Consumer Responses to SMS Advertising: Antecedents and Consequences
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Consumer Responses to SMS Advertising: Antecedents and Consequences 1. Dimitris A. Drossos * Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering University of the Aegean Lymperis Building, office B11, GR 83 200, Karlovassi, Samos, Greece tel.: +30 22730 82227 [email protected] * Corresponding author 2. George M. Giaglis Department of Management Science and Technology Athens University of Economics and Business Lefkados 33 & Evelpidon 47A, office 907, GR 113 62, Athens, Greece tel.: +30 210 8203682, fax: +30 210 8203682 [email protected] 1
Transcript of Consumer Responses to SMS Advertising: Antecedents and Consequences
Consumer Responses to SMS Advertising:
Antecedents and Consequences
1. Dimitris A. Drossos *
Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering
University of the Aegean
Lymperis Building, office B11, GR 83 200, Karlovassi, Samos,
Greece
tel.: +30 22730 82227
* Corresponding author
2. George M. Giaglis
Department of Management Science and Technology
Athens University of Economics and Business
Lefkados 33 & Evelpidon 47A, office 907, GR 113 62, Athens,
Greece
tel.: +30 210 8203682, fax: +30 210 8203682
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3. Pavlos A. Vlachos
ALBA Graduate Business School at The American College of Greece
6-8 Xenias Str., GR115 28, Athens, Greece
tel.: +30 210 8964531-8, fax:+30 210 8964737
4. Efpraxia D. Zamani
Department of Management Science and Technology
Athens University of Economics and Business
Lefkados 33 & Evelpidon 47A, office 103, GR 113 62, Athens,
Greece
tel.: +30 210 8203682, fax: +30 210 8203682
5. George Lekakos
Department of Management Science and Technology
Athens University of Economics and Business
Ydras 28, GR 11362 Athens, Greece
tel.: + 30 210 8203921, fax: +30 210 8203664
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Dimitris A. Drossos is Lecturer of eBusiness at the Department of
Information and Communication Systems Engineering of the
University of the Aegean. His main teaching and research
interests focus on the area of eBusiness (emphasizing on
electronic marketing and wireless services). He has numerous
publications in international journals and conferences including
the International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Behaviour and
Information Technology and the European Marketing Conference.
George M. Giaglis is Professor of eBusiness at the Department of
Management Science and Technology of the Athens University of
Economics and Business, Greece. His main teaching and research
interests lie in the areas of eBusiness (emphasising on mobile
and wireless applications and services), pervasive and ubiquitous
information systems, technology-enabled business process
redesign, business process modelling and re-engineering,
information management, and information systems evaluation. He
has published more than 150 research articles in leading journals
and international conferences, including the Information Systems
Journal, the International Journal of Electronic Commerce, and
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the International Journal of Information Management. He is a
member of the editorial board of seven journals, including
Telecommunications Policy, the International Journal of Mobile
Communications and the Journal of Enterprise Information Systems.
Pavlos A. Vlachos is Assistant Professor of Marketing at ALBA
Graduate Business School at the American College of Greece. He is
teaching Research Methods & Marketing Analytics. His research
lies in the area of corporate reputation and particularly in the
areas of corporate social responsibility and corporate abilities.
His work has appeared in Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of
the Academy of Marketing Science, Industrial Marketing Management
& European Journal of Information Systems among others.
Efpraxia D. Zamani is Doctoral Researcher at the Department
of Management Science and Technology of the Athens University of
Economics and Business, Greece. Her research interests lie in the
areas of mobile and portable information systems, user experience
and the sociological aspects of technology. Her doctoral research
is co-funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Education, Lifelong
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Learning and Religious Affairs (Herakleitos II PhD Fellowship)
and the European Social Fund.
Dr. George Lekakos is Assistant Professor at the Department of
Management Science and Technology, Athens University of Economics
and Business, Athens, Greece. He has published over 45 articles
in leading international journals and academic conferences such
as User Modeling and User Adapted Interaction, Information
Systems Journal, Journal of Advertising etc. His research
interests are in the areas of e-business, digital marketing,
consumer behavior, and information management.
Abstract
Mobile phone advertisements, in the form of text messages (SMS),
have been recognized as an important form of product promotion.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors influencing
the effectiveness of SMS advertising by using a hierarchy of
effects approach. We employ a simulated experiment with 736
respondents to examine how consumers react to SMS advertisements
and identify factors that influence their attitude towards the ad
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(Aad), attitude towards the brand (Ab), and purchase intention
(PI). Perceived ad credibility, attitude towards mobile
advertising, message appeal, argument quality, incentive, product
involvement and interactivity were found to be antecedents of
Aad. Moreover, there is a clear link between attitude and
behavioral intention. The study is amongst the first to provide
an experimental-based assessment and a unified model linking
consumer attitudes towards mobile text ads with brand attitudes
and purchase intentions.
Keywords: mobile advertising, SMS, advertising effectiveness,
attitude, purchase intention
IntroductionWith the proliferation of the mobile phone as a viable
advertising channel, it has become particularly essential to
understand how and to what extent mobile advertisements impact on
consumers’ mindset. Admittedly, the most popular form of mobile
advertising is texting; being compatible with all mobile devices,6
it allows companies to reach a wider audience, unlike other
mediums, as for example multimedia messaging service (MMS). As a
result, market reports forecast text advertising’s continuous
growth . Moreover, if advertisers want to be in the market with
creative, relevant and impactful mobile marketing campaigns, they
need to base their marketing strategies upon a clear
understanding of consumer behavior . However, despite text
advertising’s market penetration, so far only few studies have
examined critical factors determining its success and evaluating
consumer behavior .
To date, the majority of consumer behavior studies have mostly
relied on the Stimulus Organism Response paradigm. Content
analysis on publications of the leading marketing journals from
1980 (Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of
Marketing Research) demonstrates that more than seventy papers
measuring both attitude towards the brand (Ab) and purchase intention (PI)
have been published. An overwhelming majority of these studies
reported results based on the attitude towards the ad (Aad) framework .
Despite the abundance of research covering many aspects of the
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mobile medium , the review of the literature identified a limited
number of studies focusing on the application of traditional
advertising models to the mobile context .
Moreover, traditional models of consumer buying processes may be
substantially affected by the characteristics of new marketing
media, as in the case of the internet . Mobile advertising (m-
advertising) has some distinct features, which differentiate it
from traditional channels of advertising, mainly those of
interactivity and ‘localization’. Definitions of interactivity
from the communicator's perspective tend to emphasize
interactivity as the ‘potential adequacy’ of an interaction
system that facilitates two-way communication while, from the
audience's perspective, researchers tend to treat interactivity
as an individual trait . Thus, in contrast to mass promotional
communication, mobile advertising permits a two-way
communication, even on a 24/7 basis. Next, when referring to
localization, the advertisements sent to a user can also be
location sensitive, meaning that the mobile phone user can be
informed in a timely manner about various on-going offers in
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surrounding areas. This differentiates mobile advertising from
traditional media and even from fixed internet advertising.
Location-based services (LBS) continue to boast millions of
unique users every month and major service providers heavily
invest in LBS; for example, Foursquare allows users to check-in
to venues, Google Latitude and Find My Friends let users see
their friends on a mobile map, while Twitter launched its geo-
location feature in March 2010. Therefore, due to this ongoing
investment in geo-location services, it is crucial to examine the
impact of location-based advertising on the consumer mindset.
The purpose of this study is to examine how well-known consumer
behavior models perform within the boundaries of this new medium.
The study focuses specifically on SMS advertising, as it is the
most frequently used medium, with prospects for further growth.
Moreover, we consider the specific medium as particularly
valuable for further insights as any deriving results can be
transferred to other types of mobile advertising, too, since they
exhibit similar characteristics to texting, as for example,
Google Ad Sense Mobile Text Ads. The study adopts Aad, Ab, and PI
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as its central effectiveness criteria and, following well-known
theories, i.e., the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of
persuasion and the Persuasive Hierarchy Framework , attempts to
conceptualize their structural antecedents within the mobile
advertising context. In addition, it examines how a location-
sensitive advertisement is altering consumers’ mental and
affective processes.
Literature ReviewGenerally, researchers study the effect of various ad appeals or
formats of execution on consumers’ mental processes along the Aad
Ab PI paradigm. In this study, Aad is the key construct to
evaluate advertising effects. Previous research on m-advertising
has pinpointed several interesting findings concerning Aad and
its determinants . Preliminary results indicate a stronger focus
on incentive, interactivity, appeal, product involvement, and
attitude towards SMS advertising in general. Specifically, these
constructs seem to directly influence attitude towards the ad (Aad),
attitude towards the brand (Ab), and purchase intention (PI). As a result, we10
focus here on these six core variables that have been found to
influence Aad and attempt to investigate them in parallel with
established antecedents of Aad drawn from the traditional
advertising literature.
Our theoretical framework builds primarily upon the theory of
Planned Behavior and the Persuasive Hierarchy Framework , which
suggests that there is “an order in which things happen, with the
implication that the earlier effects, being necessary
preconditions, are more important” . Within this line of thought,
the underlying paradigm dictates that the cognition stage leads
to affective responses, which in turn, are interpreted into
behavioral responses, allowing all the while a flexibility in
increasing or refining the number of these stages . For the
purposes of our study, within the cognition stage, we examine
several antecedents of Aad and approach them as having an impact
on one’s attitudinal responses towards both the ad and the brand,
i.e., Aad and Ab respectively, and which eventually may form one’s
behavior (PI). Building on this framework, we introduce Aad as a
self-regulatory sub-process in order to explain more
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comprehensively the mechanisms that link structural elements of
the SMS advertising campaign to evaluative and behavioral
outcomes and approach the concept as “comprising solely an
evaluative or affective response to the commercial stimulus
[which] does not refer to cognitive or behavioral responses” . In
addition, as the hierarchy model allows us to increase the number
of examined stages, we refine our framework by introducing Ab as
well. Previous studies have shown that there is a positive
relationship between Aad and brand-related beliefs and attitudes,
i.e., Ab , while several others, building upon traditional
theories of attitude formation, have exhibited Ab’s strong
positive impact on one’s intention to buy the particular brand or
product .
Finally, in our study, Aad’s antecedents derive from Muehling and
McCann’s taxonomy , who classify them across three categories:
personal / individual, ad-related, and other factors. Nevertheless, we
enrich this categorization with unique mobile context-specific
antecedents. These are discussed in more detail next.
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Personal / individual antecedents of Aad
As personal/individual factors are considered those that depend
upon the ad processor, i.e., the consumer . Advertisement credibility,
attitude towards advertising in general, and mood are among the first
antecedents that were empirically tested and it has been
established that they exert an influence on Aad . To begin with,
advertisement credibility is considered as one’s perception that ad-
claims are truthful and believable ; if consumers don’t find the
advertisement to be credible, they will most probably form a
negative Aad. Mackenzie and Lutz , while presenting a theory on
Aad formation, reported that advertisement credibility was a significant
antecedent of Aad. We therefore hypothesize that
(H1) SMS ads that are perceived as more credible will lead to more positive Aad, than
SMS ads that are perceived as less credible.
Attitude towards advertising has been studied within the context of
several communication channels as researchers have long been
interested in its relationship with Aad. It has been shown that
overall attitude towards advertising affects Aad and that people with
more favorable feelings about advertising in general find
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advertisements more acceptable, enjoyable, and informative .
Consequently, we hypothesize that
(H2) Aad will be more positive when a consumer has a positive attitude towards m-
advertising in general, than for a consumer that has a negative attitude towards m-
advertising in general.
Mood refers to the recipient's general feelings and emotions at
the time of exposure to the ad, and being an affective state, it
is thought to have a negative or positive impact on Aad .
Furthermore, we examine demographic characteristics, specifically
education, gender, age and income, because they have been shown
to also play a role in influencing one’s attitudes and
intention . We treat mood and demographic characteristics (i.e.
education, gender, age and income) as control variables aiming to study
their effect on the remaining variables.
Ad-related antecedents of Aad
Message appeals are usually divided into rational and emotional ones
. Rational appeals are normally based on factual information,
while emotional ones usually intend to create positive emotions14
and to develop a brand personality. It can be assumed that
consumers are more interested in informative messages when a new
brand is advertised; the consumer, if involved with the product
category, will be more interested in learning about this new
brand via rational and objective product information. On the one
hand, in cases of unfamiliar brands with which one is unfamiliar,
we posit that (s)he will more than likely seek utilitarian-
related information rather than succumb to the emotional appeal
of advertisements. Specifically, in such cases, we assume that
the quality of information will be more important as it will
include price- or features-related information, adding insight to
consumers’ understanding. In contrast, in the case of an existing
and well-known brand, a positive emotional message might be more
effective in supporting the brand, acting as a peripheral cue
according to ELM , since the consumer will be already familiar
with the brand’s utilitarian characteristics.
Setting this within the mobile context of our study, and
specifically for the case of texting advertisements, one needs to
keep in mind that SMS ads entail length constraints. As
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previously discussed, in the case of new brands, consumers are
expected to pay greater attention to utilitarian-related
attributes. This, combined with the imposed character limit, may
further exacerbate the need for accuracy, usefulness and
informativeness of the transmitted message.
In our study we experimented with fictitious brands because prior
familiarity with the advertised brands could potentially confound
our results. We therefore hypothesize that in the case of
fictitious brands
(H3) SMS ads that use rational appeals lead to more positive Aad, than SMS ads that
use emotional appeals.
Argument quality (AQ), defined as the valence of thoughts evoked by
an argument , may influence consumer attitudes. It has been shown
that consumers, after having been exposed to an advertisement, do
form perceptions about the weakness or the strength of the
presented argument while the ELM presupposes that elaboration of
a message exists when people generate positive thoughts when
exposed to strong arguments and negative thoughts when exposed to
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weak arguments. Moreover, when a person engages in greater
message elaboration, the quality of the arguments has a greater
impact on his or her attitudes compared with low message
elaboration . Previous research suggests that AQ has a greater
impact on persuasion . We thus develop the following hypothesis:
(H4) SMS ads that use strong arguments lead to more positive Aad, than SMS ads that
use weak arguments.
Aad has been conceptualized as having both cognitive and
affective components and it seems reasonable that advertising
elements which necessitate information processing (e.g., product
claims, price information) may affect it . In more detail, ads
that communicate an offer and which consumers perceive as having
a good value for money could lead to more positive Aad. In line
with this, Barwise and Strong , while examining incentive-based
mobile advertising campaigns, reported that the reward system
strengthened the participants’ acceptance of the text ads.
Similarly, Tsang et al. reported that the intention to receive
mobile ads was affected by the incentive associated with the ad
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and that the respondents were more willing to accept incentive-
based mobile advertising. As a result, we hypothesize that
(H5) SMS ads offering incentives lead to more positive Aad, than SMS ads with no
incentives.
Other antecedents of Aad
Product involvement also seems to exert an effect on Aad.
According to the FCB Grid , products differ in their ‘feel’ or
‘think’ nature and are mapped on a 2x2 grid depending on the
individuals’ amount of involvement (high/low) along the
dimensions of cognitive and affective information processing
during the formation of purchasing decisions. More specifically,
when individuals base their purchase decisions on sensory
stimulation and other affective factors, i.e., how they feel
about a product, then the product is characterized as ‘feel’.
Similarly, when individuals base their decisions on their
utilitarian needs and the product’s performance, both requiring
to be cognitively processed, then the product is characterized as
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‘think’ . In both cases, products may require high or low
involvement on behalf of the consumers.
The mobile context is likely to negatively affect attitudes for
high involvement products due to SMSs’ inherent limitation in
conveying a sufficient amount of information. In addition, the
Elaboration Likelihood Model suggests that the level of
involvement has an impact on one’s motivation to process
information. Specifically, individuals faced with products of
higher involvement may be keener to explore more product-specific
information. A possible explanation for the effect of product
involvement on consumer attitudes can be found in cognitive
resource allocation literature. According to previous research ,
an advertisement’s impact on the overall evaluation of a given
brand may be influenced by the relationship between the required
cognitive resources to process the message, and those actually
available for processing. Furthermore, they also suggest that any
message will augment its persuasive strength, provided that there
is a balance between required and available cognitive resources.
However, it is likely that the SMS length limitation, which
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prohibits SMSs ads from effectively communicating all the
necessary information for a high involvement product, will
counteract most of the positive message elements that the
persuasive communication was meant to convey. This argument finds
support in Kannan et al.’s study , who proposed that the wireless
context can significantly increase the frequency of impulse
purchases, especially of low value, low involvement products.
They argue that, since wireless communication enables instant
gratification and immediate fulfillment of a need, this could
have a positive impact on consumers’ impulse purchase behaviors.
Hence, we hypothesize that
(H6) SMS ads that advertise low cognitive involvement products lead to more positive
Aad, than SMS ads that advertise high cognitive involvement products.
(H7) SMS ads that advertise low affective involvement products lead to more positive
Aad, than SMS ads that advertise high affective involvement products.
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Mobile Context and Aad
Mobile advertising belongs to the class of context-aware
applications because it identifies the context within which the
individual user is operating. Moreover, context, particularly for
the case of context-sensitive advertising, is frequently
determined by the user’s location . This has turned location-
based advertising into one of the most interesting opportunities
that mobile commerce has to offer; aside its impact on perceived
information utility, it often entails the strategic positioning
of advertisements near places where buyer behavior can be easily
influenced and quickly converted into a sale.
Two studies have empirically verified the relationship between an
advertisement’s effectiveness and its positioning . Bruner II and
Kumar reported that consumers exhibited a slightly negative
attitude towards receiving location-based advertising, while
Gopal and Tripathi found that the distance between the retail
location and the point of ad delivery had a significant impact on
the respondents’ recall of ads. However, to date and to the
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authors’ knowledge, no study has examined the direct relationship
between location and Aad.
In this study, location-based SMS advertising is considered as
sending information to consumers based on their location, in
order to persuade them into visiting a physical store and buying
the advertised product. Drawing from consumer behavior theory ,
time and location are two interdependent dimensions, and
targeting prospective customers at the right time and place needs
to require only the minimum perceived effort for a given customer
to buy the advertised product. However, measuring actual time
(e.g., 11:00 p.m.) and location by distance (e.g., 2 km away from
the point of sale) seems inadequate to fully capture the notion
of ‘right’ time and place. We therefore approach time and
location by examining them through one’s perceived effort to buy
the advertised product . It is thus hypothesized that
(H8) SMS ads lead to more positive Aad when the perceived effort to buy the advertised
product is low.
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The literature on mobile business and commerce highlights the
role of interactivity within the mobile context. Kannan et al.
draw attention to the potential of “continuous wireless
interactivity” by pinpointing the key difference between Internet
and mobile commerce and arguing that, within the mobile context,
consumers can continue their interaction with any aspect of their
commercial activity irrespective of their location and movement.
Kavassalis et al. discuss about the “continued dialogue”, a
loyalty creation/maintenance type of communication when marketers
succeed in creating the necessary conditions for continuous
interaction with customers via mobile channel.
Interactive advertising enjoys numerous definitions. Virtually
all of them suggest that information is broadcasted through
technological means (e.g., a computer, a mobile telephone) and
that there is a mutual, relatively immediate interaction between
consumers and marketers . Mobile ads’ interactive elements
attempt to elicit cognitive responses by allowing the user to
search for additional information. Therefore, interactivity aims
to increase user involvement by creating a two-way communication
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in real time, instead of the traditional one-way media
advertising. In our study, we examine interactivity by adopting
the “communicator’s perspective” which treats it as an objective
characteristic of the ad and which suggests that if a mobile ad
allows for reciprocal communication, then the particular ad will
be considered as more interactive compared to some other ad with
no such feature . Acknowledging that previous research has shown
interactivity to be positively associated with ad and product
attitudes , we hypothesize that
(H9) The interactive elements of an SMS ad are positively related to Aad.
The Aad-Ab-PI RelationshipSignificant research has been carried out on the causal
relationship among Aad, Ab, and PI towards explaining advertising
effectiveness . Generally, research in advertising suggests that
a favorable Aad helps to create a favorable Ab, which in turn has
a positive impact on the PI. Although these relationships may not
be directly causal and there may be some intervening components,
the literature in support of the aforementioned is relationships
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is quite extensive, and the majority of findings indicate that
the order of effects is robust .
Towards identifying the role of SMS advertising and its impact on
persuading consumers, our research entailed the use of
unfamiliar, i.e., hypothetical brands as the experimental
stimuli. As far as unfamiliar brands are concerned, extant
literature suggests that there is a direct linkage between Aad
and the attitude towards the brand; “indeed, it is reasonable that a
single exposure to a likeable ad should influence attitudes for a
brand that individuals previously knew nothing about” . We
therefore hypothesize that in the context of SMS advertising
(H10) Aad is directly and positively associated Ab.
Product involvement is included in this study to examine not only
its direct effect on Aad, but also its potential as a moderator
of the Aad - Ab relationship. Rossiter and Percy suggest that the
Aad-Ab relationship may be stronger for low rather than for high
involvement products. Moreover, research in persuasion studies
illustrates that consumers in high product involvement situations
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process information differently from those in low product
involvement situations . Drawing from the Elaboration Likelihood
Model and the Combined Influence Hypothesis, Aad is hypothesized
to influence significantly higher outcome variables such as Ab
and PI when product involvement is low. Thus, it is assumed that
as product involvement increases, Aad's influence on Ab will
decrease.
(H11a) The strength of the Aad-Ab relationship decreases, as cognitive product
involvement increases.
(H11b) The strength of the Aad-Ab relationship decreases, as affective product
involvement increases.
Advertising literature suggests that there is a correlation
between Ab and purchase intention. Specifically, Spears and Singh
found support for this relationship within the attitude towards the ad
theoretical framework and in more detail that attitude towards the
brand will motivate consumer’s intention to react to a particular
stimulus. According to this view, upon exposure to a commercial
message, the authors found that one’s attitude mediates cognitive
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and affective effects on a specific behavioral intention, such as
buying a product.
(H12) Ab is directly and positively associated with PI.
In addition, several studies have shown that there is a direct
impact of Aad on PI, further to its indirect influence through Ab
(Figure 1). In support of the direct effect of Aad on PI, Lord et
al. claim that the antecedents and consequences of Aad are too
broad and complex to be accurately captured by the assertion that
Aad is merely a peripheral cue.
--INSERT FIGURE 1 HERE--
Numerous studies (e.g. ) provide evidence for a direct
relationship between Aad and PI under certain circumstances. For
example, consumers may arrive to a purchase decision without
having completely processed all brand information . In the
context of our study, the developed ads promote fictitious
brands. As a result, they contain arguments of moderate quality
and strength and use minimal copy, thus providing limited
information. This suggests that participants’ evaluations, as
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stimulated by the ads, are expected to be affective in nature
rather than analytical. In turn, the participants’ affective
response can potentially influence their purchase intention
directly, without Aad’s indirect effect through Ab .
(H13) Aad has a direct and positive impact on PI.
Table 1 provides a summary of all our hypotheses.
--INSERT TABLE 1 HERE--
Research DesignBased on previous findings, we include in our research six key
variables for the purposes of our field experiment . These are
localization, interactivity, incentive, appeal, cognitive and
affective product involvement. According to the number of
variables, our experiment requires a 26 between-subjects
factorial design, having a total of 64 cells. We moreover
preferred a between groups over a within groups experimental
design because the first manages to handle ‘learning effects.’
Hair et al. suggest a minimum of 20 participants per cell, which
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demands nearly 1.280 responses. To reduce the requirements
regarding the number of participants, the duration of the study,
and the necessary budget, we used one-half fraction of the
originally envisaged factorial design. This resulted in 23
participants per cell and 736 responses overall. Moreover, the
employed 2-level fractional factorial design has the desirable
properties of being both balanced and orthogonal.
SampleWe used stratified sampling in order to include all the important
sub-populations and to increase the generalizability of our
results. Stratified and quota sampling techniques are used quite
extensively in street interviewing and both fit rather well with
the purposes of our experiment, which entailed that all
interviews had to be conducted within a natural setting. During
the first stage, we developed the control characteristics
(strata) and assigned the population into age and gender quota.
Next, we used proportionate stratified sampling to ensure that
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the gender stratum was proportionate to the relative size of that
stratum in the total population.
Stimulus DesignPre-test 1. Drawing from similar studies in the advertising and
consumer behavior literature , we selected initially thirteen
different product categories in order to decide on the products
that would allow us to test the hypotheses regarding product
involvement. The product categories were were: soft drink,
deodorant, cold remedy, chocolate bar, vitamins, potato chips,
shampoo, DVD player, toothpaste, perfume, sun glasses, DVD-RW,
and batteries. Pretesting allowed the identification of four
products, fitting the following four criteria: (1) each product
belonged to one quadrant of the cognitive – affective involvement
grid, (2) all products were relevant to the target sample, (3)
they were low cost products, and (4) they were nondurable,
frequently purchased items. The semantic differential items of
cognitive and affective involvement have been employed here in
the manner proposed by Putrevu and Lord . An independent sample
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of 120 subjects has been asked to rate its involvement with the
13 product categories; a soft drink (low in both cognitive and
affective involvement), a nonprescription cold remedy (high
cognitive involvement, low affective involvement), a chocolate
(low cognitive involvement, high affective involvement), and an
antiperspirant (high in cognitive and affective involvement) were
selected as the test products.
Pre-test 2. Results from empirical studies show that there are
differences in the performance of ads for familiar and unfamiliar
brands and that familiarity with the brand can potentially
confound the effects of traditional and online advertisements .
Therefore, in order not to convey unintended information via the
brand name, the four products were given fictitious names during
this experiment. These names were developed using the feedback
from a focus group consisted of 5 PhD and 3 MBA students,
according to the recommendations of Martin, Lang and Wong , i.e.
aiming to meet the following two conditions: (1) avoid phonetic
similarity to existing brands and (2) avoid “suggestive” names
(e.g., PicturePerfect camera) that could lead to higher recall
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via associative strength theory of memory for new brand names.
The selected brand names for the soft-drink, the non-prescription
cold remedy, the chocolate bar, and the antiperspirant products
were Rico-cola, Cenatol, Goldy and Ezan, respectively.
Pre-test 3. The purpose of this pretest was to control for the
effects of confounding variables due to the information contained
in the ads. Initially, product attributes for all the product
categories were chosen from real advertisements used in several
advertising media (e.g., magazines, Web). These attributes were
tested with the help of 120 independent participants on the basis
of their importance using a 7-point semantic differential scale,
ranging from “not important to me” to “important to me”. All
means exceeded the scale midpoint (4.08 to 6.78), confirming the
attributes’ relevance for the target population and from which
experimental subjects were next drawn for the purposes of the
final field experiment. In addition, the arguments contained in
the advertisements for testing hypotheses were also selected on
the basis of a preliminary study, where different arguments were
tested for persuasiveness, comprehensibility, and familiarity and
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emotional versus rational appeal following Petty and Cacioppo .
Arguments of equal persuasiveness, comprehensibility and
familiarity, were selected to avoid confounding effects.
Pilot testA pilot test using a different independent sample was conducted
having two main objectives: (1) to check the proposed
experimental manipulations concerning the six factors (location,
interactivity, incentive, appeal, cognitive involvement,
affective involvement) and (2) to check the construct validity
and the reliability of the employed scales. Street interviews
with 64 participants were conducted following the requirements of
the final field experiment. According to our findings, the scale
of interactivity did not fit well in the context of SMS
advertising and therefore it was verbally modified. All other
objectives of this phase were successfully met.
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MeasuresThe questionnaire was organized into sections corresponding to
our study's research questions. Initially, the participant was
exposed to the SMS ad and afterwards rated her/his attitude
towards the ad, the brand and purchase intention. Attitude
towards the ad was measured immediately as research shows that ad
attitude effects disappear quickly while delays in measuring ad
attitude can lead to consumers’ inferences partially from their
general attitudes towards advertising . Manipulations checks and
additional variables followed. Table 2 presents the measurement
scales.
--INSERT TABLE 2 HERE—
ProcedureRespondents were intercepted while they were exiting a central
metro station. This allowed us to measure the exact distance from
the point of sale for the purposes of location manipulation.
Participants were randomly assigned to each of the 32
experimental conditions and read the instructions on the
34
evaluation of an SMS advertisement according to the specific
experimental condition. Each SMS advertisement was described as
permission-based ad and was shown to the participants via a
mobile phone to increase external validity. Participants were
then asked to rate their attitudes towards the ad, the brand and
purchase intention. Computer-assisted personal interviewing
(CAPI) was used to collect data. The entire procedure was self-
paced, and participants completed the task in approximately 10
minutes. After completing the session, participants were thanked
and debriefed.
--INSERT FIGURE 2 HERE--
Analysis and Results
Sample Our total sample consists of 736 participants, out of which 373
are female and 363 are male. 17,8% belongs to the 15-17 age
group, 18,6% to the 18-24 age group, 21,3% to the 25-34 age
group, 21,2% to the 35-44 age group and 21,1% to the 45-54 age
group. Additionally, in terms of the participants’ educational
35
level, 52,3% of the respondents had primary education, and 45,6%
studied at university level. Finally, the majority of
participants is unmarried (64,1%).
Manipulation ChecksThe information from the manipulations checks helped us determine
whether our treatments regarding the six key variables
(localization, interactivity, incentive, appeal, and product
involvement) operated as designed. Table 3 summarizes the
corresponding t-tests.
--INSERT TABLE 3 HERE--
As far as localization is concerned, results from the t-test
indicated that the two conditions were significantly different,
i.e. consumers perceived the first buying condition as more
effortful than the second. Interactivity, although ontologically
defined based on ‘communicator’s perspective’, an effort was made
to ascertain participants' perception of the ad’s interactivity
as well, by embedding a 7-point semantic differential scale
anchored by “I can communicate with the advertiser if I wanted36
to” / “I cannot communicate with the advertiser if I wanted to.”
Results, as illustrated in Table 3, show that there is a
statistically significant difference in participants' perceived
interactivity. Concerning monetary incentive manipulation, the t-
test indicated that the two conditions were significantly
different. Next, concerning the ads’ appeal, respondents,
participating in the ‘low’ experimental condition, rated the ad
significantly lower in terms of its rational appeal than those
participating in the ‘high’ experimental condition. Therefore,
the first advertisement is characterized as an ad with an
emotional appeal, while the second as an ad with a rational
appeal.
The final manipulation check concerns the cognitive and affective product
involvement. All between-product differences were statistically
significant (Table 4). Mean cognitive and affective involvement
scores for the four experimental product categories support their
correct placement within the four possible combinations of low
and high levels of cognitive and affective involvement. All
between-product differences were statistically significant at p <
37
0.001, except from the difference between soda drink and
chocolate bar, which was significant at the p < 0.05 level. The
overall results from the manipulation checks suggest that the
participants perceived the advertisements as intended.
--INSERT TABLE 4 HERE--
Method of AnalysisThe parameters of the proposed model were estimated using Partial
Least Squares modeling technique (PLS). All tests were carried
out with SmartPLS 2.0 . PLS is a powerful technique for analyzing
structural equation models (SEM) with latent variables and
multiple indicators. The particular method was chosen over other
covariance-based SEM techniques primarily as it can accommodate a
large, complex model and the various moderating effects and poses
fewer restrictions regarding the distribution of the data . The
current literature and importantly some recent Monte-Carlo
simulation studies, i.e., , have stressed the superiority of PLS
vs. CBSEM especially in cases where the goal of the study is not
parameter accuracy but rather prediction and theory development.
38
In the words of Reinartz, Haenlein, & Henseler ,“ PLS analysis should
be preferred when the emphasis is on prediction and theory development, as the
statistical power of PLS is always larger than or equal to that of CBSEM”. Our
research is largely prediction-oriented as its primary goal is to
investigate the determinants of Aad in the context of SMS
advertising, rendering PLS as more appropriate .
Assessments of Validity and Reliability
Error: Reference source not found presents the results on
the instrument’s reliability and consistency. As shown, composite
reliability (CR), an index of internal consistency, exceeds the
recommended 0.70 threshold for all constructs’, thus ensuring
the constructs’ reliability. Specifically for the case of
incentive, a value for CR is not available as it was measured using
a single item. Next, as all items loaded well on their respective
factors, much higher than all cross loading and exceeding 0.5,
and all constructs’ AVE exceeded also 0.50 we conclude that our
model meets all the conditions for convergent validity . Finally,
according to Fornell and Larcker regarding discriminant
39
validity, the square root of all AVEs needs to exceed the value
of all other cross-correlations; our model exhibits satisfactory
discriminant validity (Error: Reference source not found).
--INSERT TABLE 5 HERE--
Hypotheses Testing ResultsThe PLS modeling technique places a great emphasis on the
variance explained and the statistical significance of the path
estimates to provide evidence for a model’s predictive strength .
As illustrated in Figure 3, our model succeeds in explaining a
significant amount of variance for all three dependent variables,
namely Aad (R2= 0.52), Ab (R2= 0.39) and purchase intentions (R2 =
0.47), and most of our hypotheses are supported by the results.
As predicted, SMS ads that are perceived as more credible lead to
more positive Aad (b = 0.16, t = 4.51); therefore H1 is not
rejected. Next, attitude towards SMS advertising in general
influences Aad (b = 0.36, t = 10.79), whereas the use of rational
appeals in SMS ads lead to more positive Aad (b = 0.08, t = 2.18);
therefore both H2 and H3 are supported. The use of strong
argument quality positively influences Aad (b = 0.29, t = 8.35) as40
hypothesized. Therefore H4 is supported as well. Additionally,
our findings provide support for a direct, positive relationship
between incentive and Aad (H5 is supported). Product cognitive
involvement seems to negatively influence Aad (b = -0.04, t =
1.68). Therefore, in line with H6, when consumers perceive a
product to necessitate high cognitive involvement, they form a
negative attitude towards the SMS ad. Contrary to H7, our
results show that when consumers perceive a product to require
high affective involvement, they tend to form more favorable Aad
(b = 0.07, t = 2.04). Moreover, ads offering an element of
interactivity lead to more positive attitudes towards the ad than
those containing no interactive elements; thus H9 is supported.
Additionally, H10 is also supported by our results as Aad exhibits
a strong, positive effect on Ab (b = 0.60, t = 25.90).
To test the proposed moderating effects (i.e., H11a and H11b), we
entered the multiplicative terms into the linear-only terms model
. Composite reliability for the Aad X Affective Involvement
multiplicative variable is 0.96, while AVE is 0.68. The square
root of AVE is greater than all other cross-correlations, thus
41
indicating satisfactory discriminant validity. Similarly, the
composite reliability of Aad X Cognitive Involvement
multiplicative variable is 0.86 and its AVE is 0.26, which is
below the 0.50 cut-off value. Notwithstanding the low AVE, there
are no discriminant validity problems (i.e., AVE>γ2). AVE is
typically used, together with other indicators, for examining
convergent validity and experience has shown that AVE in latent
variable interactions is typically low. Furthermore, Ping
suggests that, for judging the validity of an interaction,
researchers should first and foremost investigate its reliability
and in this case, reliability is 0.86, far greater than the
acceptable criterion of 0.70. Also, low AVE values in latent
variable interactions indicate that their structural coefficients
and their significances will vary widely across replications .
Given these validity concerns, the results of the study regarding
the effect of Aad X Cognitive Involvement on Ab should be
considered as tentative and viewed with caution.
To investigate whether the inclusion of the multiplicative terms
in the main effects model is empirically meaningful, we used the
42
difference in R2 values . Results indicate that the addition of
the Aad X Affective Involvement and that of the Aad X Cognitive
Involvement term are empirically meaningful (Pseudo f –value =
29.2, p < 0.05). Specifically, in contrast to our predictions,
affective involvement and cognitive involvement multiply the
effect of Aad on Ab (b = 0.07, t = 2.04 and b = 0.07, t = 1.68).
However, given the validity concerns regarding the Aad X
Cognitive Involvement moderating term reported earlier and its
significance at the 0.10 level (two-tailed test), its effect on
Ab should be considered as tentative. Based on these results H11a
and H11b are rejected.
Finally, as predicted Aad positively influences purchase
intentions (b = 0.42, t = 11.06) and the same stands for the
effect of Ab on purchase intentions (b = 0.34, t = 8.61).
Therefore H12 and H13 are both supported. It should be noted that
all control variables included in the model, i.e., consumer
demographics and mood are not significant with the exception of
gender (b = 0.09, t = 3.62).
43
At this point it should be noted that as models yielding
significant bootstrap statistics can still be invalid in a
predictive sense , measures of predictive validity for focal
endogenous constructs should be employed. One such measure is the
Q2 measure, i.e., the Stone-Geisser test. Q2 is a kind of cross-
validated R2, representing how well observed values are
reconstructed by the parameter estimates of the model . The Q2
value for Aad, Ab and purchase intentions is 0.40, 0.30 and 0.41
respectively, indicating that the model’s predictive relevance is
good .
--INSERT FIGURE 3 HERE--
DiscussionThis study aims at building valuable empirical knowledge with the
goal to further the understanding of the mobile context and
especially the SMS as advertising medium. Within a still emerging
advertising setting, two different and substantial contributions
surfaced: (a) the identification of factors for successful SMS
advertising campaigns and (b) a model validating the order of
advertising effects.44
As hypothesized, ad credibility had significant, positive main
effects on Aad (H1). This finding is consistent with previous
research investigating the effect of credibility on various ad
response measures . Advertisement credibility in the SMS context
is evaluated vis-à-vis its delivered content . This type of
credibility is important in the acquisition of time-critical
information that is tied to remote transactions, inherent in
wireless communications . Technological capabilities and features
of the SMS channel have prompted concerns about the verity of
online information and the credibility of this new medium.
Reflecting on these concerns, our research offers new information
and clearly illustrates that message credibility can influence
mobile users. Viewing the consumer as an active and skeptical
reader of advertisers’ persuasion attempts, our study’s results
indicate that credible advertisements induce positive attitudes.
Next, our study shows that attitude towards an ad will be more
favorable when a consumer has a positive attitude towards mobile
advertising in general (H2). Given the pervasive nature of
advertising, it is not surprising that researchers investigated
45
attitudes and opinions regarding advertising for more than three
decades. Bauer and Greyser , in 1968, were the first to study
consumer attitudes towards advertising in general and this field
of research is still significant and relevant as overall attitude
towards advertising influences consumers’ attitude toward the ad,
which in turn is an important antecedent of attitude towards the
brand. Furthermore, studies have revealed the existence of a
rather unfavorable public attitude towards advertising , and as
our empirical data suggest, the respondents do hold negative
attitudes about receiving mobile advertisements as well. In more
detail, the mean value of overall attitude towards text
advertising was 2.64, on a 7-point Likert scale. The very
personal nature of the cellular phone, in conjunction with the
ability to reach consumers anytime and anywhere, possibly
decreases consumer willingness to adopt mobile advertising as an
advertising medium. During the adoption decision, this can result
in the refusal of an innovation , such as text advertising. As
results from many international studies demonstrate, consumers
hold negative attitudes about receiving mobile ads, while their
46
attitudes become more favorable when advertisements are sent with
permission . This implies that permission-based advertising may
become in the future a major mechanism in the mobile environment.
As our study showed, participants responded more favorably to the
informative content strategy (H3). Two explanations can be
brought forward: whereas mobile devices are perceived as ideal
for convenient anytime shopping, small screens and low-resolution
displays constitute the development of graphic applications a
challenge. In the absence of sound, image and other multimedia
formats that could effectively convey and demonstrate, for
example, the chocolate bar’s ability to satisfy a sensory need,
text advertisements may be ineffective to produce an influential
emotional appeal. In contrast, the quality of information can
play a rather crucial role. Accuracy, timeliness, and usefulness
are the primary indicators of information quality . Therefore,
for new brands of low awareness, like the ones employed for our
study’s experimental conditions, the second advertising
communication attempt may be more effective when it informs the
customer about product quality and availability.
47
In line with previous research on advertising, our study shows
that strong arguments elicit more favorable attitudes about an
advocated position, having a direct positive impact on Aad (H4).
Attitudes are considered to be a function of cognitive and
affective responses about the advertisement itself and Burton and
Lichenstein have showed that cognitive (e.g., price-related)
antecedents affect both cognitive and affective dimensions of
Aad. Specifically, the authors argue that “a variable which
necessitates some cognitive processing of information (such as a
specific claim or offer made within the copy of an ad) can affect
the attitude towards the ad” (p. 10). In addition, drawing from
the combined-influence hypothesis we can shed further insight
onto consumer response to advertising messages and arguments as
it illustrates the joint effect of central message arguments and
peripheral cues in Aad formation. As Lord, Lee and Sauer state,
“message arguments play a role in consumer response to advertising which extends
beyond their direct impact on brand beliefs and evaluation to partially determine the
favorability of a consumer's perception of a promotional message” . In our
study, building upon Petty’s and Cacioppo's Elaboration
48
Likelihood Model , we developed an empirical model which depicts
a number of determinants of Aad, including ‘central’ antecedents,
based mainly on the elaboration of message arguments. Moreover,
having acknowledged the order of Aad antecedents’ effects, we
believe that our empirical model provides further plausibility to
the concept that both central and peripheral processing play a
role towards the formation of Aad.
Additionally, our findings provide support for a direct, positive
relationship between incentive and Aad (H5). Advertisers often
employ promotional incentives, such as coupons, rebates, price
packs and contests in order to boost product sales and enhanced
technology (e.g., web, mobile networks) can significantly
contribute in helping them create more effective promotions
through targeted and precise advertisements . Interestingly, our
findings are aligned with those deriving from internet
advertising studies. Many web users are interested in reading the
incentives offered before moving on to another page . Moreover,
in most cases, promotional information, such as price reductions
or discounts in banner advertisements, can effectively solicit
49
click-through and has been shown to be associated with a higher
click-through-rate compared to banners lacking incentive offers .
Our findings indicate that users expect a reward for receiving
text advertisements, as shown by previous studies . Such
incentives typically involve more active, cognitive thought
processes and most probably allow consumers to overcome the
uncertainty that accompanies unfamiliar products, as the ones
used in our study. Finally, on a higher level, a price promotion
sent out to one’s mobile phone can constitute more than a mere
economic incentive to purchase a brand; it can serve other
functions as well and become an informational source, provided
that a prior personal experience with the advertised brand does
not exist, as in the case of new products.
H6 and H7 proposed that attitudes would be less favorable towards
SMS advertisements concerning a high-involvement product than
those concerning a low-involvement product. H6 is marginally
supported; yet caution should be added when interpreting the
particular results. The experimental SMS ads that communicated
low cognitive involvement products, compared to those
50
communicating high cognitive involvement products, did result in
attitudes with greater mean values. However, these results apply
only to “feel” products. The mobile context is likely to have a
negative impact on consumers’ attitudes for high involvement
“think” products due to its inherent limitation to convey a
sufficient amount of information. Drawing from cognitive resource
allocation research , the advertisement’s impact on brand
evaluation may be sensitive to the relationship between the
cognitive resources required to process the message, and those
available for processing it. Moreover, it has been argued that
consumers’ judgments are also affected by the aforementioned
relationship . Therefore, according to this rationale, any
message will augment its persuasion strength, provided that there
is equilibrium between the required and the available cognitive
resources.
As far as H7 is concerned, our study proposed that, due to the
length limitation that prohibits SMS ads from effectively
communicating all the needed information for high involvement
products, consumers would be more skeptical towards the positive
51
elements, which the persuasive communication was meant to convey.
However, H7 was rejected. The results indicate that as
involvement with “feel” products increases, attitude towards
advertisement becomes more positive. In our study, the “feel”
products were both experience products (chocolate bar and
deodorant), i.e., their quality could only be determined after
purchase since these brands were fictitious. Prior studies
involving product classification schemes for experience products
suggest that, on the one hand, extrinsic cues provided by other
consumers (e.g., users’ ratings, discussions, comments) tend to
weight more in customer product evaluations than do intrinsic
cues, such as color, size, style, specification or function . On
the other hand, for search products, i.e., products for which
sufficient information can be acquired through descriptions from
firms prior to purchase, customers are more likely to rely on
product specifications for forming their decision. Cognitive
resource allocation studies can provide valuable insight
regarding attitudes towards “think” products, yet they cannot do
so for affective products. We postulate that an explanation for
52
the reverse relationship between affective involvement and Aad
can perhaps be that consumers are not too skeptical about the
experience claims of ads communicating low-priced “feel”
products. Further elaborating on this, assuming that an ad
concerns a low-priced affective product, advertisers know that
consumers can try the product and therefore evaluate the claim of
the ad at a low cost. Consumers in turn may recognize that
advertisers have in fact little incentive to lie, and therefore
their skepticism about claims regarding low-priced experience
products significantly subsides .
Our findings don’t support H8. Context-sensitive technologies
allow consumers to be constantly informed about product offers at
the point-of-sale, thereby engaging them in impulse purchases.
Usually, location-based advertising deals with strategically
placing an advertisement near places where behavior can be most
immediately influenced, and converted into a sale. In the context
of our study, location-based SMS advertising has been considered
as sending information to consumers based on their location, in
order to convince them to visit a physical store. Apparently,
53
location sensitive ads cannot affect one’s attitude towards the
ad and it is reasonable that this executional variable cannot
impact a relatively enduring evaluation of the brand or/and ad.
The ubiquity of context-based SMS ads prohibits consumers from
consciously processing this feature and positively or negatively
relating it to attitudes that are stable summary evaluations.
Therefore, location based advertising appears as more likely to
affect purchase intentions and makes m-advertising an attractive
sales promotion tool in order to pull consumers into a brick and
mortar store. This is an issue for future research.
H9 posited that SMS ads offering an element of interactivity
would lead to more positive attitudes towards the ad than those
containing no interactive elements. Our study treats
interactivity as an objective medium characteristic and adopts
the “communicator’s perspective” of interactivity, which assumes
that a mobile ad catering for reciprocal communication will be
considered as more interactive than a similar ad with no
interactive features . In general, research on interactivity has
been rather inconclusive . Studies on web advertisements have
54
found interactivity to be a strong cue, assisting in the
persuasion process , while others have concluded that
interactivity has a negative effect on advertising
effectiveness . As far as our study is concerned, its findings
highlight the positive influence of interactivity. On the basis
of the field experiment conditions and sample, the mobile phone
acted as an interactive channel that enabled the message
recipient to reply instantly, without place or time constraints.
With these characteristics, the “advertisers” of the fictitious
products succeeded in establishing a direct dialogue with
potential customers.
Miniard, Bhatla, and Rose argue that the relationship between
the attitude towards the ad and that towards the brand should not
be viewed as indicative of solely peripheral persuasion. They
posit that Aad can rather serve as a determinant of Ab, even when
persuasion follows the central route. In line with the authors’
argument, our study’s findings offer support for H10. Towards
identifying the role of SMS ad-evoked effect in persuasion, our
experimental design employed the use of hypothetical/unfamiliar
55
brands as the experimental stimuli and the literature offers
evidence for a direct linkage between the Aad and the Ab
specifically for low-awareness brands; “it is reasonable that a single
exposure to a likeable ad should influence attitudes for a brand that individuals
previously knew nothing about .”
Concerning H11a and H11b, the impact of product involvement on the
Aad-Ab relationship is under debate. Although Rossiter and Percy ,
for example, suggest that the Aad-Ab relationship may be stronger
for low involvement products than for high involvement products,
we could not find support for this argument in our findings. On
the contrary, we found that as product involvement increases, so
does the strength of the Aad-Ab relationship. As our study’s
design entailed the testing of four products, we need here to
highlight that all four of them are found within the range of low
involvement; nevertheless, as shown, two are considered to be of
low and two of less low involvement. In any case, contrary to
Rossiter and Perry and Phelps and Thorson , the latter
exhibiting that the level of product involvement has no impact on
the Aad-Ab relationship, our findings show that Aad explains
56
approximately an equal amount of the Ab variance for low and less
low involvement products. We can thus safely conclude that Aad
can serve as a determinant of Ab even when persuasion follows the
central route and especially in the case of new brands .
Attitude towards the brand is positively associated with purchase
intention (H12). Prior research has yielded empirical evidence
for the distinct but related nature of Ab and PI . This holds
true also in the SMS context; as shown from our findings, there
is a strong relationship between one’s attitude towards a brand
and the tendency to buy or not the particular product. Finally,
our experimental results show that Aad has a direct effect on
purchase intention, in addition to its indirect effect via Ab
(H13). In support of this direct effect of Aad on PI, Lord et al.
claim that the antecedents and consequences of Aad are too broad
and complex to be accurately captured by the assertion that Aad
is merely a peripheral cue.
All in all, our study shows that a favorable attitude towards the
ad (Aad) helps in the formation of a favorable attitude towards
the brand (Ab), which in turn has a positive impact on one’s57
purchase intention (PI). More importantly, our findings are in
support of Aad’s indirect effect on purchase intention through Ab.
This observation points to the possibility that the hierarchy of
effects, found in the field of traditional advertising, can be
transferred to the mobile environment as well. Our findings
contribute to the body of advertising literature and in more
detail to that dealing with the mechanics of advertising. Even
though every advertising message that reaches an individual
consumer affects that consumer differently, our study suggests
that there is a series of stages between being unaware of a brand
and forming a purchase intention; positive or negative purchase
intention will occur as a result of ad information processing and
attitude formation. Although it is right to challenge this
sequencing and the logic of the hierarchy framework, the m-
advertising hierarchy of effects model can help researchers
predict behavior, regardless of how weak or limited these
predictions may be. Moreover, it can provide advertisers with
valuable information on where to focus their attention
(cognition, affect, conation) according to the targeted audience
58
or segment experiences and with a good planning, training, and
conceptual tool . Finally, our path analysis provides a new
challenge for the validity of the hierarchy framework and
possibly stimulates further research in this long-standing
consumer behavior model.
Managerial Implications The findings of the present study reveal important factors that
should be taken into account by marketers when designing SMS
campaigns. Firstly, one of the marketers’ main goals should be
the formation of positive attitude towards the ad (Aad) as a
crucial factor for successful SMS campaigns. Indeed, our study
suggests that a favorable attitude towards the ad (Aad) helps in
the formation of a favorable attitude towards the brand (Ab),
which in turn has a positive impact on one’s purchase intention
(PI).
In order to stimulate positive attitude towards an ad, the
marketer should design credible advertisements, provide quality
of arguments, and apply rational appeals even for products of
59
relatively low involvement (e.g. chocolate bars). Consumers may
seek for informative factual content eventually supported by
scientific data (e.g., nutrition information, statistics),
confirmed by some authority or supported by social proofs .
Accuracy, timeliness, and usefulness of information are also
important drivers for developing quality arguments [80].
The provision of incentives (coupons, discounts etc.) and
interactivity (as a means of communication) also generate
positive attitude towards the ad. For example, these two elements
are combined by most of the top-10 of SMS campaigns for the first
quarter of 2012 in the US1 boosting also product sales.
Moreover, Aad in the context of SMS advertising campaigns can
provide brand benefits, especially for products that are of high
cognitive and affective involvement (e.g., antiperspirant). This
is probably the case because those types of products are usually
consumed in socially conspicuous situations and are important for
consumers managing social impression projects (i.e., how they see
themselves and how others see them). Therefore for these types of
1 http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/ messaging/12633.html60
products, consumers are more alert to ad campaigns that will
likely increase their confidence of consuming a brand of high
prestige. That is why Aad has a strengthened effect on Ab in the
context of products that are of higher cognitive and affective
involvement.
On the other hand, the effect of localization of SMS advertising
on attitudes is rather weak. Location-based advertising works
best when the advertising goal is to initiate purchases rather
than influence attitudes. The marketer should also think that
“being near a store” might not drive a lot of action by the
consumer. Location-based advertising could motivate more sales
when combined with incentives, i.e. coupons, cents-off deals and
offers with attractive price promotions.
Limitations and Future ResearchAs all studies, this too comes with limitations. The sample is an
apparent one. As our study was conducted with local consumers, it
may not reflect the views of consumers from other countries.
61
Therefore, in order to reveal cultural and market differences, it
would be interesting to replicate this study in different
cultural contexts and countries. Moreover, due to environmental
conditions (e.g., street noise levels, light levels) users might
have been distracted away from the messages, facing difficulties
in focusing. Future research should examine m-advertising with a
more diverse sample, while assessing different contexts and
approaching the particular field through alternative research
strategies (e.g., content analysis).
Further on, this study analyzes the results obtained when
participants are exposed to SMS advertisements for fictitious
brands. Because these predicted effects can differ according to
brand familiarity levels, future research should address brand
familiarity as a manipulation variable. Additionally, in order to
diminish any confounding effects, we made an effort to maintain
the same words and phrases across all stimuli as much as
possible. It is likely that our findings are specific to the
experimental advertising content. Moreover, although SMS
messaging represents the most basic form of addressing consumers
62
via mobile devices, higher bandwidth allows rich and integrated
video, audio and text. It is therefore interesting to examine in
the future whether our results can hold true across other types
of multimedia content that can be delivered on mobile devices, as
some of our findings have already shown to be aligned with other
forms of advertising. In addition, we consider that several
results can be of interest to practitioners developing
advertisements for other mediums, which exhibit similar
characteristics with SMS advertising, as for example mobile
website advertising banners and advertisements within mobile
applications. Finally, examining each quadrant of the cognitive-
affective involvement grid through solely a single product
naturally limits the generalizability of our results and the
extent to which inferences can be drawn for all products
belonging within a given quadrant.
ConclusionsOur study has yielded results that provide original and
previously unpublished knowledge for SMS advertising. We contend
that not all products are suited for SMS advertising due to both
63
limitations of the medium (limited informational capacity) and
its usage (time and place sensitivity). We also point to the need
for a more systematic investigation of how antecedents of Aad
relate to Ab and PI in mobile advertising in general. For
example, in our research, location-based advertising has a weak
effect on Aad, while it would seem intuitive to link contextual
advertising directly to PI, especially targeting consumers that
buy on impulse.
REFERENCES
64
Figure 1. The direct relationship between Aad and PI
65
Figure 2. SMS advertisement for the soft-drink
66
Figure 3. Parameters of the proposed model
Notes: a) **p<0.05, *p<0.10, b) beta coefficients of the first-order constructs and squared multiple
correlations are linear-only terms model estimates, c) estimates are based on 500 bootstrap samples.
67
Table 1. Research Hypotheses
no
.
Variable
name
Hypotheses
1 Advertisemen
t
credibility
SMS ads that are perceived as more credible will lead to
more positive Aad, than SMS ads that are perceived as less
credible.
2Attitude
towards SMS
advertising
Aad will be more positive when a consumer has a positive
attitude towards m-advertising in general, than for a
consumer that has a negative attitude towards m-
advertising in general.
3Appeal
SMS ads that use rational appeals lead to more positive
Aad, than SMS ads that use emotional appeals.
4 Argument
quality
SMS ads that use strong arguments lead to more positive
Aad, than SMS ads that use weak arguments.
5Incentive
SMS ads offering incentives lead to more positive Aad,
than SMS ads with no incentives.
6 Cognitive
product
involvement
SMS ads that advertise low cognitive involvement products
lead to more positive Aad, than SMS ads that advertise
high cognitive involvement products.
7 Affective
product
involvement
SMS ads that advertise low affective involvement products
lead to more positive Aad, than SMS ads that advertise
high affective involvement products.
8 Localization
(Perceived
effort)
SMS ads lead to more positive Aad when the perceived
effort to buy the advertised product is low.
9 Interactivit
y
The interactive elements of an SMS ad are positively
related to Aad.
10Aad Ab
Aad is directly and positively associated with attitude
towards the brand (Ab).
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11
a
Product
Involvement
and Aad Ab
The Aad-Ab relationship under low cognitive product
involvement is significantly stronger, than under high
cognitive product involvement.
11
b
Product
Involvement
and Aad Ab
The Aad-Ab relationship under low affective product
involvement is significantly stronger, than under high
affective product involvement.
12Ab PI
Ab is directly and positively associated with purchase
intention.
13Aad PI
Aad has a direct and positive impact on purchase
intention.
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Table 2. Measurement scales
Constructs MeasurementsAttitude
towards
the ad
four seven-point scales with the following
anchors, “good/bad”, “like/dislike”, “not
irritating/irritating”,
“uninteresting/interesting” Attitude
towards
the brand
three seven-point scales with the following
anchors, “good/bad”, “favorable / unfavorable”,
“negative/positive” Purchase
intention
Likert-type (strongly agree/strongly disagree)
measures
“It is very likely that I will buy (brand)”, “I
will purchase (brand) the next time I need a
(product)”, “I will definitely try (brand)” Location
(perceived
effort)
2-item, 7-point scale, “The time required to
buy the product is” and “The effort that I must
make to buy the product is” Argument
quality
four 7-point semantic differential items,
“persuasive/ unpersuasive”,
“uninformative/informative”, “weak/ strong”,
“believable/unbelievable” Incentive single-item, seven-point semantic differential
scale anchored by “bad buy for the money /
excellent buy for the money” Appeal 4-item, 7-point semantic differential scale
anchored by “intangible/tangible”,
“emotional/logical”, “subjective/objective” and
“nonfactual/factual” Interactiv
ity
Two item, 7-point semantic differential scale
anchored by “I can communicate with the
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advertiser if I wanted to / I cannot
communicate with the advertiser if I wanted
to,” “encourage participation / discourage
participation” modified from Advertisem
ent
credibilit
y
Respond to the question “In the ad you just
saw, how truthful do you think the claims
were?” on a 7-point scale from "not at all
truthful" to "completely truthful”, and
“Overall, how credible do you think the claims
were?” on a 7-point scale from “not at all
credible” to “completely credible” Attitude
towards
SMS
advertisin
g in
general
3-item, 7-point semantic differential scale
anchored by “bad/good”, “negative/positive”,
“unfavorable/favorable”
Product
involvemen
t Demographi
cs
Age, gender, occupation, education
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Table 3. Manipulation checks
Variable Conditi
on
N Mean Std.
Dev.
Std. Error
Mean
t df sig.
Location Low 36
8
2.98 2.23 0.116 -
25.00
734 p <
0.001High 36
8
6.27 1.18 0.061
Interact
ivity
Low 36
8
3.11 2.34 0.122 -
8.067
734 p <
0.001High 36
8
4.55 2.48 0.129
Incentiv
e
Low 36
8
4.47 2.23 0.116 -
9.400
734 p <
0.001High 36
8
5.80 1.55 0.081
Appeal Low 36
8
3.69 1.57 0.081 -
5.008
734 p <
0.001High 36
8
4.23 1.38 0.071
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Table 4. Product Involvement means
Products Mean Cognitive InvolvementMean Affective
Involvement
Antiperspirant
(code=1)4.27 (High) 4.79 (High)
cold remedy
(code=2)5.68 (High) 3.32 (Low)
chocolate bar
(code=3)(Low) 4.68 (High)
soft drink
(code=4)2.62 (Low) 4.38 (Low)
Independent Samples Test for Cognitive
Involvement (Sig.)Mean difference
Difference
between 1 & 3p < 0.001 1.23
Difference
between 2 & 3p < 0.001 2.64
Difference
between 1 & 4p < 0.001 1.65
Difference
between 2 & 4p < 0.001 3.02
Independent Samples Test for Affective Mean difference
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Involvement (Sig.)
Difference
between 1 & 2p < 0.001 1.47
Difference
between 1 & 4P < 0.05 0.41
Difference
between 2 & 3p < 0.001 1.36
Difference
between 3 & 4p < 0.05 0.30
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Table 5. Descriptive Statistics, Correlation Matrix, and Average Variance
Extracted (AVE)
Mean CR AVE AC AI A AQ Aad Ab CI PE I IA PI ASMS
AC 3.9 0.95 0.92 0.96
AI 4.3 0.76 0.52 0.12 0.72
A 3.8 0.88 0.79 0.55 0.22 0.89
AQ 3.8 0.91 0.71 0.54 0.16 0.59 0.84
Aad 3.4 0.93 0.77 0.51 0.22 0.51 0.58 0.88
Ab 4.1 0.92 0.79 0.50 0.16 0.40 0.52 0.63 0.89
CI 3.8 0.91 0.67-
0.04-0.04
-
0.05-0.13
-
0.06
-
0.070.82
PE 4.6 0.96 0.92 0.02 -0.14 0.03 0.06-
0.02
-
0.010.13 0.96
I 5.1 N/A N/A 0.37 -0.04 0.20 0.26 0.30 0.32 0.06 0.02 N/A
IA 4.1 0.73 0.58 0.32 0.04 0.28 0.34 0.38 0.39 0.00-
0.030.25 0.76
PI 3.6 0.96 0.88 0.54 0.23 0.47 0.56 0.63 0.60-
0.16
-
0.050.34 0.35 0.94
ASMS 2.6 0.97 0.90 0.41 0.19 0.42 0.43 0.59 0.42 0.07 0.02 0.19 0.26 0.47 0.95
Notes: AC: Advertising Credibility, AI: Affective Involvement, A: Appeal, AQ:Argument Quality, Aad: Attitude towards the Ad, Ab: Attitude towards theBrand, CI: Cognitive Involvement, PE: Perceived Effort, I: Incentive, IA:Interactivity, PI: Purchase Intentions, ASMS: Attitude towards SMS advertisingin general. CR: Composite Reliability, AVE: Average Variance Extracted. N/A: not available(incentive is measured using a single item, therefore results are notavailable). Values in bold along the diagonal represent the square root ofAVE. Lower diagonal values indicate cross- correlations.
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