Abstract

Communication practitioners place much emphasis on the role and function of the message in the communication system. However, message effects do not occur in isolation. In order to comprehend how a message operates on the acceptance and source credibility process, one must consider the role of such message-based variables as communication complexity and quality. This study starts with the hypothesis that neither the level of message complexity nor quality used has a unique or inherent effect, singly or in combination, on either acceptance or source credibility. Analysis of variance provides firm data for accepting this hypothesis. This lack of relationship is attributed to the type of communication used, i.e. motivational type, to the experiential base of attitudes, and to the respondents high tolerance for complexity. The study also found subjects downgrading the message rather than its source. Writers are urged to communicate neither down to, nor up to, but at a target population. Each message should be created for a specific purpose, to be communicated to a unique audience, for a particular situation and for achieving a certain desired effect.