Effects of organization sustainability communication: the influence of interactivity, message appeal, and type of medium

To understand how interactivity, message appeal, and type of medium affect public perceptions and reactions to an organization in organization sustainability communication, this study conducted a 2 (interactivity: high vs. low) x 2 (message appeal: gain-focused vs. loss-focused) x 2 (medium type: Facebook vs. organizational blog) experimental survey (N = 394). Results show that the level of interactivity and type of message appeal appear to significantly influence the social presence of the message and the public’s positive word-of-mouth intention. The public’s intention to generate positive word-of-mouth was highest when the communication had high interactivity with a gain-focused message conveyed on the organization’s Facebook page.