Understanding online behavioral advertising and consumers' coping mechanisms: Integrating the persuasion knowledge model with the extended-extended parallel process model

This study investigates how consumers cope with online behavioral advertising (OBA). OBA is a type of digital display advertising delivered by tracking and analyzing each individual’s browsing history data to improve personalization. The study proposes an integrated theoretical framework incorporating the Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM) and the extended-Extended Parallel Process Model (e-EPPM) to achieve this. The aim is to explore the interrelation of consumers’ multidimensional persuasion knowledge in the PKM and examine how these dimensions are processed in response to OBA, focusing on the underlying mechanism of perceived threat and coping appraisals in e-EPPM. Employing a survey methodology in Study 1, I investigated the interrelations among consumers' objective persuasion knowledge (OPK), conceptual persuasion knowledge (CPK), and attitudinal persuasion knowledge (APK). The focus was on understanding how these dimensions are processed in relation to consumers' ad click intention, specifically through the perceived threat and coping appraisal process. The findings revealed that OPK was not significantly associated with CPK and APK. CPK (recognition of tracking tactics in OBA) had a positive association with APK (skepticism), and both CPK and APK were related to a perceived threat, subsequently fostering fear. With increased threat perception, fear levels rose; however, individuals' self-efficacy moderated the relationship between fear and ad-click intention. Study 1 revealed that the role of multidimensional persuasion knowledge (PK) was limited, but CPK and APK underwent processing through the proposed threat and coping appraisal mechanism, as outlined in the extended-Extended Parallel Process Model (e-EPPM). In Study 2, I employed an experimental design to examine the causal relationships of the same proposed model. Similar to Study 1, both CPK and APK were found to elevate perceptions of threat, subsequently leading to increased levels of fear, respectively. Identical to Study 1, self-efficacy significantly moderated the impact of fear on ad click intention. Upon closer analysis, it was observed that when consumers experienced heightened fear without adequate self-efficacy, their intention to click on ads decreased, aligning with the fear control process. Conversely, when consumers had high self-efficacy, their intention remained unaffected by fear, aligning with the danger control process. Overall, this study proposed a combined model of PKM and e-EPPM to clarify how consumers respond to fear-inducing persuasion tactics, particularly in the context of OBA. Through empirical testing, this study examined whether this integrated model effectively accounts for consumers' coping mechanisms with OBA. It seeks to understand which dimensions of PK work in the PKM and how these PK dimensions are processed through the perceived threat and coping appraisal mechanism in the e-EPPM. The study discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communications and Media

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Chung, Un Chae

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ham, Chang-Dae
• Nelson, Michelle
• Sar, Sela
• Oh, Sang-Hwa
• Xia, Yan

• Online Behavioral Advertising
• Persuasion Knowledge

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Un Chae Chung

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124530

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124530