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Name: Lai Thanh Son (s3357752)

ADVERTISING FEATURES THAT INFLUENCE

ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTION

OF VIETNAMESE ADOLESCENTS

TOWARD IN-APP ADVERTISEMENT

ABSTRACT

Since in-app advertisement has experienced significant growth in recent

years, in-depth study is necessary for optimizing this non-traditional tactic. Far

removed from the legacy of mobile advertisement the extant literature has

already addressed, this paper aims to investigate attitudes of consumer

specifically toward in-app advertisement. Moreover, the relationship between

attitude and behavioral intention as well as factors affecting an overall attitude

are also taken into consideration. Qualitative interview was conducted among

10 undergraduate students at RMIT University Vietnam to answer the

research question. Generally, participants had negative attitudes toward in-

app advertisement, with a relationship between attitude and behavioral

intention confirmed. In addition, incongruence and repetition was found as the

main factors that led to irritated feeling among consumers. On the other hand,

recommendation was also presented for advertisers to meet consumers’

expectation and drive positive attitudes formation.

Key words: consumer attitudes, in-app advertisement, Vietnamese

adolescents

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INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, in-app advertisement is the fastest growing sector of mobile

advertising and its global revenue would increase from $707.6 million at the

moment to $10.2 billion during the next five years (Krause 2012; Raines

2013). In Vietnam, it is also interesting to note that mobile advertising, with a

growth of 500%, has emerged as one of the most potential medium among a

spectrum of non-traditional advertising alternatives (Asia-Pulse-News 2011).

Since mobile-app consumption here is higher than in the U.S. during the

present era of globalization (Appota-Corp 2013; Mobile-Marketing-Association

2013), in-app advertisement has also become an innovative tactics to engage

the consumers (Wei et al. 2010). As in-app advertisement has made drastic

changes to the marketing communication industry (Liu et al. 2012), in-depth

study is necessary for the optimization of this influential tactic. This paper will

review existing literature about mobile advertising in general and in-app

advertising in particular, so as to propose the research question based on

current gaps, explain the methodology, state the findings and present several

suggestion for further studies.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

This section will provide definition of key terms, followed by an analysis of

previous studies on advertising features as well as attitudes and behavioral

intentions of consumers towards in-app and mobile advertisement. Current

gaps will be figured out in order that proper research question will be

presented accordingly.

Mobile advertisement was defined as a kind of non-traditional advertising,

which was communicated to consumers via a handset (Barnes 2002). As a

latest trend in mobile advertisement, in-app advertisement offered interactive

and multimedia features (Okazaki & Barwise 2011; Richard & Meuli 2013).

This practice might include, but was not limited to mini games, pop-up

banners and videos within mobile-apps (Okazaki et al. 2012; Sharma et al.

2008). Hence, the distinguishable difference of in-app advertisement was that

it involved pulling strategy, in which consumers voluntarily clicked in the

advertisement’s content, while other types of mobile advertisement focused

on actively pushing a message to consumers (Barnes 2002; Raines 2013).

Attitude was referred as opinions of people in response to a given object and

it had long been proven to affect consumers’ attention and reaction toward

advertising (Fishbein & Azjen 1975; Schlosser et al. 1999; Wilson 2011). In

turn, there was a strong correlation between attitude of consumers towards

advertising and their behavioral intention, known as an acceptance or a

willingness to perform a behavior, such as opening or reading the advertising

message (Altuna & Konuk 2009; Kuo & Yen 2009; Parreno et al. 2013). In the

formation of mobile advertising acceptance, it was suggested that consumers’

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attitude was the most influential aspect in comparison with demographics and

other social factors (Altuna & Konuk 2009; Yang 2007).

In general, consumers tended to have negative attitudes towards mobile

advertisement (Bhave et al. 2013; Muk 2007; Tsang et al. 2004). However, in

the case of in-app advertisement, these attitudes were not stable but

constantly influenced by certain advertising features (Bhave et al. 2013;

Okazaki 2004; Park et al. 2008). Those features included content, which was

related to the representation of the message, and format, which was about the

capability of transmitting media or the length of the message and the

multimedia functionally (Park et al. 2008).

Firstly, format should be taken into account. The cost of receiving mobile

advertisement led to the fact that consumers did not preferred advertising in

video format because it might waste a large amount of bandwidth (Bhave et

al. 2013, Yang 2007). Moreover, hinder pop-up banner in online gaming also

made consumers feel annoyed (Bhave et al. 2013). On the other hand, the

use of animation was noted to be more noticeable and better in memorization

(Bhave et al. 2013; Park et al. 2008; Sundar & Kalyanaraman 2004).

Nevertheless, consumers often denied clicking on it, as a way to redirect them

to another page (Bhave et al. 2013; Raines 2013), because it might contain

threats to security and privacy (Sheehan & Hoi 2000). Consequently, they

expressed their concern on unawareness data collection and the ways

marketers used that data (Culman 1995; Wei et al. 2009). Moreover, partial

diffusion of mobile advertisement was also connected with formatting issues

(Yang 2007).

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Secondly, the content of in-app advertisement mattered. An ability to provide

timely and accessible information was the basic aspect for advertisement

acceptance (Wong & Tang 2008; Yang 2007). Furthermore, credibility and

correctness of the message was important since in-app advertisement was a

pull-based approach, which engaged consumers in a one-on-one relationship

(Ducoffe 1996; Sandra & Yang 2010). Moreover, enjoyment was perceived as

the strongest factor that determined consumers’ attitudes toward

advertisement (Schlosser et al. 1998). Therefore, participation to the

advertisement comprising entertaining elements was high (DuCoffe 1996;

Raines 2013; Woo & Sangmi 2007). Hence, credibility, perceived

informativeness and entertainment were shown to be positively influenced

attitudes of consumers, while irritation was mentioned to establish negative

influence, which then also affected the acceptance of in-app advertisement

(Kolsaker & Drakatos 2009; Okazaki 2004; Parreno et al 2013; Raines 2013).

Irritating advertisement features was identified as those causing annoyance

and impatience of the momentary (Aaker & Bruzzone 1985).

Much research in this area failed to investigate the cause of irritation, which

led to negative attitudes of consumers towards in-app advertising

(Parreno2013; Raines 2013). Since mobile advertisement was quite

ubiquitous, it might also be useful if further studies would examine deeper into

in-app advertisement to draw a clearer picture. Besides, research in such

topic was often neglected in the Vietnamese context. Accordingly, the

research question (RQ) I wish to propose in this project is:

RQ: What are advertising features that influence attitudes and behavioral

intentions of Vietnamese adolescent towards in-app advertisement?

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METHODOLOGY

Qualitative interviewing was conducted among 10 RMIT University Vietnam’s

undergraduate students at Saigon South Campus. Since ‘in-app’

advertisement’ is a specialized term, explanation would necessary, and

therefore this method was acceptable. Moreover, people might use mobile-

apps in both home-based setting and public spaces, and accordingly

qualitative interviewing was suitable due to its capability to examine

phenomena that cannot be directly observed (Babbie & Baxter 2003). Semi-

structured protocol with open questions was employed to dig deeper into

participants’ responses, which was applicable for such an exploratory study

into attitudinal variations and reactions (Babbie & Baxter 2003). On the other

hand, this method might be time-consuming during a short-term project and

the findings might contain personal bias and limited generalization capability

(Keyton 2011).

Convenience sampling was used to take advantages of available participants

with ease and low expense (Babbie & Baxter 2003). RMIT students were

chosen not only because they were part of ‘Vietnamese adolescents’

population, but also because 1/3 of mobile-apps users in Vietnam were

students (Mobile-Marketing-Association 2013). Furthermore, proximity could

be facilitated during interview sessions. Likewise, 10 students is a

manageable sample size for this 3-month project. The sample was selected

from both genders and differing academic programs to enhance the reliability

of the data (Huston & Merrigan 2009). In terms of gender, 5 out of 10

participants were females. Regarding to academic program, 5 of them studied

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Professional Communication and the others were equally selected from

Commerce, Design, Economic & Finance and Marketing.

Vietnamese were the main interviewing language since expressing attitudes

in mother tongue was often more comfortable than in foreign language.

Moreover, English was also combined where necessary, given the

commonplace use of ‘code-switching’ in this international college. However,

there was a limitation that several Vietnamese terms in the response could

not be translated into English with complete accuracy.

As for preparation, a draft of questions was designed for pilot testing on a

group of 5 students. Hence, amendments were made according to the

feedback before actual interview. During the actual 30-minute interview,

process and purpose of the study would be explained to assist participant in

becoming comfortable. As for data collection and analysis, all responses were

recorded and taken note of. Main points of the interview were transcribed,

categorizing on common themes based on qualitative content analysis (Berg

1995), in order to analyze and to integrate for the report.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

As responding to the research question, key findings were categorized into 3

main themes: advertising recall, general attitudes and irritating features and

preferred features.

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Advertising recall

To begin with, all of the participants realized there was an existence of

advertisements in the mobile-apps they used. However, only 3 of them

recognized the exact advertised brand, while the others recalled the product

category only (2 participants), or failed to recall anything (5 participants).

Regardless of accuracy, those who recalled the advertised brand also

remembered the advertisement format, including its placement and the

presentation (interstitials, mini games, and videos). On the other hand, those

who failed to recall the advertised brand could not recall its format also,

attributing this failure to indifference among different advertisements on

mobile-apps, little exposure to the advertisement placement, mere

concentration on mobile-app’s performance or divided attention span.

Therefore, there could be a connection between in-app advertisement recall

and its format, which should be investigated more carefully via casual study.

General attitudes and irritating features

In general, all of the participants expressed negative attitudes towards in-app

advertisement, regarding this kind of advertising as “annoying”, “a waste of

time”, “disturbing” or “unacceptable”. This point was consistent with previous

studies on consumer’s attitudes toward in-app advertisement (Bhave et al.

2013; Muk 2007; Tsang et al. 2004). The interviewees also criticized in-app

advertisement for being repetitive, overt and incongruent with the mobile-app.

In addition, 4 participants strongly indicated that repetitiveness was the main

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factor that made them feel irritated, which might explain why consumers were

often dissatisfied with in-app advertisement (Kolsaker & Drakatos 2009). In

addition, other causes of irritation included “in-app advertisement interrupts

the flow of my mobile-apps” and “ it prevents me from touching functional

buttons on the screen or performing other actions”.

On the contrary, participants also sympathized with those promotional

activities since most of the mobile-apps they used were free to download, and

therefore they partly acquired in-app advertisement as a way to pay back for

mobile-apps’ developers. Accordingly, this meant that interviewees were well

aware of the paid-for essence of mobile-apps. Furthermore, respondents did

not perceived privacy issue as their primary concern. Hence, hidden threats of

gathering personal information was not led to the denial of clicking on in-app

advertisement. This finding was opposed with previous studies on consumers’

perspectives toward the privacy of in-app advertisement (Culman 1995;

Sheehan & Hoi 2000; Wei et al. 2009).

Another noticeable relation between the advertised brands and mobile-apps

should also be taken into account. Here were 2 contradictory viewpoints on

this issue:

"Advertisement of brand or product related to the mobile-app is useful.

It served to enhance the mobile-app’s value” (Female, 22, Professional

Communication)

“Too much advertisement often overshadows the modal nature of

mobile-apps, which is simplicity” (Male, 21, Design).

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Moreover, participants’ freedom of choice was stated as another aspect for

judging the acceptance of in-app advertisement. 2 dissimilar opinions were

marked from the responses:

“In-app advertisement is fair because it does not force me to response,

and I am free to decide whether to pay attention to its practice” (Male,

20, Commerce).

“I feel despised there, once realizing the inability to control in-app

advertisement. It keeps popping up on my screen automatically”

(Female, 23, Finance).

Based on those responses, there might be certain considerations underlying

consumers’ negative attitudes toward in-app advertisement. Although privacy

concern was mentioned as the main reason that caused irritation in prior

studies, some factors were newly identified, such as consumers’ freedom,

incongruence and repetition.

Preferred Features

By asking participants about their preferences, there was a shortcoming due

to the assumption that they liked one option at least, while actually they might

dislike all. For this section, interactivity, informativeness and entertainment

were examined, as also indicated in previous studies (Ducoffe 1996; Kolsaker

& Drakatos 2009; Okazaki 2004; Parreno et al 2013; Raines 2013; Sandra &

Yang 2010).

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A majority of participants agreed that in-app advertisement was more

engaging due to its interactivity. They believe it attracted more potential

consumers to the brand than other traditional types of advertising did.

Nevertheless, 2 interviewees revealed their preference for advertisement on

computer and television, as bigger screens would be able to provide more

information.

In terms of informativeness, 5 people claimed in-app advertisement did not

directly provide information to consumers, while they had to click in step by

step. The others, who preferred its practice, said in-app advertisement was

able to demonstrate the promotion’s necessity. Notwithstanding, 2 of them

recommended developers to sophistically integrate an advertised plot to the

mobile-apps. Moreover, 1 participant was also concerned about the credibility

of in-app advertisement:

“It was hard to trust information provided by in-app advertisement

nowadays due to its lack of credibility” (Female, 20, Commerce).

Regarding entertainment, two opposite opinions were dominant. Those

supporting in-app advertisement explained that the use of entertaining

features positively affected their attitudes on in-app advertisement, as also

reported in prior cases (Bhave et al. 2013; Park et al. 2008; Sundar &

Kalyanaraman 2004). Specifically, they believed a mini group game or a

special offer of in-game purchase might enhance the attitudes of consumers

toward in-app advertisement. Consequently, a willingness to click in and

participate was also generated. This particular response might relate to the

theory of planned behavior, which proposed positive attitudes with social

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influences would result in higher behavioral intentions (Ajzen 1991).

Meanwhile, those refusing entertaining features said the practice was a waste

of time and it had little effect on brand recall. Interestingly, 1 participant

expressed a different view from those two mainstream preferences:

“Entertaining features had better depend on the goal of advertisement,

as it aimed to attract awareness and participation of people or it was

just a simple brief announcement” (Female, 19, Professional

Communication).

There was a conflict with previous findings that involvement to the practice

comprising entertaining features was high (DuCoffe 1996; Raines 2013; Woo

& Sangmi 2007). This inconsistence might be due to some typical

personalities of Vietnamese adolescents, which would require further

examination, or simply because the sample was too little to create an exact

comparison.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this paper provided some new findings to the current database

regarding to consumers’ attitudes toward in-app advertisement, and it also

proposed proper indications for advertisers who were longing to make use of

this promotional tactic. Basically, Vietnamese adolescents revealed their

negative attitudes toward in-app advertisement due to its incongruence and

repetition. This study also found that interactivity was mostly preferred, and

both informative and entertaining features should be sophistically blended into

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mobile-apps in order to decrease the irritated feeling among consumers. As

an attempt to create a comparative result, future study should examine in a

larger sample scale with different methodologies. It was also advisable that

further study should examine the effectiveness of in-app advertisement,

especially in the field of brand and product recall. Finally, similar study on

different age groups, such as middle-aged adult or teenager, was highly

encouraged.

Word count: 2490.

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APPENDIX 1

Invitation to Participate in a Research Project

Project Information Statement

Centre of Communication and Design

Project Title: Advertising Features That Influence Attitude and Behavioral

Intention

of Vietnamese Adolescents Toward In-app Advertisement.

Investigator: Son, Lai Thanh Phone/Email: s3357752@rmit.edu.vn

Supervisor: Hue, Duong Trong Phone/Email: hue.duong@rmit.edu.vn

You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted by RMIT University Vietnam undergraduate students undertaking the course Communication Debates and Approaches. This information sheet describes the project in straightforward language, or ‘plain English’. Please read this sheet carefully and be confident that you understand its contents before deciding whether to participate. If you have any questions about the project, please ask one of the investigators. What is the project about? What are the questions being addressed?

This study aims to investigate consumers’ attitude specifically toward in-app advertising, the relationship between attitude and behavioral intention, and advertising features affecting overall attitudes. In this project, qualitative interviewing will be conducted among 10 RMIT University Vietnam’s undergraduate students at Saigon South Campus.

Why have you been approached?

You have been approached randomly as the convenience sampling method is adopted in this study. Participants must be over 18 years old and be currently studying undergraduate degrees at Saigon South Campus, RMIT University Vietnam.

If I agree to participate, what will I be required to do?

If you agree to participate in this project, you will be required to complete a thirty (30) minutes in-depth interview with investigator who asks you questions related to your smart-phone and mobile-app use, as well as your attitude and behavioral intention towards advertisement mobile-app. Those are open questions so as to examine what advertisement factors that affect your attitude and acceptance.

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What are the risks or disadvantages associated with participation?

As part of the interview, you will be required to consider and challenge several aspects regarding to your attitude and the use of mobile-apps. You will be interacting with the investigator and the investigator will moderate the discussion carefully. Therefore, there would be no risk associated with the participants during interview section. During the process of data analysis, if the investigators concerns about your response, you may be contacted via email or mobile phone to clarify your point of view.

What are the benefits associated with participation?

During the interview section, you will be know more about in-app advertisement and its significance in recent years.

What will happen to the information I provide?

All of your information will be treated confidentially. Only investigator and supervisor can get access to your information. Moreover, you will not be personally identified in any presentation and report arising from the study. Any information that you provide can be disclosed only if (1) it is to protect you or others from harm, (2) a court order is produced, or (3) you provide the researchers with written permission.

What are my rights as a participant?

Participants are voluntary, and therefore you have no obligation to be involved. You have the right to withdraw your participation at any time, without prejudice. You have the right to have any unprocessed date withdrawn and destroyed, provided it can be reliably identified. You have the right to have any questions answered at any time.

Whom should I contact if I have any questions?

Further information about any aspect of the study will be provided by the investigator. Please contact Mr. Lai Thanh Son on s3357752@rmit.edu.vn

What other issues should I be aware of before deciding whether to participate?

To take part in this study, access to smart-phone and its mobile-apps will be necessary.

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APPENDIX 2

Consent Form For Persons Participating In Research Projects Involving Interviews, Questionnaires or Disclosure of Personal Information

Centre of Communication and Design

Project Title: Advertising Features That Influence Attitude and Behavioral Intention

of Vietnamese Adolescents Toward In-app Advertisement.

Name of Participant: Investigator: Son, Lai Thanh Phone/Email: s3357752@rmit.edu.vn

Supervisor: Hue, Duong Trong Phone/Email: hue.duong@rmit.edu.vn

1. I have received a statement explaining the interview/questionnaire involved in this project. 2. I consent to participate in the above project, the particulars of which - including details of the interviews or questionnaires - have been explained to me. 3. I authorise the investigator or his or her assistant to interview me or administer a questionnaire. 4. I acknowledge that: a) Having read Plain Language Statement, I agree to the general purpose, methods and demands of the study. b) I have been informed that I am free to withdraw from the project at any time and to withdraw any unprocessed data previously supplied. c) The project is for the purpose of research and/or teaching. It may not be of direct benefit to me. d) The privacy of the personal information I provide will be safeguarded and only disclosed where I have consented to the disclosure or as required by law. e) The security of the research data is assured during and after completion of the study. The data collected during the study may be published, and a report of the project outcomes will be available to the participant by request. Any information which will identify me will not be used. Participant’s Consent

Participant

(Signature)

Date:

Witness

(Signature)

Date:

Participants should be given a photocopy of this consent form after it has been signed.

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APPENDIX 3

IN-DEPTTH INTERVIEW PROTOCOL

INTRODUCTION

Thanks for you time, I really appreciate your participation in this project.

During this interview session, I would like to ask you questions about your

opinion regarding to in-app advertisements. In order to focus on our

discussion and with your permission, I would like to record the interview.

However, you have the right to ask for shutting the recorder off at anytime. In

addition, I would like to assure that your identity and all information you

provide to me will be kept strictly confidential. Accordingly, I will not be

reporting your name to anyone. In addition, I will not attach your name to any

comments you make and only pseudonyms will be used in my written report.

Do you have any questions about the project or about what I have told you so

far? May we begin?

QUESTIONS

1/ Do you use mobile apps?

If so, what kind of mobile apps do you use?

Can you name your preferences?

Why do you like those apps?

2/ To what extent do you pay attention to advertisement in the apps you use?

What is the most important thing for you to get your attention?

Why is that?

3/ What do you think/ or fell about those advertisements? Why is that?

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Probe on:

Informativeness

Entertainment

Irritation

Credibility

Interactivity

4/ Can you name at least 1 in-app advertisement you have seen recently?

Are you familiar with its format and content?

If YES, What encourage you to recognize its format or to remember its

message? How so?

5/ Are you more likely or less likely to voluntary interact with in-app

advertisements?

What things do you consider when deciding whether to interact or ignore

those advertisements?

6/ Would you tap on those advertisements to look for more information?

If YES, Do you find it is useful? Why or Why not?

If NO, What would be the preferred way of presenting this information to you?

Why this way?

7/ Does the presentation of in-app advertisement affect your decision to

interact or to click-in? Does the message of in-app advertisement affect your

decision to interact or to click-in?

8/ What advertisement features bother you about in-app advertisement?

Have you experienced any concerns with those advertisements?

What was the concern?

What, if anything? Did you do about this?

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Why is that?

9/ What advertisement features do you like or are you attracted to in-app

advertisement?

Are they important? Why or Why not?

What might an ideal in-app advertisement look like?

10/ What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of in-app

advertisement?

How do they compare to traditional ways of advertisement?

11/ Are there any comments or recommendations you would like to share

regarding to in-app advertisement?

CLOSING

This is the end of our interview session. Thank you for your time!

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