Rhetorical Dissent as an Adaptive Response to Classroom Problems: A Test of Protection Motivation Theory

Protection motivation theory (PMT) explains people's adaptive behavior in response to personal threats. In this study, PMT was used to predict rhetorical dissent episodes related to 210 student reports of perceived classroom problems. In line with theoretical predictions, a moderated moderation analysis revealed that students were likely to voice their classroom concerns directly to their instructors when threat was high (i.e., the classroom problem was severe and it was relevant to their educational experiences) and when their perceived potential for coping with the problem (i.e., response efficacy and self-efficacy) was high. This finding was conditional upon students’ perceptions of the costs associated with dissenting rhetorically; in the context of high perceived threat, students did not communicate dissent to their instructors in high cost situations if perceived coping was low.