Intrusive or Relevant? Exploring How Consumers Avoid Native Facebook Ads through Decomposed Persuasion Knowledge

Abstract This study investigates the mechanism underlying how consumers cope with native advertising on the Facebook newsfeed, particularly focusing on ad avoidance. Native ads on Facebook have unique features in that they are both intrusive and relevant to users. Study 1 (survey: N = 501) decomposed a persuasion knowledge construct into dispositional, conceptual, and attitudinal features to address how multidimensional constructs of persuasion knowledge are associated with ad avoidance in response to the intrusiveness and relevance of native advertising. Study 2 (experiment: N = 157) employed a 2 × 2 between-subject experimental design to examine causal relationships between the same variables. The results of both studies revealed that dispositional persuasion knowledge was more significant than situational factors in activating conceptual and attitudinal persuasion knowledge. Conceptual persuasion knowledge directly increased ad avoidance. Contrary to expectations, attitudes toward native ads did not play any intermediary role between persuasion knowledge and native ad avoidance. Implications are discussed.