The effects of social presence, contextual congruence and source credibility in evaluation of online advertising on news websites

Abstract

This study investigates how advertising on news websites is affected by social presence, contextual congruence and source credibility. It employs a 2 (social presence vs. no social presence)  2 (contextual congruence vs. no contextual congruence)  2 (high website credibility vs. low website credibility) between-subject factorial experimental design. Participating in this study are a total of 328 students from a university in the upper Midwest. Findings suggest that social presence positively influences how consumers evaluate advertising and brand. Contextual congruence also positively influences consumers' advertising and brand evaluations. Source credibility, however, positively influences only advertising evaluation (not brand evaluation). This study broadens our understanding of the roles of social presence, contextual congruence, and media vehicle effects in a computermediated communication context.

Effect of interactivity and congruence on brand advocacy and brand acceptance

“…This study brings out some of the very important theoretical contributions to online advertising media. First, much of the previous brand placement research examined the individual impact of interactivity and congruence in audio-visual content, such as television, film and video games (Moore et al, 2005;Russell, 2002;Shamdasani et al, 2001;Um, 2017).…”

“…Likewise, Verhellen et al's (2016) study shows that congruent TV ads result in positive brand attitudes than the incongruent TV ads. Similarly, investigation on website advertising also shows that banner ads positioned in a productcongruent website context produced higher favorable attitudes toward the ad than ads placed in an incongruent website context (Moore et al, 2005;Shamdasani et al, 2001;Um, 2017). For instance, Um's ( 2017) study shows that congruent websites produced positive brand evaluations.…”