SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY, 2010, 38(2), 249-256

© Society for Personality Research (Inc.)

DOI 10.2224/sbp.2010.38.2.249

Measuring the effectiveness of advertisements

sent via mobile phone: Implications of the Appeal,
Endorser, and Involvement model and purchasing
behavior

Jin-Tsann Yeh
Vanung University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan, ROC
Chyong-Ling Lin
Chung Yuan Christian University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan, ROC

In this study, the 3 dimensions of advertising strategy (Appeal, Endorser, Involvement)

were unified to examine the effectiveness of advertising via a mobile phone (m-commerce).
Participants viewed scenario based advertisements on a mobile phone then, via a survey, we
measured the impact of advertising attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention on 120
consumers as related to endorser and advertising appeal. Results indicated that consumers
prefer emotional appeal presented by domestic endorsers for high involvement products;
while for low involvement products, rational appeal by foreign endorsers significantly
influenced advertising attitude, brand attitude and purchase intention. The interaction
between information appeal and involvement was significant for advertising attitude and
brand attitude, and the three-way interaction among variables was significant in relation to
advertising attitude. These results confirm that the AEI strategy is apparently not mediated by
the evolution of m-commerce.

Keywords: m-commerce, purchasing behavior, advertising, consumer.

Many regard the Internet as the paradise of advertising (Cho, 2003). There
is a popular belief that through the apparent advantages of the Internet, such

Jin-Tsann Yeh, Assistant Professor, Department of Commercial Design, Vanung University, Tao-
Yuan County, Taiwan, ROC; and Chyong-Ling Lin, Assistant Professor, Department of Business
Administration, Chung Yuan Christian University, Tao-Yuan County, Taiwan, ROC.
Appreciation is due to anonymous reviewers.
Please address correspondence and reprint requests to: Chyong-Ling Lin, Assistant Professor,
Department of Business Administration, Chung Yuan Christian University, No. 200, Chung Pei Road,
Chung-Li, Tao-Yuan 32023, Taiwan, ROC. Phone: +886-3-2655101; Fax: +886-3-2655199; Email:
joling888@gmail.com

249
250 effectiveness of M-commerce advertisements

as low cost and powerful promotion marketing, a company can very easily
insinuate its brand into the lives of online users. However, personalization and
mobility significantly separate via mobile phone (m-commerce) advertising from
Internet advertising, potentially giving m-commerce the upper hand (Barnes
& Scornavacca, 2004; Carroll, Barnes, Scornavacca, & Fletcher, 2007; Mort,
Drennan, & Plummer, 2007). Using advertising based on personalization and
geography, firms can identify a user’s location precisely and deliver relevant
messages to users.
The growth of m-commerce will likely contribute to the advancement of mobile
advertising techniques and the diversification of services. The traditional pattern
of marketing would be transformed into an interactive one, which implies a move
to one-to-one marketing from one-to-more marketing (Mort & Drennan, 2005;
Reid & Reid, 2007). The aim in this study was to explore the impact of different
types of advertising appeal and endorsers on differing degrees of involvement
in advertising effects on mobile phones as well as conducting an analysis of the
extant literature and available data. The scope of the research was as follows:
1. The correlation between information appeal and advertising effects on
different degrees of involvement.
2. The correlation between the types of endorser and advertising effects and
different degrees of involvement.
3. The correlation of the types of information appeal and endorser and
advertising effects with different degrees of involvement.
The American Marketing Association (2010) defines advertising as the
description and promotion of the idea, products or services of confirmed
advertisers who pay without personal participation. The most significant
difference between m-commerce advertisements and traditional advertisements
is that while traditional advertisements “push” products or promote to people
in general, m-commerce advertisements are aimed at specific individuals using
content and graphics designed to “pull” or attract the users by targeting their
needs, and are sent direct from the advertisers to mobile phones (Ahluwalia &
Varshney, 2005; Okazaki, 2004).
For an advertisement to be successful, Kotler (1991) asserts that information
appeal has two parts: (1) rational appeal, which informs consumers of the
core values of the product such as practicability, function, and quality; and
(2) emotional appeal, which is aimed at stimulating a purchase based on an
emotional response to context and image.
Advertising aims to attract as many consumers as possible, however, it is
difficult to identify the tastes and interests of a large group of consumers. In
order to accelerate buyers’ purchasing decisions and maximize their satisfaction,
successful advertisements must include valuable information about products
or services, as well as attractive endorsers (Engel, Blackwell, & Miniard,
 effectiveness of M-commerce advertisements 251
1993). Many scholars suggest that a vendor can influence their consumers,
and maintain their loyalty, most effectively by using a series of advertisements
(Amos, Holmes, & Strutton, 2008; Thompson, 2006). The result of this is that
consumers have many choices. Researchers have classified purchasing behaviors
as follows according to the degree of product involvement, brand name selection,
and consumer preference of endorser (Amos, Holmes, & Strutton, 2008; Assael,
1987; Thompson, 2006):
1. Complicated purchase behavior: consumers who intend to purchase an
expensive, unfamiliar, risky, and/or important product, use a process
of product knowledge and evaluation to build faith and confidence in a
particular product from the range available before they purchase.
2. Reducing imbalanced purchase behavior: consumers accelerate their
purchasing decisions after evaluating the characteristics of competing
products and recognizing that there is no significant difference between
them.
3. Product variety purchase behavior: consumers do not learn more about
new brands to increase consumption experience; changing brands is due to
curiosity or risk taking instead of dissatisfaction.
4. Habitual purchase behavior: some consumers are neither easily induced to
purchase products of a different brand, nor change their behavior simply
by the evolution of technology. Their habitual behavior may be due to a
conservative or passive personality.
Using an endorser in advertisements can be a strategy to simplify complex
purchasing behavior for consumers. High familiarity with endorsers, whether
they are celebrities or experts, can influence a specific target group in making
purchasing decisions. Scholars note that the advantage of using endorsers is their
influence over product attitude, cognition, and loyalty (Friedman & Friedman,
1979). Mowen and Brown (1980) explain the triangular relationship among
consumers, endorsers, and products using balance theory. These researchers
found that the consumers’ relationship with the products tends to be influenced
by the advertisements. If the advertisement agents can closely connect endorsers
and products, consumers will show the most significant recommendation effect.

METHOD

The survey instrument encompassed four strategies – information appeal,

endorser type, degree of involvement, and advertising effectiveness – in order to
analyze the interaction between variables, and, thus, to increase our understanding
of consumers’ usage of information in m-commerce. The independent variables
were information appeal and endorser type. The survey items were of product
function and text appeal, endorser reliability (Ha, 1996), endorser attractiveness
252 effectiveness of M-commerce advertisements

(Atkin & Block, 1983), and endorser impression and endorser popularity
(Bruner & Kumar, 2000). The dependent variables were the different measures
of advertising effectiveness including advertising attitude, brand attitude,
and purchase intention. The survey items for advertising perception were
advertisement clarity, advertisement interest, desire to see an actual sample, and
desire to reread the advertisement (Atkin & Block; Ha).

Extraneous Variables
Independent Variables Involvement
* High Dependent Variables
Appeals
* Low
* Rational Advertisement
* Emotional effectiveness
* Advertisement attitude
Endorser types * Brand attitude
* Domestic * Purchase intention
* Foreign

Figure 1. The research framework.

RESULTS

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of advertising in

m-commerce on the variables of advertising attitude, brand attitude, and purchase
intention. Table 1 presents the mean of participants’ responses regarding
m-commerce advertisement effectiveness. The results of the high involvement
group indicate that participants have a significant preference for emotional
appeal advertising as presented by domestic endorsers, and this is reflected
in advertisement attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention. For the low
involvement group the highest mean score was 10.52 for rational appeal on
advertisement attitude as presented by domestic endorsers. The results also
indicated that rational appeals by foreign endorsers have a significant effect on
brand attitude (12.77) and purchase intention (7.82). In general, the results show
that people tend to be more receptive to emotional appeal advertisements for high
involvement products and that they tend to be most influenced by rational appeal
advertisements for low involvement products.
Table 2 shows the results of an analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result
for the interaction between information appeal and degree of involvement for
advertising attitude revealed a significant relationship (F = 4.220, p = 0.042).
Furthermore, a three-way ANOVA measuring high involvement × information
appeal × endorser in advertising attitude also revealed a significant difference
(F = 3.572, p = 0.064). The interaction between information appeal and
 effectiveness of M-commerce advertisements 253
involvement degree on brand attitude was found to be significant (F = 3.021, p =
0.085). The interaction between endorser and involvement degree for impact of
advertisement on purchase intention was also found to be significant (F = 4.415,
p = 0.038). The empirical findings are discussed below.

Table 1
Mean Influence of Degree of Involvement on Advertising Effectiveness

High Involvement Low Involvement

Advertising Effectiveness Endorser/ MA MA
Information Appeal N = 60 N = 60

Advertising Attitude Domestic/Rational 13.73 10.52*

Domestic/Emotional 14.43* 10.17
Foreign/Rational 13.72 10.40
Foreign/Emotional 13.80 10.10
Brand Attitude Domestic/Rational 17.02 12.73
Domestic/Emotional 17.22* 12.25
Foreign/Rational 16.90 12.77*
Foreign/Emotional 17.10 12.47
Purchase Intention Domestic/Rational 10.03 7.17
Domestic/Emotional 10.28* 7.15
Foreign/Rational 9.97 7.82*
Foreign/Emotional 10.05 7.38

Note: A = Total average mean of advertising effectiveness; * = significance level p < 0.05.

Table 2
ANOVA Results
High Involvement Low Involvement
Advertising Information × Endorser × Information × Information ×
Effectiveness Involvement Involvement Endorser Endorser
F p F p F p F p

Advertising Attitude 4.220 0.042** 0.498 0.482 3.572 0.064* 0.020 0.888
Brand Attitude 3.021 0.085* 0.401 0.528 0.000 1.000 0.201 0.656
Purchase Intention 2.411 0.123 4.415 0.038** 0.226 0.608 1.510 0.224
* means significance level p < 0.1, ** means significance level p < 0.05.

Discussion

The emergence of m-commerce provides a new channel for advertisers to

deliver advertising messages. The apparent benefit of m-commerce is that it
overcomes many of the obstacles of information delivery that commonly restrict
traditional communication media. Nevertheless, the overall effectiveness of
advertising messages transmitted via mobile devices is still poorly understood.
254 effectiveness of M-commerce advertisements

The proposed core advantage of mobile advertising, that is, the ability to identify
and utilize the individual consumer’s purchasing behavior characteristics, should
not be overlooked (Cho, 2003; Jin & Villegas, 2007).
According to the analysis of this study (see Table 2), there are few significant
relationships among the ANOVA results. Three possible reasons may be useful
in explaining why m-commerce is not already a dominant force in our lives and
these are described below. First, small screens may prevent consumers from
comprehending vendor promotions when viewing conventional talk or text
advertising on mobile devices. However, this study did yield two significant
results with regard to advertising attitude toward high involvement products.
This may indicate the ability of m-commerce advertisements to create a higher
level of self-esteem and self-actualization in consumers, bridging the gap
between emotional/cognitive needs and use of a product in daily life (Friestad
& Wright, 1994; Muehling, Laczniak, & Andrews, 1993; Zaichkowsky, 1985).
Second, when advertising messages delivered via m-commerce are limited to
text characters, there is great difficulty in expressing the core value of a product,
thus leading to confusion or misunderstanding for the person who receives the
text and, therefore, reducing the motivation to make a purchase. The interaction
between endorser and degree of involvement is significant and could indicate
that an endorser, accurately matched to the target users’ cognitive base, may
cause a persuasive knowledge connection to the product thereby overcoming this
limitation. Third, intensive exposure advertising using large screens, billboards,
and banners is a popular advertising strategy. Consumers have a habitual
interaction with this kind of advertising in that a considerable amount of time
is needed to accumulate product information in the consumer consciousness;
the price rates in m-commerce advertising typically make this amount of time
exposure unaffordable (Madell & Muncer, 2007; Reid & Reid, 2007). The short-
term advertising messages typical of mobile phones cannot, at this time, exert a
large advertising effect in the wider marketplace.
Several scholars have indicated that consumers like to calculate their costs
and benefits when they receive advertising information (Barnes & Scornavacca,
2004; Carroll et al., 2007). Although m-commerce has the advantage of
sending information to consumers regardless of their location, the cognitive
processes involved in consumers’ gaining advertisement information on mobile
devices should not be treated as separate or different from how they gain such
information in traditional media. In this research we found that people prefer
emotional appeal for high involvement products, possibly because this category
of product is associated with such qualities as respect and achievement. On the
other hand, rational appeal yielded a higher average result for low involvement
products, a category of products defined as functional. Something as simple as a
detailed description of product features can stimulate a purchase response.
 effectiveness of M-commerce advertisements 255
In summary, in this study advertising information reception and decoding by
consumers via m-commerce was found to be no different from this process via
traditional communication media. This is not only a matter of human nature,
but also reflects the lifelong interaction with advertising media and culture that
consumers have experienced since childhood. The researchers are planning a
future study aimed at a younger target group as research participants because of
their larger presence in the mobile phone market.

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