A Meta-Analysis of the Antecedents and Consequences of Advertising Value

Abstract

Advertising value is a concept representing the overall usefulness and worth of advertising to consumers. While the concept is valuable in assessing consumers’ appreciation of advertising, the findings regarding its antecedents and consequences have been inconclusive in past research. To help understand the potential role of advertising value in the assessment of advertising effects, the current study constructs an advertising value framework and adopts a meta-analytic approach to assess its antecedents’ predictive power, verify its potential mediating role on consequences, and elaborate on the moderating roles of advertising type and national culture. By reviewing and analyzing 98 papers with 107 studies (N = 44,706), this meta-analytic study found that credibility, entertainment, and informativeness were the top three influential antecedents of advertising value, which were followed by irritation and relevance. Moreover, the correlation patterns of the advertising value framework were different across advertising types and Hofstede’s culture dimensions. Our findings clarify the antecedents and consequences of advertising value, emphasize the significance of incorporating advertising value to assess advertising effects, and explain the current research discrepancies, which contribute to theoretical advancements of advertising value and provide practical guidelines for advertisers in advertising design.