How Does Social Media Advertising Persuade? An Investigation of the Moderation Effects of Corporate Reputation, Privacy Concerns and Intrusiveness

Abstract With the growing usage of the internet and smartphones, social media platforms have become essential marketing and advertising tools in the present times. Marketing practitioners have been invariably using various social media platforms to promote their products and alter consumer attitudes and buying behavior toward their brands. However, planning a compelling and rewarding social media advertising campaign is challenging in a highly cluttered and competitive market scenario. Thus, the present study tries to predict consumer attitude and purchase intentions based on an integrated approach wherein six important antecedents have been identified from the literature: informativeness, hedonic value, interactivity, trustworthiness, perceived relevance, and emotional appeal. The study also explores the moderating role of corporate reputation, privacy concerns, and intrusiveness concerns on the association between social media advertising antecedents and consumer attitude toward social media advertisements. The results of structural equation modeling primarily supported the influences of critical social media antecedents on consumer attitude except trustworthiness. Findings also observed a considerable impact of consumer attitude toward social media advertising on buying intentions. Corporate reputation, privacy concerns, and intrusiveness concerns also play a vital role in moderating the association between some of the social media antecedents and consumer attitudes toward social media advertising. The study offers substantial theoretical and practical contributions in the social media marketing domain.