Paid Advertising on Social Media: Antecedents and Impacts of General and Specific Attitudes

Abstract

AbstractSocial media platforms have become important channels of promotional communication from marketers to users with the goal of enhancing purchase intention. One important element of the communication mix is paid advertising on social media. In this context, the interplay between general attitude towards advertising on social media and specific attitude towards an individual advertisement as drivers of purchase intention has not yet been addressed in extant social media research. This study investigates this issue by distinguishing between these two levels of attitude and examining their antecedents as well as their impacts on purchase intention. The empirical test of the nomological network with survey data shows that platform enjoyment is an antecedent of general attitude towards social media advertising whereas perceived meaningfulness and brand awareness drive specific attitude towards the individual advertisement. Perceived intrusiveness has no impact in a social media setting. Specific attitude shows a stronger impact on purchase intention than general attitude although both are significant. The findings point at the need for a clear conceptual differentiation between both levels of attitudes and the role of their antecedents for an appropriate design of paid social media advertisements.KeywordsSocial media advertisingGeneral attitude towards advertisingSpecific attitude towards advertisementsPurchase intentionSocial media platforms