Determinants of Young Consumers’ Attitude toward Mobile Advertising: The Role of Regulatory Focus

Abstract

With the growing power of mobile advertising, marketers have actively incorporated mobile advertising into the marketing mix. Drawing on the regulatory focus theory, this study examines whether and how young consumers with varying regulatory focus perceive the value of mobile advertising differently and also looks at how this perceived advertising value, in turn, influences the effectiveness of mobile advertising. Toward that end, a survey with 295 college students was conducted. The results show that informativeness and irritation have a greater impact on prevention-focused consumers than on promotion-focused consumers. By contrast, entertainment and social norms have more of an effect on promotion-focused consumers than on prevention-focused consumers. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.

Keywords:

• mobile advertising
• regulatory focus
• informativeness
• entertainment
• social norms
• irritation
• advertising value
• attitude