taken potentially contradictory positions regarding value attributes like value ambivalence (Jacoby, 2006). Consequently, the accomplishment of one value (e.g., fairness) will indeed nearly inhibit the degree to which some other desired end state is attained (e.g., civil liberty). This, in turn, restricts the degree to which value choices can be combined into fully hierarchical structures.

Another hypothetical cause of non-ordered political value choice is indifference (Maio et al., 2006). This is consistent with notions that when encountered with emotion-laden phrases such as ‘civil liberty’ or ‘patriotism’, many individuals might perhaps clearly react that these political values are all correspondingly imperative, without thinking about them or maybe even distinguishing the potential inconsistencies that might arise among those political values. The responses of such individuals would possibly lack attitudinal restraints, and in turn, they might be unable to find connections among different political stimuli that are known to be common among the masses.

In addition to this, Tetlock’s theory of value pluralism holds that varying situational perspectives affect the relevance of certain core orientations of human reasoning, triggering some values to improve or diminish in significance, compared to other values (Tetlock, 1986). In sum, research has provided numerous insights into the association of political attitudes and levels of political sophistication in the public (Jacoby, 2006). However, finding that most people do not structure their political attitudes ideologically and that literature is of limited efficacy in identifying how people form their political attitudes, this article examines the influence of the interaction of human values and core political values reflected in advertisements in structuring political evaluations.

Furthermore, during last two decades, Pakistan has remained a front-line state in war against terrorism that has affected its political dynamics. Therefore, some major political parties of Pakistan, such as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Justice Movement), focused on issues such as nationalism and law and order situations during their recent election campaign in 2018. On the other hand, some parties, such as Pakistan Pashtun Movement, focused on the effect of this war on the containment of civil liberties and specifically highlighted the situation of such containments in the Afghan-bordering region. Not only did the main contenders advertise their agenda, but some religious parties also advertised their social/religious confirmatory agenda and tried their level best to convey their philosophy to the masses. In line with leading political parties’ agenda, the 2018 election campaign was predominated by political advertisements reflecting these aforementioned issues, along with the political rallies conducted by leaders of political parties. This, in turn, triggered the public debate about these issues during the election campaign. For this reason, we selected three different political values, namely law and order, civil liberty and patriotism, to find out how Pakistanis would respond to political advertisements containing any of these values. The three political values are apt, as they contain not only supportive informational cues but also emotional cues.

In this respect, all political values that are commonly used in Pakistani political advertisements contain content with the aim of bolstering political participation. Therefore, each political value not only provides information on an issue (i.e., a security issue, problems faced by Pakistan, etc.) but also represents the political ideology within. Considering the diverse nature of Pakistan in terms of political values (e.g., democratic) and its current political scenario (issue preferences, security), we hypothesise the following:

H1: There is a positive influence of political advertisement that emphasises law and order on political participation.

H2: There is a positive influence of political advertisement that prioritises civil liberties on political participation.

H3: There is a positive influence of political advertisement that highlights patriotism on political participation.

Moderation of Human Values

Schwartz (1994) noted that the importance that individuals attribute to a certain value is quite constant across circumstances. Accordingly, individuals who view showing concerns to help others an imperative in the social context are also expected to uphold such value in other contexts, such as politics. For instance, people who attribute high importance to benevolence may respond positively to an advertisement in which a political candidate vows to work for the welfare of marginalised groups in the Pakistani society if voted into office.

Perhaps, the fact that human values remain constant across different situations may differentiate them from specific norms and attitudes, which often refer to a specific action in a specific situation (Schwartz et al., 2012). To this end, a specific attitude can predict, primarily, a specific action. However, a value can predict both specific and general behaviours (Ajzen & Fishbein, 2005; Zhou et al., 2013). Further, Allen and Ng (1999) noted that values can directly impact individuals’ behavioural choices. Consequently, it can be reasoned that human values such as benevolence and conformity can persuade or forecast ample specific behaviours, such as participation in a tree-planting activity or supporting a political party that promises to protect nature.

In fact, values have an imperative role in predicting behaviours and can serve as guiding principles to help individuals make decisions, including political choices (Schwartz et al., 2001). Past research has examined how behaviours can be predicted by human values and how these values underlie the diverse political behaviours of individuals (Piurko et al., 2011). Similarly, Duckitt and Sibley (2016) have also recognised the fundamental roles that values play in predicting political outcomes. This is consistent with Schwartz (2012), who posited that the pursuit of human values drives an individual to support any political ideology or policy that promotes the same goals required for the pursuit of a specific human value. For instance, the pursuit of conservation requires maintaining cultural or religious traditions. An individual in pursuit of this value may be inclined towards the right-wing religious political ideology. Likewise, individuals who uphold the value of security may be inclined towards political messages that promise greater personal and national security.

Communication scholars have also noted that communication content in advertisements uphold political and cultural values (Han et al., 2018). It is believed that the interaction of individual’s values (personal, cultural) with advertisement content determines the behavioural outcomes (Raza et al., 2018). For instance, when an individual who upholds benevolence is exposed to a political advertisement that emphasises civil liberty as a political value, he or she is more likely to show a favourable response. In this context, the pursuit of political value is triggered due to the communicated message prioritising civil liberty. Thus, political values manifested in political advertisements provide clear motives of the sender of the message. Therefore, the promises and/or priorities carried by political advertisements would result in the effectiveness of the message, as long as they are in agreement with human and individual values.

Triandis’ (1989) cultural model reports how individuals from diverse cultures observe their societal environment and how ecological factors affect these mechanisms. Cultural theorists (Schwartz, 2012; Triandis, 1972) have noted that specific actions that are founded on behavioural forms are a function of proximal backgrounds, such as values upheld by individuals. In consonance with the foregoing point, the media dependency theory also provides a framework to study how ecological factors (e.g., cultural) influence individuals’ responses to media content, such as advertisements, through psychological processes (Einwiller et al., 2010). Indeed, the media dependency theory suggests that the interactions between certain media outlets (e.g., advertisement viewers) and social systems (e.g., cultural factors) are better approaches to measure media effects (Ho et al., 2015). Thus, the effects of any form of media are dependent on other societal factors such as values. For instance, individuals get cues for adopting specific actions from media content and evaluate the action in question by relying on the values they uphold (Gupta et al., 2019). The effect of the media content may be improved when there is a congruence between the one's upheld values and the media content (Muralidharan et al., 2017). For measuring social factors’ interactional effects, this study considers two human values, self-transcendence (i.e., benevolence and universalism) and conservativeness (tradition, security and conformity).

Without doubt, the interaction of communication contents and human values, therefore depends on the extent to which they are congruent with individuals’ socialization (i.e., past knowledge, experience) and specific political attitude or behavior in question. Therefore, political advertisements have an imperative role in determining the motivation of individuals to process the information and translate it into a positive or negative political behaviour. This is also congruent with studies that believe that individuals must hold suitable motivation to decide the merits of the information they receive (Gu et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2019). Thus, we reason that an individual’s human values will determine the motivation of that individual to interact with the political values framed in messages involving law and order, civil liberties and patriotism, which will lead him or her to political participation. The higher the constraints in the message processing, due to low or no agreement between existing cognitive motivations (i.e., human values), the lower the political participation. In this respect, human values moderate the relationship between political values framed in advertisements and political participation. Based on this, we therefore hypothesise the following:

H4: Self-transcendence moderates the relationship between political advertisements involving law and order and political participation.

H5: Self-transcendence moderates the relationship between political advertisements involving civil liberty and political participation.

H6: Self-transcendence moderates the relationship between political advertisements involving patriotism and political participation.

H7: Conservation moderates the relationship between political advertisements involving law and order and political participation.

H8: Conservation moderates the relationship between political advertisements involving civil liberty and political participation.

H9: Conservation moderates the relationship between political advertisements involving patriotism and political participation.

Method

The random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 834 employees working in the public sector and private organisations located in Multan, Pakistan. The selection of these employees from the public sector and private organisations for the purpose of the study was based upon three reasons: (a) employees selected represent somewhat all ethnic groups in Pakistan; (b) the selection process also ensured that the sample population (age 21–58) can vote and have the opportunity to engage in political participation; and (c) the requirement to achieve a generalisable sampling frame. Besides, the city of Multan was chosen because it is home to many different ethnic groups, making it a perfect representative of the entire population of Pakistan. In recent times, the Multan region has seen the emergence of many political groups. Most people are acquainted and engaged with political participation, especially with regard to the movement for provincial autonomy.

Sample Collection Procedure

In order to ensure randomisation, a list of 187 public and private sector organisations that consist of approximately 42,340 public and 19,700 private workers in Multan city, respectively, was generated through requests to city administration, autonomous and private organisations. To determine the appropriate sample size, we used two points of references. First, we used the sample size determination formula of VanVoorhis and Morgan (2007), which suggested that the ‘n = 774’ would be a suitable sample for a population of approximately 63,000 with confidence of 95 per cent and a 3.5 per cent margin of error. Second, we performed a power analysis using the G-Power software, which revealed that a sample size of above 800 would be appropriate, with effect size f = 0.35 and power 0.90 (p = 0.05), given that the model has a maximum of five forecasters (three independent variables and two moderating variables; four dimensions). Further, from the list of 40 organisations, two stratified samples representing males and females were randomly chosen by using a Microsoft Excel–assisted random sampling programme to obtain the prescribed data.

At the next stage of randomisation, the 40 organisations were contacted and requested to provide the researchers with the list of their employees. However, only 27 organisations (including 19 public and nine private organisations) in total agreed to provide the list of altogether 13,579 employees, along with their contact information (i.e., email, phone number). Onwards, we contacted randomly assigned employees and requested them to fill the questionnaire with the help of volunteers as well as Google form. Overall, 436 employees agreed to fill the questionnaire online via Google Forms, which was reverted to us after completion. For collection of the remaining data, we recruited six volunteers (four university students and two employees), who visited the employees of the chosen organisations. They frequently visited their offices and collected data (n = 398) through the pencil-and-paper technique. Demographically, the sample population consisted of 417 (50%) males and 417 (50%) females. The ethnic representation was as follows: 612 (73.4%) were Punjabis, 51 (6.1%) were Sindhis, 93 (11.2%) were Pashtuns, 23 (2.7%) were Baloch, and 54 (6.6 %) were from other ethnic backgrounds. The ethnic representation of the sample is quite similar to the ethnic groups in Pakistan, thus representing the diversity of Pakistan.

Instruments

Political Advertisements: Law and Order

Political advertisements of the law and order construct were measured using the modified scale from the study of Jacoby (2006) with three items on the 5-point Likert scale. The response scale used end-point anchors ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ (=1) to ‘strongly agree’ (=5).

Political Advertisements: Civil Liberty

Political advertisements of the civil liberty construct were measured using the modified scale from the study of Jacoby (2006), with three items on the 5-point Likert scale. The response scale used end-point anchors ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ (=1) to ‘strongly agree’ (=5).

Political Advertisements: Patriotism

We also measured political advertisements of the patriotism construct using the modified scale of Schatz et al. (1999), with four items on the 5-point Likert scale. The response scale used end-point anchors ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ (=1) to ‘strongly agree’ (=5).

Human Values: Self-transcendence

Political advertisements of the self-transcendence construct were measured using the modified Schwartz scale (2006) and PVQ-21 scale, with five items on the 5-point Likert scale. For instance, one sample item read, ‘It’s very important for him to help the people around him. He wants to care for others’, with the end-point anchors ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ (=1) to ‘strongly agree’ (=5). Two items were used to measure the dimension of benevolence. Whilst, universalism was measured by using three items.

Human Values: Conservation

This study measured political advertisements of the conservation construct using the modified scale of Schwartz (2006) and the PVQ-21 scale, with six items on the 5-point Likert scale. For example, one sample item read, ‘Religious belief is important to him. He tries hard to do what his religion requires’, with the end-point anchors ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ (=1) to ‘strongly agree’ (=5).

Political Participation

This study also measured the political participation construct using the modified scale of Homero et al. (2012), with four items on the 5-point Likert scale with end-point anchors ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ (=1) to ‘strongly agree’ (=5).

Data Analysis and Findings

After entering the data in SPSS software, the normality of the data was ensured by removing the outliers (44-cases). After achieving the normality assumption (n = 790) data was retained and proceeded for correlation analysis. The bivariate correlation analysis showed significant association among all six constructs of political advertisements (please see Table 1).

Table 1.

Descriptive and Correlation Analysis

Constructs	M	SD	α	TV	CV	PAL	PAC	PAP	PP
TV	0.91	0.66	0.85	1
CV	0.93	0.69	0.89	0.35	1
PAL	0.86	0.62	0.79	0.41	0.27	1
PAC	0.85	0.72	0.72	0.48	0.30	0.34	1
PAP	0.85	0.70	0.76	0.53	0.41	0.45	0.61	1
PP	0.80	0.61	0.81	0.21	0.36	0.25	0.57	0.53	1

Source: The Authors estimations.

Note: PAL =Political advertisement–law and order; PAC = political advertisement–civil liberty; PAP = political advertisement–patriotism; TV = self-transcendence value; CV = conservation value; and PP = political participation.

Exploratory Factor Analysis

In order to attain sampling adequacy, the sample was segregated (n = 395) from the main sample of (n = 834) as recommended by Prooijen et al. (2001) who argued that using similar data set for (CFA) and (EFA) is an incorrect method. This technique recommended using segregated sets of data from the same sample for EFA and CFA to cross-validate factor structures, that is, the same data may be segregated to confirm the factor structures in EFA and CFA to rule out substantive explanations such as incomparability due to different sample natures (Prooijen et al., 2001). The results of EFA using varimax rotation showed that Bartlett’s tests produced a Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) value that was acceptably above the threshold of 0.60, and the sphericity test showed significant values. In total, six factors emerged with an extracted variance of 67.32 per cent, which confirmed factor structures of underpinning constructs with no cross-loadings above the thresholds.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis: Model Fitness and Validity

CFA was performed by using structural equation modelling (SEM) on the analysis of moment structures (AMOS) software to observe the measurement and structural model fitness. This is a recommended procedure for observing the fitness of the model and confirming discriminant and convergent validity before proceeding with the inferential analysis. SEM is a prevailing method widely used to test multifaceted multivariate effects and is primarily used for confirmation of theories (Hair et al., 2017). Besides, it is also a superior and more advanced approach than multiple regression, as it provides added information (e.g., composite reliability) and can deal with the complex models (e.g., mediation/moderation).

Before observing the measurement model fit indices, the common latent factor (CLF) approach was used to detect common method biases. For this, all 25 items from the six constructs were loaded on a shared factor in the AMOS software. The outcome revealed a fit model after deleting two items, one each from political advertisement–patriotism (PAP) and political participation (PP) for the initial solution, as χ2/df = 3.89, p < 0.04, Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) = 0.82, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.91, Turkey Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.92, Normed fit index (NFI) = 0.90, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.047, and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.068. The observed values indicated that an adequate fitness within the range of the suggested cut-offs was achieved for the CLF single-factor model and that there was no measurement bias issue.

Further, a second-order CFA was done to assess the convergent and discriminant validity and measurement model fitness, by loading items of the political advertisement–law and order (PAL), political advertisement–civil liberty (PAC), PAP, PP, self-transcendence value (TV) and conservation value (CV) constructs on their actual factors and dimensions. Two variables, TV and CV have dimensions, and thus a second-order CFA was used. The findings specified in Table 2 suggest a fit model structure.

Table 2.

Measurement Model Fit Indices

Model	x²	x²/df	CFI	AGFI	NFI	TLI	RMSEA
Moderation model	2161.12	2.92	0.93	0.86	0.92	0.97	0.037

Source: The Authors estimations.

This was followed by an inspection of the convergent and discriminant validities, which revealed satisfactory values of composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE), as given in Table 3 (see item loadings in Table 4 and Figure 2), and this allowed us to proceed with inferential analysis.

Figure 2.

Source: The Authors estimations.

Table 3.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity

Constructs	CR	AVE	TV	CV	PAC	PAC	PAP	PP
TV	0.91	0.66	(0.81)
CV	0.93	0.69	0.29*	(0.83)
PAL	0.86	0.62	0.34*	0.23*	(0.79)
PAC	0.85	0.72	0.43*	0.29*	0.32*	(0.85)
PAP	0.85	0.70	0.49*	0.33*	0.39*	0.52*	(0.84)
PP	0.80	0.61	0.17*	0.28*	0.24*	0.41*	0.44*	(0.78)

Source: The Authors estimations.

Notes: AVE = Average variance extracted; CR = composite reliability.

Values in parentheses represent square root of AVE.

Table 4.

Loadings

Items	Standardised Loading
B1	0.82
B2	0.74
U1	0.87
U2	0.84
U3	0.78
S1	0.84
S2	0.69
C1	0.85
C2	0.87
T1	0.93
T2	0.78
PAL1	0.76
PAL2	0.71
PAL3	0.89
PAC1	0.93
PAC2	0.81
PAC3	0.79
PAP1	0.86
PAP2	0.91
PAP3	0.72
PAP4	0.47*
PP11	0.76
PP2	0.89
PP3	0.41*
PP4	0.67

Source: The Authors estimations.

Hypothesis Testing

The nine hypotheses in the study were tested in the following order: first, the three hypotheses on the direct relationship between political values in advertisements (PAL, PAC and PAP) and political participation (PP), and then the six possible moderating effects based on the two human values (TV and CV) variables. Bearing in mind the complex nature of this model, the SEM technique was used on AMOS by running SEM in three steps: first, without the interactional effects of human values TV and CV; second, by including human values (moderating variables); and third, by including interaction terms to find out the moderating role of human values. This was done following the three-step method described by Preacher and Hayes (2008).

In the first step, the structural model was used to carry out the path analysis for observing the hypothesised direct influences of political values in advertisements (PAL, PAC and PAP) on PP. The findings revealed that PAL, PAC and PAP predict PP in the model, whereby no moderating construct was added, and suggested a fit structure, as χ2/df = 3.34, p < 0.11, AGFI, = 0.91, CFI = 0.96, TLI, = 0.99, NFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.031 and SRMR = 0.057. Thus, H1, H2 and H3 were accepted, as PAL, PAC and PAP significantly influence PP (β = 0.31, β = 0.26, and β = 0.21, respectively). A rational 47 per cent (R2 = 0.47) variance was also extracted in this model (see Table 5 and Figure 3).

Figure 3.

Source: The Authors estimations.

In the second step, the human values TV and CV—the moderating variables—were added to the model. The findings showed that all three political values in advertisements PAC, PAL and PAP remain significant predictors of PP. However, they also showed that TV and CV are also significant predictors of PP, as TV’s direct effect on PP was β = 0.37, and CV’s direct effect on PP was β = 0.46. Further, the model structure also showed fitness, as χ²/df = 1.89, p < 0.41, AGFI, = 0.94, CFI = 0.99, TLI, = 1.00, NFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.023, and SRMR = 0.046. However, a 64 per cent (R² = 0.64) variance was extracted, with an increase of 17 per cent in the variance from the model without moderators (see Figure 4).

Figure 4.

Source: The Authors estimations.

In the third step, six interaction terms, based on the interaction of human values TV and CV and political values in advertisements PAC, PAL and PAP were used. Further, six separate models, through combinations of one human value, one political advertisement value and one interaction term, were used. This was done to find out the moderating effect of each human value on PP in the presence of one independent variable (political value in advertisements). The findings showed that TV interacts with the three political values in advertisements PAC, PAL and PAP and influences PP; thus, H4, H5 and H6 were accepted. The interaction influences of PAL–TV, PAC–TV and PAP–TV on PP were found to be significant (β = 0.35, β = 0.18 and β = 0.24, respectively). This showed that TV positively moderates the relationships of all the three political advertisement values with PP. Likewise, the findings also showed that CV interacts with the three political values in advertisements PAC, PAL and PAP and influences political participation; thus, H7, H8 and H9 were accepted. The interaction influences of PAL–CV, PAC–CV and PAP–CV on PP were found to be significant (β = 0.39, β = 0.15 and β = 0.29, respectively). This showed that CV positively moderates the relationships of all the three political advertisement values with PP.

Furthermore, a slope test was performed to illustrate the patterns of the six interaction terms’ effects, as is the recommended method (Abu Bakar et al., 2014). The slope test (see Figures 5 and 6) revealed that both human values strengthen the relationship of political advertisement values and political participation, but with different intensities. In other words, if a person finds congruence between the values in political advertisements and the human values that the person holds, there would be more chances of his or her political participation.

Figure 5.

Source: The Authors estimations.

Figure 6.

Source: The Authors estimations.

Discussion

The study has highlighted an imperative question in the domain of political communication, that is, how advertisements laden with political values influence political participation. Further, the hypothesised model was presented to understand the complex relationship between political advertisement and political participation. The human values constructs of self-transcendence and conservation related to societal concerns were chosen, given that they are appropriate for a collectivistic society like Pakistan. This is in line with the theory of human value’s assumption whereby the anxiety in non-compliance to societal concerns may increase anxiety and participants may react positively to the political advertisements framed with political values mainly reflecting societal concerns as well.

In order to validate these assumptions, the survey method was employed, and analysis of the collected data was carried out using SEM. Overall, the findings revealed that political advertisements framed with political value–oriented messages (law and order, civil liberty and patriotism) had a positive influence on political participation. These results are in agreement with the existing literature that persuasive political advertisements have a positive influence on political attitudes or behaviours. Theoretically, the results add to the growing evidence and are compatible with the idea of Schwartz et al. (2012) that human values are determinants of the perceptions and behaviours of people. However, the results in terms of intensity of these relationships have theoretical and managerial implications in the context of Pakistan. For instance, law and order is seen as the most influential political value which has a strong influence (see Table 5 and Figure 3) on political participation.

Table 5.

Standardised Regression

Relationship	β	t-Value	p-Value	Hypothesis
PAL→PP	0.31	4.32	0.001	H1 accepted
PAC→PP	0.26	6.59	0.001	H2 accepted
PAP→PP	0.21	2.61	0.040	H3 accepted
PAL-X-TV→PP	0.35	4.02	0.001	H4 accepted
PAC-X-TV→PP	0.18	7.24	0.000	H5 accepted
PAP-X-TV→PP	0.24	6.24	0.003	H6 accepted
PAL-X-CV→PP	0.33	3.23	0.007	H7 accepted
PAC-X-CV→PP	0.15	7.15	0.001	H8 accepted
PAP-X-CV→PP	0.29	2.31	0.000	H9 accepted

Source: The Authors estimations.

Notes: PAL =Political advertisement–law and order; PAC = political advertisement–civil liberty; PAL = political advertisement–patriotism; TV = self-transcendence value; CV = conservation value; PP = political participation; and X = interaction term.

The dual nature of this political value—it refers to security-related societal concerns, as well as personal concerns—makes it more acceptable to the recipients of the message. In contrast, political ads that emphasise civil liberty are said to be rooted in democratic values. Another factor that plays an important role in triggering political participation is the current situation in the country where law and order is seen as the main agenda of the media, subsequently shaping public priorities. In sum, Pakistani mainstream political parties can use political messages that emphasise law and order to improve political participation (voting turnover). This study also establishes that political advertisement has a positive effect on political participation, which is congruent with past studies (Han et al., 2018; Ridout et al., 2018) that hypothesised the relationship. This is not surprising, as Pakistanis are very active in listening to political news and in engaging in active political events.

Similarly, the moderation analysis revealed that human values have a moderating effect on both political advertisements and political participation. The result has certainly verified the potency of human values in influencing political participation, as the moderating analysis revealed that the intensity of direct relationships was significantly altered by adding the interaction of human values with the political values. Mainly, this has been observed in all six cases (see Figures 5 and 6), but the intensity of moderation was different in each case. The most important trend was observed in the case of law and order values. The findings on the interactions of self-transcendence and conservation values with the law and order construct of political advertisements can be concluded to be very much consistent with Schwartz’ (2012) postulation that individuals’ motivational goals, interests and anxieties determine their behaviour. To exemplify this, self-transcendence values were measured using two dimensions—benevolence and universalism—which refer to the concern shown by individuals towards other members of the society. The results of this study also revealed that self-transcendence interaction with law and order messages was observed to be higher than others, and however, same with the conservation construct. Therefore, it can be concluded that individuals’ motivations can determine their behavioural outcomes, and this is consistent with the prior findings of Ho et al. (2015).

The second substantial moderating effect of human values was observed in the relationship between political advertisements that prioritised patriotism and political participation, followed by that between political advertisements that prioritised civil liberty and political participation. This strongly suggests that most Pakistanis, like their counterparts in other nations, tend to lean towards patriotic messages in political advertisements. The results of this study simultaneously indicate that self-transcendence positively moderates the relationship between patriotism in political advertisements and political participation. This exposure to political advertisements’ impact is higher on the members of the society who value self-transcendence and are ready for transformation. In fact, past studies have shown that when people are under the impression that they would be treated equally, given the same opportunities, and would have their well-being in terms of their physical environment taken care of, they tend to support and participate in political activities (Besley, 2006).

On another note, this study also found that conservation positively moderates the relationship between political advertisements prioritising law and order and political participation. This finding suggests that political advertisements that emphasise law and order play a pivotal role in determining how the public are persuaded to participate in political activities. More specifically, the characteristics of political messages and how they are shared influence the public perception of credibility of the messages and thus increase political participation. This finding is incongruent with past studies that highlighted that older groups in the society tend to be more law-abiding and less open to change (Schwartz, 2006).

The study further corroborated the moderation effect between political advertisements that focus on civil liberty and political participation by demonstrating that both civil liberty and political participation were positively associated. This moderation relationship reveals that people participate in political activities when they are subjected to positive conservative political advertisements that emphasise freedom of action and speech that is established by law. Civil liberty violation has been demonstrated to result in human rights problems (Skaaning, 2020), which in turn leads to lower political participation. Further, the results found that the conservation value moderates the relationship between political advertisements prioritising patriotism and political participation. This is congruent with past results, such as Tsai (2010). The current research also identified that when people holding patriotic values watch political advertisements that show patriotism, they are more likely to engage in supportive political participation.

Managerial Implications

This study has also some managerial implications for the political communication and marketing literature in the context of the understudied region of Pakistan. The results suggest that incorporating law and order issues in political advertisements may improve the motivation of voters. This is congruent with the current situation in Pakistan wherein issues of law and order have become crucial. Furthermore, both the social interests–related values also showed a positive interaction with political advertisements. Thus, incorporating these values such as patriotism, civil liberty and law and order in advertisements, by placing more stress on collective and individual social interests, can be useful to motivate political participation in Pakistan.

Limitations

There are certain limitations in this study by way of the limited selection of only two human values. Future studies may use all values in a single study to benefit political advertisement at a strategic level. As the results reveal, the cultural and political values’ interaction plays a significant role in determining the political choices of individuals. Most importantly, this study recommends future studies to focus on measuring political attitude–mediated effects on political values manifested in advertisements by considering other cultural frameworks.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

References

Abu Bakar

Jian

& Fairhurst

(2014). Where do I stand? The interaction of leader–member exchange and performance ratings. Asian Business & Management, 13(2), 143–170.

Ajzen

& Fishbein

(2005). The influence of attitudes on behavior. In Albarracín

Johnson

B. T.

& Zanna

M. P.

(Eds.), The handbook of attitudes (pp. 173221). Erlbaum.

Allen

M. W.

& Ng

S. H.

(1999). The direct and indirect influences of human values on product ownership. Journal of Economic Psychology, 20(1), 5–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-4870(98)00041-5

Ault

M. K.

Ness

A. M.

Taylor

W. D.

Johnson

Connelly

Jensen

M. L.

& Dunbar

N. E.

(2017). Ideological lens matters: Credibility heuristics, pre-existing attitudes, and reactions to messages on ideological websites. Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 315–325. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.053

Berry

J. W.

(1980). Social and cultural change. In Triandis

H. C.

& Brislin

R. W.

(Eds.), Handbook of cross cultural psychology (pp. 211–279). Allyn and Bacon.

Besley

J. C.

(2006). The role of entertainment television and its interactions with individual values in explaining political participation. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 11(2), 41–63.

Braddock

& Dillard

J. P.

(2016). Meta-analytic evidence for the persuasive effect of narratives on beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. Communication Monographs, 83(4), 446–467. http://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.20151128555

Cartwright

R. F.

& Opree

S. J.

(2016). All that glitters is not gold: Do materialistic cues in advertising yield resistance? Young Consumers, 17(2), 183–196. http://doi.org/10.1108/YC-12-2015-00573

Chin

Wilson

& Russo

(2013). Product placement: A new definition, classificatory framework and agenda for future research. In Chin

Wilson

& Russo

(Eds.), Advances in advertising research (Vol. IV, pp. 73–85). Springer Gabler.

10.

Choi

M. J.

Heo

C. Y.

& Law

(2016). Developing a typology of Chinese shopping tourists: An application of the Schwartz model of universal human values. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 33(2), 141–161. http://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2014.997961

11.

Cieciuch

Davidov

Vecchione

& Schwartz

S. H.

(2014). A hierarchical structure of basic human values in a third-order confirmatory factor analysis. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 73(3), 177–182. http://doi.org/10.1024/1421-0185/a000134

12.

Conway

M. M.

(1985). Political participation in the United States. Congressional Quarterly.

13.

Cui

Yang

Wang

& Liu

(2012). Culturally incongruent messages in international advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 31(3), 37–41. http://doi.org/10.2501/IJA-31-2-355-376

14.

Czarnecka

& Schivinski

(2019). Do consumers acculturated to global consumer culture buy more impulsively? The moderating role of attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising. Journal of Global Marketing, 32(4), 219–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2017.1376364

15.

de Mooij

(2015). Cross-cultural research in international marketing: Clearing up some of the confusion. International Marketing Review, 32(6), 646–662. http://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-12-2014-0376

16.

Dowling

C. M.

& Wichowsky

(2015). Attacks without consequence? Candidates, parties, groups, and the changing face of negative advertising. American Journal of Political Science, 59(1), 19–36. http://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12094

17.

Duckitt

& Sibley

C. G.

(2016). Personality, ideological attitudes, and group identity as predictors of political behavior in majority and minority ethnic groups. Political Psychology, 37(1), 109–124. http://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12222

18.

Einwiller

S. A.

Carroll

C. E.

& Korn

(2010). Under what conditions do the news media influence corporate reputation? The roles of media dependency and need for orientation. Corporate Reputation Review, 12(4), 299–315.

19.

Golan

G. J.

& Viatchaninova

E. Z.

(2014). The advertorial as a tool of mediated public diplomacy. International Journal of Communication, 8(1), 1268–1288.

20.

Y. (Calvin)

Zhang

& Ling

(2017). Privacy concerns for mobile app download: An elaboration likelihood model perspective. Decision Support Systems, 94, 19–28. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2016.10.002

21.

Gupta

Esmaeilzadeh

& Tennant

V. M.

(2019). The effects of national cultural values on individuals’ intention to participate in peer-to-peer sharing economy. Journal of Business Research, 97, 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.018

22.

Hair Jr

J. F.

Matthews

L. M.

Matthews

R. L.

& Sarstedt

(2017). PLS-SEM or CB-SEM: Updated guidelines on which method to use. International Journal of Multivariate Data Analysis, 1(2), 107–123.

23.

Halle

(2017). An analysis of Hillary Clinton-Sponsored advertisements during the 2016 presidential election. Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communication, 8(1), 125–136.

24.

Han

Park

& Khang

(2018). Exploring linkage of message frames with personality traits for political advertising effectiveness. Asian Journal of Communication, 28(3), 247–263. http://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2017.1394333

25.

S. S.

Liao

& Rosenthal

(2015). Applying the theory of planned behavior and media dependency theory: Predictors of public pro-environmental behavioral intentions in Singapore. Environmental Communication, 9(1), 77–99.

26.

Homero

Z. G. de

Jung

& Valenzuela

(2012). Social media use for news and individuals’ social capital, civic engagement and political. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(3), 319–336. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01574.x

27.

Jacoby

W. G.

(2006). Value choices and American public opinion. American Journal of Political Science, 50(3), 706–723.

28.

Jayswal

M. M.

(2017). Comparative study on negative political advertisements with specific focus on attack and rebuttal television campaigns from Indian perspective. Journal of Creative Communications, 12(2), 134–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973258617708373

29.

Kaid

L. L.

(2004). Political advertising. In Kaid

L. L.

(Ed.), Handbook of political communication research (pp. 173-220). Routledge.

30.

Kaid

L. L.

(2012). Political advertising as political marketing: A retro-forward perspective. Journal of Political Marketing, 11(1–2), 29–53. http://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2012.642731

31.

Kim

(2005). The impact of political system and culture on political advertising. International Area Review, 8(1), 367–372.

32.

Kim

(2020). Stealing thunder in negative political advertising: The persuasive impact of one-sided and two-sided negative messages on partisan individuals. Journal of Creative Communications, 15(1), 7–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973258619876222

33.

Lee

J. A.

Sneddon

J. N.

Daly

T. M.

Schwartz

S. H.

Soutar

G. N.

& Louviere

J. J.

(2019). Testing and extending Schwartz refined value theory using a best–worst scaling approach. Assessment, 26(2), 166–180. http://doi.org/10.1177/1073191116683799

34.

Liu

Kanso

Zhang

& Olaru

(2019). Culture, perceived value, and advertising acceptance: A cross-cultural study on mobile advertising. Journal of Promotion Management, 25(7), 1028–1058. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2019.1612495

35.

Lovejoy

Cheng

& Riffe

(2010). Voters’ attention, perceived effects, and voting preferences: Negative political advertising in the 2006 Ohio governor’s election. Mass Communication and Society, 13(5), 487–511. http://doi.org/10.1080/15205430903457430

36.

Maio

G. R.

Olson

J. M.

Bernard

M. M.

& Luke

M. A.

(2006). Ideologies, values, attitudes, and behavior. In Delamater

(Ed.), Handbook of social psychology (pp. 283–308). Springer.

37.

Muralidharan

La Ferle

& Sung

(2017). Are we a product of our environment? Assessing culturally congruent Green advertising appeals, novelty, and environmental concern in India and the USA. Asian Journal of Communication, 27(4), 396–414.

38.

Nelson

T. E.

Clawson

R. A.

& Oxley

Z. M.

(1997). Media framing of a civil liberties conflict and its effect on tolerance. American Political Science Review, 91(3), 567–583.

39.

O’Keefe

D. J.

(2013). The elaboration likelihood model. In Dillard

J. P.

& Shen

(Eds.), The SAGE handbook of persuasion: Developments in theory and practice (2nd ed., pp. 137–149). SAGE Publications.

40.

Piurko

Schwartz

S. H.

& Davidov

(2011). Basic personal values and the meaning of left-right political orientations in 20 countries. Political Psychology, 32(4), 537–561. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2011.00828.x

41.

Preacher

K. J.

& Hayes

A. F.

(2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891.

42.

Prooijen

J. Van

& Kloot

W. A. Van Der

(2001). Confirmatory analysis of exploratively obtained factor structures. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 61(5), 777–792. http://doi.org/10.1177/00131640121971518

43.

Quintelier

& Hooghe

(2012). Political attitudes and political participation: A panel study on socialization and self-selection effects among late adolescents. International Political Science Review, 33(1), 63–81.

44.

Raza

S. H.

Abu Bakar

& Bahtiar

(2018). Relationships between the advertising appeal and behavioral intention: The mediating role of the attitude towards advertising appeal and moderating role of cultural norm. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR), 12(2), 185–193.

45.

Raza

S. H.

Abu Bakar

& Mohamad

B. B.

(2018). Advertising appeals and Malaysian culture norms. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 28(1), 61–82. http://doi.org/10.1075/japc.00004.raz

46.

Raza

Abu Bakar

& Mohamad

(2019). The effects of advertising appeals on consumers’ behavioural intention towards global brands: The mediating role of attitude and the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance. Journal of Islamic Marketing, 11(2), 440–460. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIMA-11-2017-01344

47.

Ridout

T. N.

Franz

M. M.

& Fowler

E. F.

(2014). Advances in the study of political advertising. Journal of Political Marketing, 13(3), 175–194. http://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2014.929889

48.

Ridout

T. N.

Franklin Fowler

Franz

M. M.

& Goldstein

(2018). The long-term and geographically constrained effects of campaign advertising on political polarization and sorting. American Politics Research, 46(1), 3–25. http://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X17721479

49.

Roccas

& Sagiv

(2010). Personal values and behavior: Taking the cultural context into account. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(1), 30–41. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00234.x

50.

Sagiv

& Roccas

(2017). What personal values are and what they are not: Taking a cross-cultural perspective. In Sagiv

& Roccas

(Eds.), Values and behavior (pp. 3–13). Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56352-7_1

51.

Schatz

R. T.

Staub

& Lavine

(1999). On the varieties of national attachment: Blind versus constructive patriotism. Political Psychology, 20(1), 151–174.

52.

Schmuck

& Matthes

(2017). Effects of economic and symbolic threat appeals in right-wing populist advertising on anti-immigrant attitudes: The impact of textual and visual appeals. Political Communication, 34(4), 607–626. http://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2017.1316807

53.

Schwartz

S. H.

(1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1–65. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60281-6

54.

Schwartz

S. H.

(1994). Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? Journal of Social Issues, 50(4), 19–45. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1994.tb01196.x

55.

Schwartz

(2006). A theory of cultural value orientations: Explication and applications. Comparative sociology, 5(2–3), 137–182. https://doi.org/10.1163/156913306778667357

56.

Schwartz

S. H.

Caprara

G. V.

& Vecchione

(2010). Basic personal values, core political values, and voting: A longitudinal analysis. Political Psychology, 31(3), 421–452. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2010.00764.x

57.

Schwartz

S. H.

Cieciuch

Vecchione

Davidov

Fischer

Beierlein

& Konty

(2012). Refining the theory of basic individual values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(4), 663–688. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0029393

58.

Schwartz

S. H.

Cieciuch

Vecchione

Torres

Dirilen-Gumus

& Butenko

(2017). Value tradeoffs propel and inhibit behavior: Validating the 19 refined values in four countries. European Journal of Social Psychology, 47(3), 241–258. http://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2228

59.

Schwartz

S. H.

Melech

Lehmann

Burgess

Harris

& Owens

(2001). Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(5), 519–542. http://doi.org/10.1177/0022022101032005001

60.

Shin

E. J.

& Griffin

W. G.

(2017). The effectiveness of fear appeals in ‘green’ advertising: An analysis of creative, consumer, and source variables. Journal of Marketing Communications, 23(5), 473–492. http://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2017.1290671

61.

Skaaning

S. E.

(2020). Measuring civil liberty: An assessment of standards-based data sets. Revista de Ciencia Política, 29(3), 721–740.

62.

Sohal

& Kaur

(2018). A content analysis of YouTube political advertisements: Evidence from Indian parliamentary elections. Journal of Creative Communications, 13(2), 133–156. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973258618761408

63.

Sverdlik

& Oreg

(2015). Identification during imposed change: The roles of personal values, type of change, and anxiety. Journal of Personality, 83(3), 307–319. http://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12105

64.

Swedlow

& Wyckoff

M. L.

(2009). Value preferences and ideological structuring of attitudes in American public opinion. American Politics Research, 37(6), 1048–1087.

65.

Tetlock

P. E.

(1986). A value pluralism model of ideological reasoning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(4), 819.

66.

Tory Higgins

Idson

L. C.

Freitas

A. L.

Spiegel

& Molden

D. C.

(2003). Transfer of value from fit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6), 1140–1153. http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1140

67.

Triandis

H. C.

(1972). The analysis of subjective culture. Wiley Interscience.

68.

Triandis

H. C.

(1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review, 96, 506–520.

69.

Tsai

W. H. S.

(2010). Patriotic advertising and the creation of the citizen-consumer. Journal of Media and Communication Studies, 2(3), 76–84.

70.

VanVoorhis

C. W.

& Morgan

B. L.

(2007). Understanding power and rules of thumb for determining sample sizes. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 3(2), 43–50.

71.

Vecchione

Caprara

Dentale

& Schwartz

S. H.

(2013). Voting and values: Reciprocal effects over time. Political Psychology, 34(4), 465–485. http://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12011

72.

Vecchione

Schwartz

S. H.

Caprara

G. V.

Schoen

Cieciuch

Silvester

Bain

Bianchi

Kirmanoglu

Baslevent

Mamali

Manzi

Pavlopoulos

Posnova

Torres

Verkasalo

Lönnqvist

J.-E.

Vondráková

Welzel

& Alessandri

(2015). Personal values and political activism: A cross-national study. British Journal of Psychology, 106(1), 84–106. http://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12067

73.

Walsh

Shiu

& Hassan

L. M.

(2014). Cross-national advertising and behavioral intentions: A multilevel analysis. Journal of International Marketing, 22(1), 77–98. http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jim.13.0091

74.

Westjohn

S. A

Singh

& Magnusson

(2012). Responsiveness to global and local consumer culture positioning: A personality and collective identity perspective. Journal of International Marketing, 20(1), 58–73.

75.

Zhou

Thøgersen

Ruan

& Huang

(2013). The moderating role of human values in planned behavior: The case of Chinese consumers’ intention to buy organic food. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 30(4), 335–344. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-02-2013-0482