The impact of consumer knowledge, information mode and presentation form on advertising effects

• Main Author: Nagaraj, Sanjay
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: KTH, Numerisk Analys och Datalogi, NADA 2007
• Subjects: Media and communication studies; Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-4387; http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:isbn:978-91-7178-685-2

Consumers consistently acquire information on product attributes available to them. In considering the many and varied effects of advertising a very central issue is how these attribute information in an ad is processed, that is, how consumers were able to comprehend and remember what an ad claimed. Researchers also seem to believe that the use of persuasive ads increases recall of attribute information, enhances attitude toward the ad, brand, and positively affects intent to purchase. Such information in marketing communications is often presented either in a vivid or non-vivid form and they are conveyed in either numbers or adjectives. The complexity of numerical information and the fact that they are being used on a frequent basis to make many important decisions makes numerical cognition a challenging and important domain for this research. In this research we draw the reviews and advances in consumer research on comparisons between two types of information in an advertising setting and combining it along with two types of presentation forms. Yet a few empirical investigations of presentation forms, typically vividness and its interaction effects with information mode, have been conducted in a consumer-behavior context. Further to add to this research is the inclusion of consumer knowledge moderates the way such information is processed. Although the effects of vividness in terms of its ability to impart a persuasive communication have yielded mixed results, we extend the scope of vividness research and attempt to examine vividness effects and its interaction with information mode in print ads. Since different consumers use different skills and strategies to evaluate information, it is suggested that individual differences in product knowledge may be an important moderating factor in information processing and final response to product ads. In order to address the research issues, a conceptual framework based on the availability valence hypothesis (availability theory) was created. Sixty individual hypotheses were the resulting derivatives from the framework. To test the hypotheses and the conceptual model, a 2x2x2 factorial design was employed and examined responses from 160 students from both arts and computing science program of a major university. Experiments examined the persuasive impact of a new brand containing two forms of presentation and information mode. The conclusions from the study reveal that vividness has an impact on recall and attitudes. The impact on recall and judgment was more pronounced for novices in comparison to experts. The interactions between presentation form and information mode also revealed that the consumer knowledge moderates the way information is processed for recall and subsequent judgment. Experts were able to able to recall attribute information more accurately than novices irrespective of the presentation form and the judgment imparted was based on the information available. All functional properties of the variables in the proposed model had an impact on the effects of advertising during memory and judgment tasks. We also provided a theoretical rationale based on extant literature on the availability model as to which presentation form and information mode may influence the recall and judgment resulting in intent to purchase. The presentation form and information mode highlights the similarities in the benefits offered by an existing base brand. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed as well as the limitations and future directions of this study. === QC 20100811