Why smartphone advertising attracts customers: A model of Web advertising,flow, and personalization

Thirty-five percent of US adults own a smartphone and more than seventy-three percent of the population in South Korea owns a smartphone in the first quarter of 2013. The number of people that use a smartphone has radically increased. Smartphone users always maintain connectivity, and frequent and swift communication with others. As the mobile advertising market is drastically expanded, advertisers and companies should be more attentive to effective smartphone advertising. This study suggests a comprehensive advertising model that combines a Web advertising model, personalization and flow theory in understanding the antecedents of purchase intention and influence processes in the context of smartphone advertisements. The results show that personalization has a positive association with informativeness, credibility, and entertainment of the advertising message while having a negative association with irritation. Purchase intention is increased by advertising value and flow experience. Advertising value has a positive relationship with credibility, entertainment, and incentives. Flow experience is positively associated with credibility, entertainment, incentives. Irritation negatively affects flow experience but advertising value. This study theoretically contributes to the application of the smartphone advertising model and practically contributes influential factors for effective advertising to marketers and advertisers.     

Comparing factors affecting attitudes toward LBA and SoLoMo advertising

This study compares the effectiveness of location-based advertising (LBA) and social-local-mobile (SoLoMo) advertising. The results show that SoLoMo advertising is more effective than LBA. Consumers perceive a higher level of brand interaction, entertainment, informativeness, perceived location awareness, and sociability in SoLoMo advertising than in LBA. This study also discovers that there are differences in consumers’ reaction to the ads on different situational contexts and platforms. The academic contribution of this paper lies in the direct comparison of the effectiveness of LBA and SoLoMo advertising, which was lacking in the literature. To our knowledge, this is the first study in which comparison between LBA and SoLoMo advertising is made. This paper fills the gap by investigating how factors associated with advances of modern smartphone functionalities, brand interaction, perceived location awareness, and sociability, affect attitudes towards ads. It also contributes to the theory of effectiveness of telecommunication promotion by examining how consumers react to ads in different situational contexts on different platforms. Finally, this study provides practical suggestions.     

Responses to an advergaming campaign on a mobile social networking site: An initial research report

Advergames are a form of branded entertainment that feature advertising messages, logos, and trade characters in a game format. This paper reports a preliminary examination on the effects of an advergame on perceived brand value in a context of mobile social networking sites (SNSs). Drawn upon categorization theory, the study posits that, while mobile SNS engagement stimulates electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention among game players, perceived brand-game fit also drives eWOM intention, which in turn positively affects perceived brand value. Furthermore, perceived brand-game fit is contemplated to be a direct driver of perceived brand value. A research model is validated by a large-scale online survey. Using a real promotional campaign for a popular consumer good (Procter & Gamble’s Pringles), the authors create an advergame for one of the most popular mobile SNSs in Japan. The results from structural equation modeling corroborate all hypothesized relationships. This article closes with some theoretical and managerial implications, as well as recognition of important limitations.     

Effect of Celebrity Endorsements on Consumer Purchase Intentions: Advertising Effect and Advertising Appeal as Mediators

Advertising has become the most efficient way for companies to transmit product information to consumers. Words and images are often used to display the product and thus attract the attention of consumers. Of all types of endorsement, celebrity endorsement is the marketing method most frequently used by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs use celebrity endorsement to increase consumer purchasing motivation. Not only can celebrity endorsements attract consumers to purchase products, but the appeal of statements by celebrities can also affect consumer product image. Different appeal methods result in different advertising effects. This study used the case of advertising spokespersons for cell phones with general consumers as subjects. A total of 202 valid samples obtained through the questionnaire survey and used partial least squares regression analysis. The results showed that celebrity endorsements, advertising appeal, and advertising effect significantly and positively affect consumer purchase intentions. Moreover, advertising appeal and advertising effect exert a partial mediating effect on the relationship between celebrity endorsement and purchase intention. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The effects of product involvement and impulse buying on purchase intentions in mobile text advertising

While research in mobile advertising is abundant, limited attention has been paid to date to how consumers respond to mobile advertisements for different product categories and in which way impulsivity affects intentions to purchase. In this paper, we study the dimensionality of the product involvement construct and its effects on consumers’ purchase intentions via a simulated field experiment (N = 736). We show that the cognitive dimension of product involvement and impulsiveness significantly affect purchase intentions. We also present that the relationship between product involvement and purchase intention is moderated by the consumers’ impulse buying personality traits. These findings progress the current state-of-the-art in mobile advertising research, while also having significant practical consequences for the design of effective mobile SMS advertising campaigns.     

The effect of web advertising visual design on online purchase intention: An examination across gender

With web advertising growing to be a huge industry, it is important to understand the effectiveness of web advertisement. In this study we investigate the effects of web advertising visual design (WAVD) purchasing intention within the framework of an integrated model. Nine hypotheses were developed and tested on a dataset of 316 observations collected via a questionnaire survey. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicate that while web advertising visual cues influence consumers' purchasing intention through advertising attitudes and brand attitudes, they do not have direct effects on purchasing intention. Further results on the moderating role of gender suggest that web advertising visual cues have direct effect on consumers' purchasing intention for male groups but not for female groups. This study contributes to the understanding the role of visual dimensions in forming online purchase intentions.     

The online framing effect: the moderating role of warning,brand familiarity,and product type

This study examines the framing effect on online consumer purchase intention. Three framing effect moderators—warning type (text-based/picture-based), brand familiarity (familiar/unfamiliar), and product type (utilitarian/hedonic)—were considered. The results demonstrated that a positive frame message could create more favorable preferences toward the product than a negative frame message could. Further, consumers with text-based warnings who received positive framing messages had higher purchase intentions toward the target product than did those receiving negative framing messages. However, the online framing effect was not significant for consumers receiving picture-based warnings. Moreover, the online framing effect was significant for consumers familiar with the brand. Finally, positive messages resulted in higher purchase intention for hedonic rather than utilitarian products. This study further examined gender differences in framing effects and found women exhibited greater framing effects than men under the negative frame. The findings provide guidance for designing appropriate product strategy to induce online consumer purchase intentions that favor online retailers.     

Consumer attitudes toward blogger’s sponsored recommendations and purchase intention: The effect of sponsorship type,product type,and brand awareness

Sponsored recommendation blog posts, a form of online consumer review, are blog articles written by bloggers who receive benefits from sponsoring marketers to review and promote products on their personal blog. Because national regulations require that marketer sponsorship must be revealed in the blog post, sponsored recommendation posts can no longer conceal their marketing intent. Consumer’s attitudes toward sponsored recommendation posts are thus a vital issue in assessing the effectiveness of the advertisement. This study uses a 2(sponsorship type) × 2(product type) × 2(brand awareness) experimental design and a total of 613 valid samples to examine consumer attitudes toward sponsored recommendation posts and purchase intention. The results show that when products recommended in blog posts are search goods or have high brand awareness, consumers have highly positive attitudes toward sponsored recommendation posts, which improves purchase intention. The directly-monetary/indirect-monetary benefits received by the bloggers have no significant effect on readership attitudes. Using these features in blog writings appears to improve online readers’ trust toward and the credibility of sponsored recommendation posts and thus can be a vital online marketing tool for marketers.     

Understanding consumers’ continuance intention towards mobile advertising: a theoretical framework and empirical study

While issues regarding mobile advertising have captured the interest and attention of both practitioners and academics, in practice success stories are rare. An understanding of the continuance intention to use such services can provide insights into failed mobile marketing campaigns, and help to improve the implementation of future ones. Therefore, it is important to examine the underlying drivers of loyalty with regard to mobile advertising. This study uses the expectation–confirmation model in conjunction with the perspectives of value and trust to derive an integrated model to better understand the motivations behind consumers’ continued use of mobile advertising. We conducted an empirical study consisting of an online survey of 508 consumers who had experience with mobile advertising. The results show that perceived value, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction all directly influence continuance intention. Furthermore, consumer satisfaction has a crucial intervening role in the relationships that perceived value, perceived usefulness, and confirmation have with continuance intention. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. One key limitation of this research is that the majority of respondents were students, although this group is the chief user of mobile advertising. Future research could be extended to consider other drivers of loyalty in this context, such as cultural differences and personal behavioural characteristics.     

A framework for mobile SNS advertising effectiveness: user perceptions and behaviour perspective

This study develops and empirically tests a framework for mobile social network service (SNS) advertising effectiveness. The study sets the advertising value, attitude towards advertising, and behavioural intentions as the key variables for the assessment of advertising effectiveness. Regarding antecedents of advertising effectiveness, the study identifies the salient attributes of mobile SNS advertising as social, mobile convenience, and active control; the main sub-values of mobile SNS advertising as informativeness, entertainment, and irritation.     

Understanding consumers’ continuance intention towards mobile purchase: A theoretical framework and empirical study – A case of China

Although mobile purchase is convenient in the age of mobile commerce, many consumers still do not utilize mobile purchase to its full potential. From the mobile vendor’s perspective, retaining current customers and facilitating their continued purchase are crucial to create profitability and achieve a sustainable development. An understanding of the continuance intention towards mobile purchase can provide insights into mobile vendors’ marketing campaigns. Therefore, it is important to examine the determinants that impact continuance intentions of consumers for mobile purchase. Drawing upon information success model, flow theory and trust, this study proposed and empirically tested an integrated model to better understand the determinants of consumers’ continued intention to purchase on mobile sites. Empirical data from 462 users who had experience with mobile purchase were tested against the proposed research model by using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results indicated that information quality, and privacy and security concerns are the main factors affecting trust, whereas service quality is the main factor affecting flow. System quality, and privacy and security concerns affect satisfaction. Trust affects flow, which in turn affects satisfaction. These three factors together affect continued intention towards mobile purchase. The findings of this study provide several important implications for mobile commerce research and practice.     

Perceived information transparency in B2C e-commerce: An empirical investigation

Consumers abandon their online purchases at an e-commerce website partly due to the lack of information transparency of the website. We identify the antecedents of consumers’ perceived information transparency of an e-commerce website and its effects on consumers’ online purchase intention. We collected data through a scenario-based survey conducted in a laboratory setting. We found that (1) product transparency, vendor transparency, and transaction transparency significantly influence perceived information transparency; (2) perceived information transparency significantly increases consumers’ online purchase intention; and (3) perceived risk partially mediates the effects of perceived information transparency on purchase intention.     

Consumer perceptions of information helpfulness and determinants of purchase intention in online consumer reviews of services

Online consumer reviews offer an unprecedented amount of information for consumers to evaluate services before purchase. We use the dual process theory to investigate consumer perceptions about information helpfulness (IH) in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) contexts. Results highlight that popularity signals, two-sided reviews, and expert sources (but not source trustworthiness) are perceived as helpful by consumers to assess service quality and performance. Although two-sided reviews exercise a significant influence on perceived IH, their influence on purchase intention was indirectly mediated by IH. IH predicts purchase intention and partially mediates the relationship between popularity signals, source homophily, source expertise, and purchase intention.     

Predicting user response to sponsored advertising on social media via the technology acceptance model

Sponsored advertising has generated strong advertising revenues for Facebook in recent years. As sponsored ads are built on an interactive platform that could be seen as invasive to user privacy, the growth of this advertising platform has important implications for consumers, and advertisers alike. As little research is available on consumer response to sponsored advertising as an interactive technology innovation, the current study assesses the effects of user perceptions of privacy risk, intrusiveness concerns and utilities of sponsored advertising on consumer attitudes and purchase intent. Testing a model derived form the technology acceptance model (TAM), the study found that privacy and intrusiveness concerns are both valid antecedent variables to perceived usefulness but not perceived ease of use of sponsored advertising. While both antecedent variables also influence consumer attitudes toward sponsored advertising, only privacy concerns have an impact product purchase intentions. The hypothesized relations between perceived usefulness, ease of use, attitudes and purchase intentions were also validated.     

基于贝叶斯网络的网络品牌认知度评价方法

随着电子商务和网络经济的快速发展,网络品牌的不确定信息越来越多,给消费者的选择造成了很大的困扰。考虑到网购消费者普遍存在的重复购买属性以及网络品牌对消费期望的重要性,有必要考虑网络品牌对消费者购物期望的动态影响,探究一种科学有效的评价体系,完成对网络品牌认知度的评价。贝叶斯网络是获取不确定知识的有效方法。介绍贝叶斯网络的优势与特征,论证基于贝叶斯网络进行网络品牌分类的可行性。实验证明通过贝叶斯网络可以有效地对网络品牌进行分类,获取电子商务系统的所需信息,帮助用户进行网络品牌的选择和购买行为的决策。     

Flaming on YouTube

In this explorative study, flaming on YouTube was studied using surveys of YouTube users. Flaming is defined as displaying hostility by insulting, swearing or using otherwise offensive language. Three general conclusions were drawn. First, although many users said that they themselves do not flame, flaming appears to be very common on YouTube. Second, views on flaming varied but were more often negative than positive. Some people refrain from uploading videos as a result of flaming, but most users do not think of flaming as a problem for themselves. Third, several explanations of flaming were found to be plausible, among which were perceived flaming norms and the reduced awareness of other people’s feelings. Although some YouTube users flame for entertainment, flaming is more often intended to express disagreement or as a response to a perceived offense by others.     

The Effects of Social Networking Sites on Consumer–Brand Relationships

In the era of a vastly changing marketing communications environment, social media and social networking sites (SNS) have become an attractive outlet for brand promotions and advertising. As traditional media such as television, radio, and newspapers prove ineffective in establishing a valuable rapport with consumers, it is social networks which are expected to build bonds and engage online users into an amusing dialog, play, and intercourse with brands. This study applies an experimental design to assess the effects of SNS on the relationship between brands and consumers. Customer-based brand equity is adopted in this study as a reflective measure of consumer–brand connection. In order to evaluate hypothesized interactions, the linear mixed effects models are used. The results show very little (if any) impact of SNS on brand equity. Relevant explanations are discussed and further research directions are indicated.     

How does presence influence purchase intention in online shopping markets? An explanation based on self-determination theory

Presence has been regarded as an essential component for understanding individuals’ behaviour in online environments. Drawing upon self-determination theory (SDT), this study examines the impact of presence in online shopping markets. The conceptual model is examined with data collected from TaoBao. The findings indicate that telepresence is positively associated with consumers’ autonomy and stickiness, while social presence is positively associated with consumers’ relatedness and stickiness. Furthermore, stickiness mediates both the relationship between autonomy and purchase intention, and the relationship between relatedness and purchase intention. Having introduced a new perspective of SDT, this study explains how presence significantly influences consumers’ psychological need satisfaction, attitude and behaviour, and confirms the critical role of presence in online shopping markets.     

A comprehensive model of the effects of online store image on purchase intention in an e-commerce environment

The aim of this study is to identify structural relationships between aspects of online store image and purchase intention. Responses from 211 website visitors were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the research hypotheses. The results demonstrated that enjoyment and familiarity are predictors of ease-of-use and settlement performance, respectively. Settlement performance and usefulness are positively related to purchase intention. The results provide some suggestions for online store owners to help them arrange budget priorities for website design. Moreover, it is important to manage image familiarity for an online store through image-enhancing techniques, such as advertising and publicity.