The Effect of Advertisement Customization and Narrative Transportation on Online Advertising Effectiveness

• In Event: Consumer Behavior and Social Media

Abstract

Informed by the agency model of customization and transportation theory, the current study examined how advertisement customization and narrative transportation affect online advertising effectiveness. A 2 (ad customization: choice vs. no choice) x 2 (narrative transportation: high vs. low) between-subjects experiment (N = 113) found that the effect of advertisement customization on ad and brand attitudes is moderated by viewers’ degree of transportation, such that ad choice heightens ad and brand attitudes under low levels of transportation but decreases ad and brand attitudes under high levels of transportation. In addition, advertisement customization reduced viewers’ perception of ad intrusiveness but also decreased the frequency of brand recall. Finally, path analyses suggest that customization has an indirect effect on ad and brand attitudes through the serial indirect effect of sense of control and perceived relevance. The theoretical and practical implications of these novel findings are discussed.

Authors

• Yan Huang, The Pennsylvania State University

• Thomas Franklin Waddell, Penn State