Predicting User Response Behaviour towards Social Media Advertising and e-WoM Antecedents

Abstract The present research has been steered by the growing use of social media in every sphere of human interaction, including the marketing and advertising of brands. Hence, this research intends to develop and test a model of social media advertising with perceived ad personalization, ad incentivization, self-brand congruity, and social influence as major predictors for social media user’s attitude. Further, the study explores the influence of social networking sites involvement and social influence on electronic word of mouth intentions. The study also ascertains the impact of user attitude on e-WoM and further e-WoM on purchase intentions. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire from 456 respondents. Two-step structural equation modelling was applied using AMOS 22.0 to analyse the data. The conceptual model is framed on the grounds of a theory of reasoned action and Elaboration likelihood model. The findings reveal that ad personalization, and social influence plays an important role in framing user attitude towards social media ads. Also, SNS involvement and social influence significantly influence the e-WoM intention of the user which further influences the social media user’s purchase intention. Subsequently, this research will give a prescient model to design an effective social media advertising programme in the social media advertising domain.