Influence of Facebook Commercial Communications on Generation Z's Attitudes in South Africa

Abstract

The tremendous proliferation of social media (such as Facebook) has provided digital information and communications technology (ICT) platforms that enable Generation Z to instantaneously and uninterruptedly interactive one another and the rest of the globe. The primary aim of this research is to investigate the influence of Facebook commercial communications (FCC) on the hierarchy-of-effects model attitude stages amongst Generation Z, and to establish whether several usage (access, usage length, log-on rate, log-on duration and profile update incidence) and demographic (gender, age and population group) factors had an effect on the attitudinal responses. A survey was used to sample over 6 200 teenagers through structured self-administered questionnaires in South Africa (SA). A generalised linear model was utilised for the data analysis. This paper determined that FCC had a positive effect on cognitive, affective and behavioural attitudes amid South African adolescents, which is in correlation with the communications effects pyramid model. This study also makes a notable contribution to attitudinal discourse in emerging nations, where there is a paucity of research on FCC. South African organisations should consider implementing and/or adapting their FCC strategies based on the varying impact of usage and demographic factors, which were disclosed in this study, when targeting the increasingly profitable and technologically savvy, but unpredictable Generation Z.

YouTube marketing communication demographic and usage variables influence on Gen Y's cognitive attitudes in South Africa and Romania

“…Gen Y cohort members who spent longer time periods logged‐on to the OVIS showed more positive cognitive attitudinal responses for the total, SA, and RO samples. This result is in agreement with Duffett's (, ) research on different SNS and a younger generation (Gen Z). Li and Lo () reported that the message effectiveness and recognition of brand improved with the quantity of time spent viewing OVIS MC.…”

“…Therefore, it can be posited that Gen Y cohort members who have utilized the OVIS for a protracted number of years have accepted YMC in comparison with newer users who were averse to organizations' brand commercial content. Several other studies ascertained that the number of years' experience had an influence on young consumers attitudes, but these inquire considered different SNS and younger cohorts, viz, Gen Z (Duffett, , ). Gen Y cohort members with higher log‐on rates displayed more favorable cognitive attitudinal responses owing to YMC for the total, SA, and RO samples, which is in consensus with Duffett's () research on different SNS among Gen Z consumers.…”

“…The huge growth of mobile devices has contributed to the growth of YouTube (Smith, 2019;Stokes, 2017;YouTube, 2019), especially in developing countries. Therefore, the following hypothesis is investigated by this study (refer to Figure 1 Several other studies established that the number of years' experience have an impact Gen Y and Z's attitudes, but the findings differed these inquiries considered different social network sites (SNS) and younger cohorts, viz, Gen Z (Duffett, 2015a(Duffett, , 2015b(Duffett, , 2016a(Duffett, , 2016b(Duffett, , 2017. Hence, this research considers that following hypothesis (refer to Figure 1):…”

“…Several other studies established that the number of years' experience have an impact Gen Y and Z's attitudes, but the findings differed these inquiries considered different social network sites (SNS) and younger cohorts, viz, Gen Z (Duffett, , , , , ). Hence, this research considers that following hypothesis (refer to Figure ):H5 The influence of awareness on knowledge varies according to the number of years that Gen Y utilizes YouTube in SA and RO.…”

“…Other inquiries found reported varied findings in terms of the period of time spent viewing social media MC on different SNS channels and cohorts (Duffett, 2015a(Duffett, , 2015b(Duffett, , 2016a(Duffett, , 2016b(Duffett, , 2017. Li and Lo (2014), Balakrishnan and Manickavasagam (2016), and Chungviwatanant et al…”