Using Self-Schema Matching to Recruit Superdiffusers for a Potential Vaccine Word-of-Mouth Promotion Campaign

The Boster et al. (2012) superdiffuser model predicts that a health behavior change can be diffused through a social network by recruiting superdiffusers, a type of opinion leader who possesses 3 key traits, to promote that health behavior change. Yet, that model does not specify how to recruit opinion leaders for applied contexts. This pair of studies sought to demonstrate that the self-schema matching model of persuasion can be used to design recruitment messages for a potential campaign. Study 1 (N = 342) used an online survey to identify the self-schema of health mavens, one of the three superdiffuser traits. Study 2 conducted an online message experiment (N = 393) and demonstrated that targeting the health maven's self-schema increases the persuasiveness of a message designed to recruit them for a word-of-mouth behavior change campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccines.