Effects of Affect: How Mood and Arousal Influence Consumer Evaluation of Search Engine Result Page (SERP) Ad Snippets

Abstract

Abstract An experiment was conducted with the goal of determining how mood and arousal influence the way consumers process ad information in a search engine result page (SERP) environment. By focusing on the relationships among mood, arousal, and search ad snippet length, the study shows that mood and arousal states influence information processing (heuristic vs. systematic) on search pages both independently and jointly. Using the heuristic-systematic model, the present research explains how information processing modes triggered by mood and amplified by arousal shape the processing and evaluations of search ads with different snippet lengths. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.