A Meta-Analysis of the Antecedents and Consequences of Advertising Value

Abstract

Advertising value is a concept representing the overall usefulness and worth of advertising to consumers. While the concept is valuable in assessing consumers’ appreciation of advertising, the findings regarding its antecedents and consequences have been inconclusive in past research. To help understand the potential role of advertising value in the assessment of advertising effects, the current study constructs an advertising value framework and adopts a meta-analytic approach to assess its antecedents’ predictive power, verify its potential mediating role on consequences, and elaborate on the moderating roles of advertising type and national culture. By reviewing and analyzing 98 papers with 107 studies (N = 44,706), this meta-analytic study found that credibility, entertainment, and informativeness were the top three influential antecedents of advertising value, which were followed by irritation and relevance. Moreover, the correlation patterns of the advertising value framework were different across advertising types and Hofstede’s culture dimensions. Our findings clarify the antecedents and consequences of advertising value, emphasize the significance of incorporating advertising value to assess advertising effects, and explain the current research discrepancies, which contribute to theoretical advancements of advertising value and provide practical guidelines for advertisers in advertising design.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflicts of interest were reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Xiamen University (20720231026), The Social Science Fund Project of Fujian Province (FJ2023BF070, FJ2023C032).

Notes on contributors

Guoquan Ye

Guoquan Ye (Ph.D., Northeastern University) is an assistant professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Xiamen University.

Xin Guan

Xin Guan (Ph.D., Ghent University) is an assistant professor, School of Business Administration, Jimei University.

Liselot Hudders

Liselot Hudders (Ph.D., Ghent University) is an associate professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Department of Marketing, Ghent University.

Yi Xiao

Yi Xiao (Ph.D., Ghent University) is an associate professor, School of New Media and Communication, Tianjin University.

Jingyu Li

Jingyu Li (Master degree, Northeastern University) is an employee of Chinergy Co., Ltd.