Social Media Advertising and its Impact on Consumer Behaviour

Abstract

Social media advertising (SMA) refers to a promotional tool that is widely used by more than 160 million businesses globally to facilitate interaction among consumers and brands. Despite the wide usage, consumer ad attention has been scarce, 'l'hus, putting into question the effectiveness of SMA in influencing consumer Behaviour. particularly in a social media context which is characterised by high-end innovations in ad formats, increased social media and e-commerce integration, ad clutter, application of artificial intelligence in SMA, and privacy breaches. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive study is to investigate the impact of SMA on consumer behaviour based on interactions of active Facebook users. The objectives of the study are fivefold, to (1) identify the antecedent factors of consumer's attitude to social media advertising (2) examine the impact of identified antecedents on attitude (3) determine the impact of attitude and social influence on consumer behaviour (4) assess the mediating role of attitude on the effect of identified antecedents on ad engagement and purchase behaviour, and (5) compare consumer behaviour between India and Tanzania, and find out its relationship with Hofstede cultural values. In this regard, the study was underpinned by positivists and objectivist philosophical world views. Thus, a descriptive, deductive, cross-sectional survey strategy was adopted to collect data from 700 university students. The participants were purposively recruited into a sample from a population of Facebook users in Indian and Tanzanian universities. Data were collected by administering questionnaires online and online through Google forms. Clean data were analysed by using various techniques; descriptive statistics (mean, mode, frequencies, and standard deviations), independent sample t-test, Spearman correlation analysis, exploratory tiletor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling. Ethieal standards were upheld in undertaking this study. The results suggest that, in developing countries-India and Tanzania, the attitude of consumers to Facebook advertising is determined by six illctors. These include perceived usefulness, perceived entertainment, perceived intrusiveness, self-identity expressiveness, privacy concerns and consumer innovativeness, all factors have positive influence on consumer attitude to Facebook advertising, except perceived intrusiveness which has a negative influence, and privacy concerns which do a significant influence on attitude. Furthermore, attitude to Facebook advertising impacts ad engagement as well as consumer Behaviour positively. Also, the study found that social factors have an impact on how consumers behave Facebook i.e. subjective norms have a positive influence on ad engagement and purchase Behaviour, meanwhile perceived herd behaviour has a positive impact on ad engagement and insignificant impact on purchase behaviour. Importantly, the study revealed that purchase behaviour is positively influenced by how consumers engage with ads, which underscore the importance of ad engagement. Furthermore, attitude to Facebook advertising partially mediates the effect of perceived intrusiveness perceived entertainment and on ad engagement. Even though, there is no mediation for the effect of perceived usefulness on ad engagement. Also, attitude fully mediates the impact of perceived entertainment, and perceived intrusiveness on purchase behaviour. Also, it has partial mediation effect on the impact of perceived usefulness on purchase behaviour. Privacy was found having insignificant direct impact on purchase behaviour and significant negative impact on ad engagement. Furthermore, this study has demonstrated how consumer behaviour differs between India and Tanzania. Facebook users in Tanzania have a more positive attitude to Facebook advertising, engage more with ads, and are more likely to purchase products/services on Facebook. This is partly due to cultural values whereas India and Tanzania are not only similar in individualism and masculinity but also differ in indulgence and uncertainty cultures. India is higher in indulgence and Tanzania is higher in uncertainty avoidance. In addition, indulgence has significant positive relationship with ad engagement and purchase behaviour in both countries. Similarly, attitude is positively related indulgence and uncertainty avoidance values in both countries. Furthermore, the following relationships are country specific; (l) Individualism with attitude to Facebook advertising and ad engagement (less individualistic users have more positive attitude and engage more with Facebook ads) (2) uncertainty avoidance with ad engagement and purchase behaviour (the higher the UA the more the engagement and purchase) and (3) masculinity and attitude to Facebook advertising (the more masculine the more positive attitude). Furthermore, there is no significant relationship between individualism and purchase behaviour, and between masculinity and ad engagement as well as purchase behaviour. This study makes five contributions to knowledge. First, to the theory of reasoned action. technology acceptance model, and social media research by establishing the partial mediating effect of attitude on the relationship between perceived usefulness and purchase behaviour, and the relationship between perceived intrusiveness and perceived entertainment with ad engagement. Second, to social media advertising (SMA) research by advancing a model for the impact of SMA on ad engagement and consumer behaviour in the Facebook context. Third, to social media advertising research by establishing that attitude to social media advertising is the most important determinant of consumer engagement with ads, and that ad engagement is also the most important predictor of purchase behaviour. Fourth, to the Hofstede Model by confirming significant cross country cultural convergence in the Facebook advertising context. Five, to cross-cultural SMA literature by establishing the relationship between cultural values and attitude to SMA, ad engagement, and purchase behaviour. Several limitations, managerial contributions, and areas for future research are drawn.