VIRAL ADVERTISING: CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF ANTECEDENTS, CONTEXT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON PURCHASE INTENTIONS by Maria Petrescu A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The College of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida May 2012 i Copyright by Maria Petrescu 2012 ii VIRAL ADVERTISING: CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF ANTECEDENTS, CONTEXT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON PURCHASE INTENTIONS by MariaPetrescu This dissertation was prepared under the direction of the candidate's dissertation advisor, Dr. Pradeep K. Korgaonkar, Department of Marketing, and has been approved by the members of her supervisorycommittee. It was submittedto the faculty of the College of Business and was accepted in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of Doctorof Philosophy. ~ISORYCOMM~ _~~ _:_ Pradeep K. ~orgaonk- ,plLD. ~ Dissertation Chair ~;.~n~ ,Mtt;] /7 /?aeP- Ann R. Root, Ph.D. .Dennis Coates, Ph. . ean, College ofBusiness ?:iilR~~~ Dean, Graduate College iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would especially like to thank my dissertation chair, Dr. Pradeep K. Korgaonkar, for being an extraordinary mentor, for his patience, advice and kindness. I am so grateful for having met him and for having benefited from such great support regarding my doctoral endeavor and my career. Dr. Korgaonkar’s constant encouragements motivated me to keep going and work harder. I also appreciate all the help and advice I received from my committee members, Dr. Tamara Mangleburg and Dr. Ann Root, and their dedication throughout these long months of dissertation work. I am also grateful for all the help and encouragement I received from Dr. Gopal Iyer throughout the four years of the PhD program, and for the support and advice from Dr. James Gray. All my professors from the departments of Marketing and Management deserve many thanks for sharing their experience and knowledge during our PhD classes. The members of the administrative personnel also deserve my thanks for being nice and helpful during these four years. Last, but not least, I have many thanks for my PhD colleagues from Marketing and Management, for their help, support, listening skills and for keeping me motivated during many difficult moments. iv ABSTRACT Author: Maria Petrescu Title: Viral Advertising: Conceptual and Empirical Examination of Antecedents, Context and Its Influence on Purchase Intentions Institution: Florida Atlantic University Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Pradeep K. Korgaonkar Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Year: 2012 The purpose of this paper is to focus on viral advertising and study the conditions under which ads become viral, how they are intentionally transmitted by consumers to their social network and their relationship with classical advertising variables, such as attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intention of the consumer. We first analyze studies focusing on different aspects of the viral communication, “electronic word-of-mouth”, “word-of-mouse”, “viral marketing” and “buzz” in order to clarify the concept of viral advertising. After clarifying the viral advertising concept, the project analyzes the viral process and its main antecedents and influencers, by taking into consideration emotional and ad appeals theories. The results show that ad appeals influence attitude toward the ad v and viral intentions, with humor being the most significant appeal in the context of viral advertising. The study also focuses on the social aspects of advertising and consumption, including influential differences related to the source of the message, social influencers analyzed in the socialization literature, such as family and peers, the tie strength element from the social network theory and consumer market maven traits. The findings show the significance of family communication and market maven characteristics in relation to consumers’ viral intentions. We then integrate our key variable, viral intentions, in a classical advertising framework based on attitudes theory and their influence on behavioral intentions. The results confirm previously studied relationships between attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions. The findings bring into attention two key new relationships: the significant effect of attitude toward the brand on viral intentions, and the positive relationship between viral intentions and purchase intentions, a very important relationship for marketing research and practice. Overall, this study clarifies the viral advertising concept, analyzes its key antecedents, and studies the relationship between attitudes and behavioral intentions in a viral advertising context. The paper also establishes a key positive relationship between viral intentions and purchase intentions regarding the advertised product. vi DEDICATION I dedicate this manuscript to my husband Viorel, for being there for me and encouraging me during difficult moments; to my parents, Rodica and Ioan, and my grandmother Ileana, for encouraging me to study; and last, but not least, to all the children around the world who do not have access to education. vii VIRAL ADVERTISING: CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF ANTECEDENTS, CONTEXT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON PURCHASE INTENTIONS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. xi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2 ....................................................................................................................... 8 REVIEW OF VIRAL CONCEPTS .................................................................................... 8 2.1 Word-of-mouth (WOM) .......................................................................................... 10 2.2 Viral marketing ....................................................................................................... 12 2.3 Buzz marketing ....................................................................................................... 15 2.4 Word of mouse or eWOM....................................................................................... 16 2.5 Viral advertising ...................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 3 ..................................................................................................................... 22 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW ................................. 22 3.1 Conceptual framework ............................................................................................ 23 3.2 Ad appeals ............................................................................................................... 27 3.2.1 Humor ............................................................................................................... 30 3.2.2 Sexual appeal .................................................................................................... 34 3.2.3 Informative ....................................................................................................... 38 3.3 Ad source ................................................................................................................ 41 3.4 Psychosocial and socialization factors .................................................................... 44 3.4.1 Family ............................................................................................................... 48 3.4.2 Peers ................................................................................................................. 51 3.4.3. Tie strength ...................................................................................................... 54 viii 3.4.4 Maven characteristics ....................................................................................... 57 3.5 Demographics ......................................................................................................... 61 3.6 Attitudes and intentions........................................................................................... 66 3.6.1 Attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand ...................................... 66 3.6.2 Viral intentions and purchase intentions .......................................................... 71 CHAPTER 4 ..................................................................................................................... 77 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 77 4.1 Variables and operationalization ............................................................................. 77 4.1.2 Ad appeals pre-test measures ........................................................................... 79 4.1.3 Independent variables ....................................................................................... 80 4.1.4 Dependent variables ......................................................................................... 81 4.2 Sample and study structure ..................................................................................... 83 4.3 Pre-test analysis ....................................................................................................... 85 4.4 Final survey ............................................................................................................. 88 4.4.1 Survey ............................................................................................................... 88 4.4.2 Sample .............................................................................................................. 89 CHAPTER 5 ..................................................................................................................... 94 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS............................................................................... 94 5.1 Scale assessment ..................................................................................................... 94 5.2 Ad appeal and ad source ......................................................................................... 98 5.3 Social influences on viral intentions ..................................................................... 113 5.4 Viral intentions and purchase intentions ............................................................... 116 CHAPTER 6 ................................................................................................................... 124 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................. 124 6.1 Ad characteristics and viral intentions .................................................................. 127 6.2 Social factors and viral intentions ......................................................................... 130 6.3 Viral intentions and the advertising model ........................................................... 133 ix CHAPTER 7 ................................................................................................................... 137 CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH ................................. 137 Appendix 1: Established scales used in model testing ................................................... 142 Appendix 2: Pre-test Questionnaire ................................................................................ 147 Appendix 3: Pre-test commercials .................................................................................. 151 Appendix 4: Final Questionnaire .................................................................................... 152 Appendix 5: Item correlations for Lisrel ........................................................................ 159 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 159 x