The effects of presentation latency, hypermedia control, and literary format in Internet-based marketing messages on consumers' levels of message cognition, involvement, and expected service quality

As the Internet, and particularly its World Wide Web component, continues to grow in both popularity and complexity, marketers need to better understand how the unique aspects of this new communication medium can alter consumer reactions to marketing messages. This dissertation investigates the effects of presentation latency, hypermedia navigation control, and literary format on consumers' message cognition, message involvement, and expectations of service quality from firms that advertise via the Internet.; Presentation latency is a uniquely Internet-based issue that involves a transmission delay that occurs as a visitor to a World Wide Web site attempts to access the various pages of information that constitute the site. Transmission delays vary according to numerous factors: the level of Internet activity occurring at the time of the visitor's access, the speed of the visitor's computer equipment, and the amount of graphical information included in each Web page. Because only one of these factors is under the direct control of marketers, the empirical evidence provided by this study helps marketers better understand the effect presentation latency has on consumers. Besides supporting and extending the existing literature on waiting in service situations, results of this study suggest that limited Internet-based delays may have no effect on--or even improve--consumers' cognitive and affective responses to marketing messages.; Another uniquely Internet-based issue regards consumers' use of hypermedia navigation through marketing presentations. Although the subjects' ability to control the sequence and pacing of the experimental presentation improved their ability to recognize salient points, it also reduced their reported levels of message involvement.; A related issue involves the appropriate literary format that marketers should use to present their Internet-based messages. Although the existing literature strongly supports the use of narrative stories to enhance consumer affect and cognition, in this study the narrative form did not extend those benefits to the arena of Internet-based marketing messages.