Factors influencing customers' perceived advertising value and attitudes towards fast-food native advertisements

Abstract

Purpose: Native advertisements, a new form of advertising, have become popular among organisations and marketing experts due to their ability to blend with the media in which they appear. This study's objective was to determine the principal factors that influence the customers’ perceived native advertising value and investigate the relationship between the advertising value and customer attitudes towards fast-food native advertisements. Through a comprehensive literature review, this study identified six main influencing factors: informativeness, entertainment, irritation, credibility, personalisation, and interactivity. Research Design: This study collected primary data through a self-administered questionnaire distributed across several social networking sites, targeting people residing in Malta aged between 18 and 54 who use social networking sites. The collected sample comprised 487 responses, which were analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS. Findings: This study's findings revealed that the six factors were all predictors of advertising value. Informativeness, entertainment, credibility, personalisation, and interactivity were found to have a positive relationship with advertising value, while irritation had a negative relationship. Moreover, the findings also revealed a significant positive relationship between advertising value and customer attitudes towards fast-food native advertisements. These findings suggest that the higher the advertising value generated from the six identified factors, the more positive the customer attitudes towards these advertisements. Originality and Value: This study is among the first to examine these six factors collectively in the context of fast-food native advertisements in Malta. Moreover, the current literature has limited studies focusing on the factors influencing customers’ perceived advertising value towards native advertisements. Consequently, this study provides valuable insights into how fast-food native advertisements can be more effective by improving these six factors to generate a higher advertising value and positively influence customer attitudes towards these advertisements.