Cognitive and attitudinal effects of technical advertising copy: the roles of gender, self-assessed and objective consumer knowledge

Abstract

The roles of two constructs of consumer knowledge — self-assessed product knowledge and objective product knowledge — are examined in an experiment in which consumers read ads for high-tech products containing high and low levels of technical language. Interactions between gender and the two consumer knowledge measures were also explored. Self-assessed knowledge was a better predictor of participants. Cognitive responses and general attitudinal evaluations. Objective knowledge, on the other hand, was a better predictor of ratings for specific product attributes. These differential results are considered with respect to the role of technical language in consumer information search strategies.