Is there a panacea for message adherence? Evaluating the effectiveness of social norms and self-construal on message adherence

Although adhering to a specific health message may seem like a personal choice, this adherence is associated with a combination of internal factors and external influences. This study, conducted through an online survey experiment with 364 Chinese adults, explores how self-construal related to the role of social norms in message adherence, with perceived information diagnosticity as a mediator. The results show that descriptive norms correlate with higher health message adherence compared to injunctive norms. Specifically, among individuals with an interdependent self-construal, descriptive norms are associated with significantly greater adherence compared to injunctive norms. In contrast, among those with independent self-construal, adherence differences between norm types are non-significant. Furthermore, the interaction between social norms and self-construal is indirectly linked to adherence through perceived information diagnosticity. These findings enrich our understanding of social norm theory and provide practical strategic suggestions for improving the effectiveness of health communication.