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THE MODERATING EFFECT OF MESSAGE-RESPONSE INVOLVEMENT ON THE PROCESSING OF COMPARATIVE AND NONCOMPARATIVE ADVERTISING
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine whether comparative advertisements are processed differently than noncomparative ads, and to investigate the moderating role played by message-response involvement on these processing activities. Models of information processing tendencies were tested in a 2 (message format: comparative or noncomparative) x 2 (message-response involvement: high or low) factorial design by use of multiple regression procedures. A month after responding to items concerning their brand loyalty, product class knowledge, and attitude toward comparative and noncomparative advertising, student subjects were given one of two advertising portfolios (containing editorial material, filler ads, and an experimental ad for a fictitious brand of cassette player with headphones) to examine for a reasonable period of time in a classroom setting. Measures of cognitive response, attention, message relevance, brand beliefs, attitude toward the ad, and attitude toward the brand were then obtained. The findings provide evidence to support the notion that comparative ads are processed differently than noncomparative ads. In more-involving situations, predispositions toward comparative advertising have an influential role in processing of comparative ads, whereas product class knowledge is an influencing factor in the processing of noncomparative ads. For comparative and noncomparative advertising, attitudes toward the ad (resulting from message- and ad-related cognitive responses) and brand beliefs were both significant influencers of brand attitude in high involvement conditions. In less-involving situations, attitude toward the ad (influenced by valenced ad-related and "other" cognitive responses) impacted brand attitude in the comparative advertising condition. For noncomparative ads, attitude toward the ad (influenced by ad-related cognitive responses) shared its influence on brand attitude with brand beliefs (influenced by message-related cognitive responses). Though hypotheses concerning differences in strengths of relationships under different message exposure conditions were not supported, several differences between comparative and noncomparative ads (on measures of attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and level of message-response involvement) were observed.
Subject Area
Marketing
Recommended Citation
MUEHLING, DARREL D, "THE MODERATING EFFECT OF MESSAGE-RESPONSE INVOLVEMENT ON THE PROCESSING OF COMPARATIVE AND NONCOMPARATIVE ADVERTISING" (1985). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8516877.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8516877