Craving towards a Personalized Advertisement: Identifying Preferences and Attitudes of Saudi Consumers toward Its Effectiveness

Abstract

The preferences of the study related to Saudi customers regarding personalized advertisements have not been investigated, since the rapid penetration of social media marketing among consumers. So the present study aims to determine the attitudes of consumers related to the personalized advertisement. An online questionnaire was used for collecting data from 512 Saudi consumers, who were active on social media. The questionnaire items were developed based on the previous literature and the collected data was analyzed through structural equation modelling and path analysis. The results showed that credibility (0.244, p < 0.001) and lack of irritation (0.536, p < 0.001) significantly impact the preferences of the consumer regarding personalized advertisements. An increase in credibility and lack of irritation is likely to improve the preference of consumers. Moreover, informativeness (0.571, p < 0.001) and entertainment (0.493, p < 0.001) positively influence the preferences of the consumer regarding personalized advertisements. The study holds significant importance as the first study in Saudi Arabia investigating the attitudes of consumers regarding personalized advertisements on social media in penetration, and it deals with the elements closely related to personalizing advertisements. This will help expand the theory about the attitudes of consumers regarding personalized advertisements that replace the traditional way of advertising. Practically, this study provides guidelines about following personalized advertisements on social media sites for marketers.