| Chapter 2: | Background And Web Ad Effects Model |
|
|
Lewin (1951) stated that all human reactions are functions of the person and the person’s environment. Accordingly, the factors that have an impact on Web advertising processing are classified into two groups—the endogenous and the exogenous variables. Both render certain types of individuals or contexts more responsive to a given source–message combination than do others. When examining the issue from the consumers’ perspective, the endogenous variables are characteristics of consumers, whereas the exogenous variables include the communication environment where the consumer is exposed to the Web advertising. These two types of moderators are explained in more detail below.
The Endogenous Variables: Consumer Characteristics
The endogenous variables consist of factors that, as consumer traits, affect the entire advertising response process. Among various factors, motivation, involvement, and knowledge were three principal psychological variables that influence consumers’ Web ad processing, while age, income, education, and gender were considered important demographic variables.
The concept of motivation has a long and rich history, both in psychology and consumer behavior. Motivation is defined as “an inner state of arousal” that denotes energy to achieve an individual’s needs or goals (MacInnis, Moorman, & Jaworski, 1991; Park & Mittal, 1979). Consumers surfing the Web vary not only in motivational intensity, but in the type of motivation (Putrevu & Lord, 2003). For example, individuals who decide to buy a new laptop computer have greater information motivation because of the comparison purpose of prices and specifications of laptop computers than do those surfing the Web for having fun and fulfilling their entertainment motivation.