What's Vested interest? Examples and Brief introduction
Vested interest is a communication theory that seeks to explain how influences impact behaviors. Coined by William Crano, vested interest refers to the amount that an attitude object is deemed hedonically relevant by the attitude holder (Crano, 1995). This is not to be confused with the legal term vested interest, which is related to the concept of vesting. In Crano's definition of vested interest, if the attitude object is subjectively important and the perceived personal consequences are significant, there will be a greater chance the individuals attitude will be expressed behaviorally.
For example, a 30 year old individual is told that the legal driving age is being raised from 16 to 17 in his state. While he may not agree with this law, he is not impacted like a 15 year old prospective vehicle operator and is unlikely to be involved in protesting the change. This example illustrates the point that highly vested attitudes concerning issues are related to an individual’s situational point of view.