An Investigation into the Effect of Frequency, Irritability and Credibility of Short Messaging Services (SMS) Advertising towards Mobile Phone Users’ Attitude in Eswatini

This study investigated the effect of three constructs of SMS advertising on mobile phone users’ attitudes toward Short Messaging Service (SMS) advertising. In general, the study tested the effect of frequency, irritation, and credibility on consumers’ attitudes toward SMS advertising. A structured digital questionnaire was used to collect data from 168 mobile phone users on Facebook social networking platform. A multiple linear regression model was used to estimate the significant effect of the three constructs of SMS advertising on mobile phone users’ attitudes. The results of the test of hypothesis indicated that the model was a significant predictor of the outcome variable at (F (3, 152) =3.990, p=.009). The coefficient of determination was R2=0.073. This indicates that a 7.3% change in mobile phone users’ attitudes can be explained by irritability, credibility, and frequency of SMS messages. The results further revealed that irritation (β=-0.035, t=-3.420, ρ=.001), significantly influences mobile phone users’ attitudes towards SMS advertising. The outcome of the study implies that mobile phone users are mindful of the value of the type of advertising content that they receive as they seem to possess adequate taste and preferences for the type of information that they seek to receive through SMS adverts. Therefore, the study concludes that the success of SMS advertising medium strongly depends on message characteristics. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that marketing managers in telecommunication should ensure proper packaging of messages as well as the target group to whom messages are sent.