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

Future Trends

The empirical study presented in this chapter suggests a variety of meanings of interactivity
of Web advertising (WA) from consumers’ perspectives. Although the major themes of interactivity
found in this study are also provided in other literature (e.g., McMillan & Hwang, 2002; Liu,
2003), the current study calibrates each of major concepts of interactivity in the context of WA.
In fact, the findings enable researchers to have a deeper and wider understanding about what those
constructs of interactivity really are. A simple definition of concepts of interactivity on WA is
not enough for WA researchers and practitioners to understand this complicated and dynamic
phenomenon. With the findings of this study, researchers can specifically investigate each
construct, which consists of interactivity on WA. For example, future research can examine
different levels of the “Controllable” aspect of corporate Web sites (or any WA formats) in terms
of “Having many choices” and “Manageable” and explore relationships between those constructs and
“Self-confidence” level. A variety of possible themes about consumer behavior on the Web in general
could provide sufficient contexts that help researchers to understand why consumers behave in
certain ways regarding WA content. As argued earlier, many researchers still investigate the role
of interactivity in yielding effective WA executions (e.g., increasing the preference of banners)
in manipulated contexts such as experimental research designs. In reality, consumers are not
exposed to banners and popups without context. Banners are placed within a Web site and pop-ups
appear on a Web site. The Web site is, in many cases, a frequently visited one. Accordingly, those
WA formats can be easily ignored. Because the consumer is actively in control of the Web visiting
experience, it is less meaningful to investigate effects of banner messages in experimental
conditions.

The study suggests various venues for future research. Future studies should investigate the
role of each element of interactivity and the relationship among various variables found in this
study. As described in the
previous section, “Controllable”
and “Real-Time Communication” consist of various different sub-themes. For example, “Real-Time
Communication” includes “Updated” WA messages, “Live (or Time-Delay)” communication regarding WA,
and so forth. Often, these sub-themes could yield positive responses from consumers, but sometimes
they did not. In order to discover how to develop a WA strategy in effective ways, these concepts
and their relationships are critical.

Most early studies and even some recent works (e.g., Bezjian-Avery et al., 2000; Cho &
Leckenby, 1997) reported that the interactivity of WA could positively affect the consumers’ WA
evaluations in most cases. However, it is also argued that the interactivity is not always
positively associated with WA effectiveness (e.g., Dholakia, 2000; Liu, 2002, 2003). The current
study also showed that sometimes consumers preferred a little delayed presentation of WA. The
paradigm of interactivity research seems to be experiencing a change regarding its effects on
consumers’ evaluations of WA.

In order to examine which levels or which types of interactivity are most effective, it is
important for researchers to have reliable and valid tools to measure the interactivity of various
WA messages. Because the research on interactivity in WA is in its infancy, researchers have
measured the interactivity of various WA messages with their own scales created without any
scientific scale development procedure. However, scales to measure interactivity have recently been
developed (McMillan & Hwang, 2002; Liu, 2003). Although these scales are not completely
perfect, future researchers are likely to adopt these scales and some efforts are also needed to
modify and redevelop the scales to have better examination across as many WA formats and contexts
as possible.

Furthermore, based on how consumers think about and interact with WA, research is needed to
explore a variety of Web features relating to interactivity (e.g., search function, site map, chat,
bulletin board, etc.) and classify them into conceptual categories. Classification of specific Web
features can hardly last for long because numerous Web features emerge and disappear with the rapid
development of technology.

Researchers should also examine how these various themes of interactivity evolve with the
rapid development of relevant technology. For example, the theme of “No Delay” may wane over time
due to technological advancements. Nevertheless, consumers are still likely to want to find their
relevant content as fast as possible. The loading time is not the sole issue in this
phenomenon.

Another venue of interactivity study is more critical. Although most researchers agreed that
(perceived) interactivity would take a positive role in Web advertising effectiveness, this notion
of positive effects is questioned in recent studies (e.g., Liu & Shrum, 2002). As disclosed in
the study presented here, some highly interactive Web advertising formats were less preferred
(e.g., information overloaded Web sites). With this notion, other critical factors that affect the
preference of interactive WA, such as the ability to process information or to navigate through Web
sites, should be also considered in future studies. It is necessary for researchers to investigate
this recent suggestion and determine how to optimize the level of interactivity.