Journal of Islamic MarketingLinking information motivation to attitudes towards Web advertisingAli Bassam Mahmoud

Article information:To cite this document:Ali Bassam Mahmoud , (2014),"Linking information motivation to attitudes towards Web advertising",Journal of Islamic Marketing, Vol. 5 Iss 3 pp. 396 - 413Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JIMA-02-2013-0011

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Linking information motivationto attitudes towards Web

advertisingAli Bassam Mahmoud

Department of Marketing, Arab International University,Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic

AbstractPurpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationships among Syrian consumers’information motivation and beliefs about and attitude towards Web advertising.Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional investigation is conducted and the proposedmodel is tested and revised using structural equation modeling technique.Findings – The results indicate that information motivation predicts three dimensions of beliefs aboutWeb advertising, i.e. positively for information and entertainment; and negatively for irritation. It isfound also that information motivation positively influences consumers’ attitudes towards advertising.As well as, information, entertainment and irritation are found to partially mediate the relationshipbetween information motivation and attitude towards Web advertising. Additionally, valuescorruption is found to negatively influence Syrian consumers’ attitudes toward Web advertising.Research limitations/implications – Researchers are advised to use the validated scales in thepresent study when it comes to measure beliefs about and attitudes toward Internet advertising in theSyrian context or other Arab countries contexts. Also, further investigations using longitudinal designare needed to check the validity of our results on a longer period of time, besides using qualitativemethods along with quantitative analyses could produce a wider vision to the results. Additionally, it isrecommended that other types of Internet usage motivation are included in future studies’ models.Practical implications – Advertisers promoting in Syria are encouraged to influence Syrianconsumers’ attitudes towards Web advertising to be more positive and less negative through offeringfree and high-quality content of information, especially for Internet users with high levels of informativemotivation. Additionally, producing informative, enjoyable, less annoying and less values corruptivecould help promoting for favorable attitudes towards Web advertising.Originality/value – This research comes to be one of the first studies to investigate Syrianconsumers’ beliefs about and attitudes towards Internet advertising. Also, this study provides evidenceof the direct relationship between information motivation and general attitudes towards Webadvertising.

Keywords Attitudes, Consumer behavior, Syria, Beliefs, Internet usage, Information motivation

Paper type Research paper

IntroductionMany authors describe advertising as ubiquitous and an important aspect of the modernlife (e.g. Shavitt et al., 1998). This promotional tool produces advertising messages thatare directed to masses and delivered using a variety of bearing media. As technologyhas increasingly advanced all over the world, advertising industry is adopting anddeveloping new media that can offer higher levels of interactivity and personalizationwith consumers. Zhou and Bao (2002) referred to interactivity as a unique characteristic

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available atwww.emeraldinsight.com/1759-0833.htm

JIMA5,3

396

Received 6 February 2013Revised 4 March 2014Accepted 14 March 2014

Journal of Islamic MarketingVol. 5 No. 3, 2014pp. 396-413© Emerald Group Publishing Limited1759-0833DOI 10.1108/JIMA-02-2013-0011

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