Testing Upward/Downward Comparison Messages in Antibiotic Stewardship: The Role of Self-Construal and Regulatory Orientation

As antibiotic resistance poses a severe threat to global public health, effective communication to raise people's awareness and encourage recommended actions is essential. This study investigates the effectiveness of social comparison messages (upward vs. downward vs. no-comparison) in promoting antibiotic stewardship. Participants (N = 335) were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions crossing social comparison messages. Although our results did not reveal significant differences in behavioral intentions across the three comparison messages, moderated mediation analyses indicated that participants with a high promotion orientation perceived upward comparison messages as more persuasive due to increased response efficacy. Conversely, individuals with high independent self-construal found downward comparison messages to be more effective, perceiving higher levels of severity. Notably, interdependent self-construal and prevention orientation appeared to attenuate the persuasiveness of upward and downward messages, respectively. Our findings suggest that while social comparison messages hold promise as a persuasive technique, their effectiveness is moderated by individual differences in self-construal and motivational orientation. Future research should further explore the roles of regulatory fit as well as the broader implications of self-other relationships in social comparison processes.