Antecedents of Social Media Advertising Avoidance: An Empirical Study in Pawnbroking Industry

Abstract

Purpose - This paper aims to explore antecedents of ad avoidance with the context in the Vietnam pawnbroking industry. Furthermore, the differences in ad avoidance under personal characteristics will firstly appear in this study. Methodology - A qualitative method from 412 social media users was used to test the proposed model. All data were assessed reliability and validity on SPSS version 26 before conducting into CFA and CB-SEM in AMOS software. Findings - The findings indicate that while ad skepticism and perceptions ad as controversial partially mediates the relationship between ad avoidance and its three determinants (Advertising invasiveness, Perceived Value value and Expectation of Negative), perceived space invasiveness has the most potent effect on pawn ad avoidance. Skeptical customers are more likely to avoid pawnbroking advertisements than those who perceive such ads as controversial. The results also show that ethical judgement moderates both the relationship of perceived controversial ads and ad avoidance and the relationship between ad skepticism and ad avoidance. Implications - Social media platform owners were suggested to reinforce their censoring system and advertising placements. Marketers in this study were convinced to generate advertisements with emotional and informative appeals. Besides, appropriate marketing activities, channels, and ad formats with campaigns should be considered strictly. Originality/value - The mediating role of attitude in the relationship between perception and ad avoidance has been firstly affirmed by qualitative data in this study. Interestingly, researchers explored a new variable - Negative eWOM with a medium impact of ad skepticism. Ethical judgement was demonstrated as a drastically important factor in pawnbroking research.