Numerous environmental and/or public health factors are prompting us to consider the future of generations to come. Several scourges affect our society and are likely to impact subsequent generations, such as many degenerative diseases, cancers, genetic disorders, and various blood and bone marrow diseases. However, a glimmer of optimism has emerged with the possibility of collecting placental blood and preserving the stem cells from the newborn's umbilical cord for later transplants, which are far less invasive than bone marrow transplants. Communication campaigns would therefore be beneficial to inform parents of this possibility, raise their awareness, and encourage them to choose to preserve their cord blood stem cells for the benefit of future generations. This need for communication and the necessity of caring for future generations have drawn our attention to a concept from social psychology, recently introduced into marketing: generativity, defined by its pioneering author as "concern for the establishment and guidance of future generations" (Erikson, 1950). Therefore, the central question of this research is as follows: How can we construct prosocial messages that are persuasive and beneficial to future generations—specifically, regarding the preservation of umbilical cord blood stem cells—and that effectively influence the attitudes and intentions of pregnant women by stimulating their situational generativity? The objectives of this research require, first and foremost, a crucial phase of better understanding the concept of generativity and its measurement. To this end, two preliminary studies (a qualitative study followed by a quantitative study) have allowed us to better define this concept from the perspectives of its conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement. A new conceptualization of generativity, based on situational generativity and complementing the purely dispositional view of generative concern, is proposed. Subsequently, an experiment with pregnant women targeted by the decision to donate placental blood highlights the role of mental imagery and situational generativity in the persuasive process, confirming the relevance of this new conceptualization. Finally, the results are discussed; avenues of research are developed, particularly to address the limitations of the present research.
