Web Systems Design and Online Consumer Behavior [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Background

Interactivity is a central concept of Web advertising (WA). Most WA researchers agree that
interactivity is a key factor differentiating Web advertising from traditional advertising (e.g.,
Cho & Leckenby, 1997; McMillan & Hwang, 2002). Because the consumer’s role is regarded as
critical on the Web, perceived interactivity — how consumers perceive interactivity on the Web —
sometimes gets more attention in advertising research than other venues of interactivity research
such as process- or function-oriented interactivity (Reeves & Nass, 1996; Lee, 2000; McMillan
& Downes, 2000).

Although researchers consider perceived interactivity to be important, little research to
date has investigated how consumers actually perceive and deal with interactive aspects of Web
advertising. Some studies (e.g., Sohn et al., 2003; Chung & Zhao, 2003) dealing with perceived
interactivity employed experimental research designs that manipulated the level of interactivity —
usually creating two conditions, high and low levels of interactivity. Some experiments (e.g.,
Edwards et al., 2002) used “forced-exposure,” which forced consumers to be exposed to Web
advertising in a manner that was consistent with research objectives rather than real-life
experiences. Experimental manipulation of interactivity and of message presentation is not
consistent with consumers’ actual Web use experiences.

Thus, most research has not yet focused on consumers’ actual thoughts and behavior related to
Web advertising and interactivity. Without ample understanding of consumers’ thoughts and behaviors
regarding WA, it is difficult for researchers and practitioners to perform their work related to
WA. Therefore, investigation of consumer’s perspectives on WA should be a top priority. The meaning
of interactivity in Web advertising should be developed with input from the consumers’ points of
view. With sufficient understanding of consumers’ insights, researchers can pursue more informed
studies in this field and practitioners can develop more effective consumer-oriented WA
strategies.