Journal of Water and Wastewater Science and Engineering

Journal of Water and Wastewater Science and Engineering

Content Analysis of Written Messages on Water Demand Management in Tehran: Persuasive Techniques, Framing, and Actionability

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Zahra Mehri 1
Baqir Saroukhani 2
Yousef Khojir 3
Omidali Masoudi 2
1 Ph.D. Candidate in Communication Sciences, Faculty of Culture and Communication, Soore International University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Professor, Department of Communication, Faculty of Culture and Communication, Soore International University, Tehran, Iran.
3 Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Faculty of Culture and Communication, Soore International University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22112/jwwse.2026.585130.1488
Abstract
Water demand management requires not only technical and economic interventions but also communication that makes scarcity meaningful and specifies feasible actions. Using quantitative content analysis, this study examined 160 written water-management messages disseminated in Tehran from 2017 to 2026. Messages were coded by year, length, platform, content type and tone, dominant persuasive technique, framing, and actionability. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, Cramer’s V, and binary logistic regression were used. 20% of the corpus was independently recoded, yielding 85% simple agreement. Results showed that 34.4% of messages belonged to 2026, 66.2% contained no more than ten words, and 70.6% were disseminated through outdoor media. Moreover, 29.4% lacked a clear technique and 56.9% lacked identifiable framing. Numerical evidence was the most frequent technique, followed by warning; direct practical guidance was dominant in only 4.4% of messages. The adjusted model was significant: messages from 2026 had higher odds of containing a clear technique (OR = 6.29), while an identifiable content formulation or tone was associated with lower odds (OR = 0.44); length and platform were not significant. The findings reveal a gap between message visibility and actionable behavior and concern textual persuasive capacity rather than demonstrated behavioral effects.
Keywords
Behavioral communication
Outdoor advertising
Self-efficacy
Source credibility
Social norms
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Journal of Water and Wastewater Science and Engineering
Volume 11, Issue 2
Summer 2026
Pages 59-75

  • Receive Date 05 June 2026
  • Revise Date 25 July 2026
  • Accept Date 25 August 2026