| The persuasiveness of online advertising is subjected to the combined effect of individual psychological characteristics and the advertising message itself.Therefore,while differentiating consumers,advertisers also use message framing in a wide range of advertisements to more effectively convey information.Research on regulatory fit effect emphasizes both factors,and a lot of related research has been generated ever since it was proposed.However,the mixed findings and the lack of systematic research to explain the inconsistency have limited the role of regulatory fit in guiding the practical application of enterprises.Based on the regulatory fit theory and the persuasive knowledge model,the present paper explores the effect of regulatory fit on online ad persuasiveness of both search and experiential product,with cognitive capacity as the moderator and persuasion knowledge activation as the underlying mechanism,using scenario experiment method.A between-group design of 2(regulatory fit: fit(promotion focus× gain framing;prevention focus× loss framing)vs.nonfit(promotion focus× loss framing;prevention focus× gain framing))× 2(cognitive resources: unconstrained vs.constrained)× 2(persuasion knowledge: activated vs.inactivated(Study 1);high vs.low(Study 2)was adopted in the two studies of this thesis to examine the persuasiveness of online advertising.Results showed that the effectiveness of the online advertising depended on the persuasion knowledge,the cognitive capacity available for information processing,and regulatory fit.Specifically,this paper drew the following conclusions via two studies:(1)For both search and experiential products,promotion focused consumers are more easily persuaded by gain-framed advertising,whereas prevention focused consumers are more easily persuaded by loss-framed advertising;(2)For the advertising of search product,persuasion knowledge mediated the relationship between regulatory fit and online advertising persuasiveness(perceived persuasiveness,attitude toward brand and purchase intention)and this mediation process was moderated by consumers' cognitive resources: In the constrained capacity condition,consumers would be guided by the intuitive “feeling right”,as they lacked the cognitive resources necessary to activate persuasion knowledge.This would result in higher perceived persuasiveness,more positive attitude toward brand and higher purchase intention.On the contrary,unconstrained cognitive capacity enabled consumers to use analytical processing,thereby more likely to activate their persuasion knowledge(Study 1),or to active persuasion knowledge to a higher level(Study 2),which ultimately led to decrease in online advertising persuasiveness.(3)For the advertising of experiential product,persuasion knowledge mediated the relationship of regulatory fit with perceived persuasiveness and attitude toward brand,and this mediation process was moderated by consumers' cognitive resources.However,persuasion knowledge did not mediate the relationship between regulatory fit and purchase intention.Therefore,cognitive capacity did not influence purchase intention via its moderation on persuasion knowledge.The present paper has certain theoretical contributions and practical implications.The introduction of persuasion knowledge enriches and sheds new light into the regulatory fit research,by providing a plausible explanation for the presence of mixed conclusion concerning the regulatory fit effect on online advertising persuasiveness.Meanwhile,the findings of the present paper will have implications for business to persuade ‘skeptical consumer' with its suggestion on effective ways to present messages according to different market segments and online advertising context. |
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