Determinants of Consumer Attitude Towards Social-Networking Sites Advertisement: Testing the Mediating Role of Advertising Value

Abstract

3 Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the attitude of university students towards advertising on social-networking sites (SNS). The study examined how infotainment, credibility, irritation along with personalized product, price and promotion content affect the value generated through social-networking site's advertisement (SNA) and how the value generated mediates the relationship between the antecedents and the consumer's attitude towards SNA. A deductive, quantitative research approach was adopted, where data was collected using a questionnaire administered to a sample of 310 university students. The results showed that consumers take SNA as infotaining, credible and do not consider it as irritating. They enjoy the personalized content of product, promotion and price of SNA. They have more of advertisement value and shows positive attitude towards SNA. Advertisement value have found to mediate relationship between infotainment, credibility, irritation and consumers' attitude towards SNA, but fails to mediate personalized product, price and promotion content. Managers need to build mutually satisfying long-term relationships with key constituents in order to earn and retain their business. Manager should develop the proper strategies for being socialized on social-networking sites. The paper enables marketing managers to assess how to utilize the newer media in order to generate value for consumers and get maximum long-term benefits for the company.