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DMIJ 3,1

Examining beliefs and attitudes toward online advertising among Chinese consumers
Ying Wang
Department of Marketing, Williamson College of Business Administration, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio, USA

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Shaojing Sun
School of Journalism, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Weizhen Lei
School of Journalism, Renmin University, Beijing, China, and

Mark Toncar
Department of Marketing, Williamson College of Business Administration, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio, USA
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate beliefs about and attitudes toward online advertising (ATOA) among Chinese consumers and the relationship between belief factors, ATOA, and consumers behavioral responses to online advertising. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from students of a large metropolitan university in China. A total of 202 questionnaires provided usable data and were analyzed using AMOS. Findings Five belief factors that underlie Chinese consumers ATOA were identied: entertainment, information seeking, credibility, economy, and value corruption. Information seeking, economy and value corruption were signicant predictors of ATOA. ATOA was found to be a signicant positive predictor of ad clicking and online shopping frequency. Practical implications Global marketers would benet from understanding how consumers from a booming emerging market perceive the internet as a source of advertising. Thus, the study will enable businesses and organizations to use online advertising more effectively and efciently in their global marketing efforts. Originality/value Investigating Chinese ATOA extends current research on ATOA to a distinctly different cultural context and may provide useful implications about expanding business across cultures. Keywords Consumer behaviour, Advertising, Advertising media, Internet, China Paper type Research paper

Direct Marketing: An International Journal Vol. 3 No. 1, 2009 pp. 52-66 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1750-5933 DOI 10.1108/17505930910945732

Introduction Recent years have witnessed growing interest in examining the mechanism and inuence of online advertising. Along the line of research, an intensely debated topic is about the roles of consumers beliefs and attitudes toward online advertising (ATOA). A host of studies have suggested that individuals ATOA is an important measure of advertising effectiveness (Ducoffe, 1996; Russell et al., 1994). Past research of online advertising has provided insight into global marketing and commerce. However, the foci of most studies have been on the USA or other developed countries. Little is known about online advertising in developing countries such as China.

The purpose of this study is to investigate beliefs and ATOA among Chinese consumers. Over the past three decades China has experienced the most dynamic economic growth of any country in the world. The countrys entry into the World Trade Organization also sped up its convergence with the global economy, including rapid adoption of internet technologies. According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), by June 2007, Chinas internet population had reached 162 million users, second only to the USA. The size of internet advertising market has reached $630 million in 2006, up 48.9 percent from 2005 (CNNIC, 2007). With this kind of economic growth and scale, online advertising in China is now offering exciting opportunities for global marketers to reach millions of targeted consumers. It is of both theoretical and practical signicance to inspect online advertising in China. From a theoretical point of view, we examine the relationship among three groups of factors including beliefs about online advertising, ATOA, and online advertising outcomes among Chinese consumers. Thus, far, most studies on online advertising have been conducted in the USA. Nevertheless, cultural inuence on consumers beliefs and attitudes toward advertising has been well documented in the marketing literature (Duvasula and Lysonski, 2001; La Ferle et al., 2008). As Roberts and Ko (2001) stressed, cultural differences are as relevant to online advertising as to traditional advertising. In particular, China represents a typical Eastern culture that is experiencing rapid economic growth and sociocultural transition. Therefore, investigating Chinese ATOA extends current research on ATOA to a distinctly different cultural context and may provide useful implications about expanding business across cultures. Moreover, due to a short history of online advertising, consumers beliefs and ATOA are still be evolving and changing (Karson et al., 2006). Compared with western developed markets such as the USA, online advertising in China is still a relatively new phenomenon. The differences in developmental stage of the industry also render justication for the study. The ndings may provide implications on the evolving nature of online advertising. From a practical standpoint, global marketers would benet from understanding how consumers from a booming emerging market perceive the internet as a source of advertising. Thus, the study will enable businesses and organizations to use online advertising more effectively and efciently in their global marketing efforts. For example, a better understanding of the relationship between ATOA and consumers response behavior will facilitate businesses to evaluate their online marketing programs more accurately. This paper was organized in the following manner: rst, the authors briey introduced the development of online advertising in China and reviewed relevant literature on consumers beliefs, attitudes, and behavior toward online advertising; second, based on the literature review, we proposed research questions and hypotheses; third, we reported methodology used to dissect the relationships among culture, individuals beliefs, attitudes and consumer behavioral responses; fourth, we presented signicant research ndings and discussed implications of those ndings; nally, we addressed limitations and future research directions. Online advertising in China Internet advertising in China has experienced explosive growth during the past decade, evidenced in the scale of the market, the revenue generated, and its share of the overall

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Chinese advertising market (Huang and Xie, 2006). In 2006, the revenue of internet advertising in China jumped 48.9 percent from 2005 to $630 million. The gure was predicted to reach $840 million and $1.3 billion in 2007 and 2008, respectively, due to the impact of 2008 Olympics in Beijing (iResearch, 2007). As more and more marketers are eager to integrate internet advertising as part of their overall marketing communication effort, online advertising will have a more profound impact in this rising consumer market. As the market grows, more players are joining the game, which results in a less-concentrated market. According to iResearch (2007), the market share for the top ve online advertising companies decreased from 74.9 percent in 2001 to 50.9 percent in 2006. The share for the top 20 companies dropped from 91.6 to 67.4 percent in 2006. In addition, the formats of online advertising keep evolving and diversifying. Web site advertising used to be the single format for online advertising in the Chinese market. Nowadays, even though web site advertising still dominates with the lion share of the revenue (86.9 percent), other types of internet advertising such as e-mail, digital magazine, online games, and online podcasting have all made their appearances and showed promising potentials. While enjoying the phenomenal growth, online advertising in China also faces problems and challenges. First of all, due to the lack of legal regulation and insufcient government monitoring, fraud and misleading advertisements are common practices. Advertising Law in China has not been able to keep up with the development of new technologies. No specic legal constraints have been developed to guard against misleading or false advertising on the internet (Yang, 2007). Furthermore, malpractice by marketers and advertisers have resulted in a lack of condence and trust toward online advertising among Chinese consumers, which in turn has a direct impact on the effectiveness of online advertising (Shi, 2007). Another challenge facing Chinese online advertising industry is the impaired evaluation system. Most evaluation of online advertising effectiveness is conducted based on the data provided by the web sites themselves rather than independent third parties. There is no guarantee of accuracy and objectivity of the data (Yang, 2007). Lastly, internet users often do not nd online advertisements attractive due to the lack of creativity and personality. The click-thorough rate in recent years has been stagnant at around 0.33 percent. In addition, advertisers often choose pop-ups, force-open and SPAM formats, which intensies the negative ATOA among Chinese internet users (Huang and Xie, 2006). In spite of the rapid adoption of the internet in China, academic research on this new advertising medium has largely lagged behind. Few studies have been conducted to explore the subject of online advertising in China. Among them, Gong and Maddox (2003) investigated Chinese consumers perceptions and responses to specic web banner advertising, focusing on the short-term effects of banner advertising among Chinese consumers. Results suggest that additional banner exposure improves Chinese users brand recall, changes their attitude toward the brand, and increases their purchase consideration. CNNIC has also conducted several general descriptive surveys about internet use and online shopping in China. Survey results touch upon issues such as different types of internet use, online shopping, and reasons that people avoid online shopping. The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of Chinese consumers general ATOA, and to explore the impact of ATOA on peoples online behaviors.

Beliefs about online advertising Consumers beliefs and attitudes toward advertising are important indicators of advertising effectiveness (Mehta, 2000). To date, there exist two typical views about the relationship between consumers beliefs and their general attitudes toward advertising. The rst treats the two constructs as equivalent and interchangeable both conceptually and operationally (Mehta, 2000; Schlosser and Shavitt, 1999), whereas the second postulates that ones beliefs about advertising are antecedents of attitude towards advertising (Brackett and Carr, 2001; Ducoffe, 1996; Pollay and Mittal, 1993). In later research on the subject, the second perspective seems to be gaining popularity. Pollay and Mittal (1993), for example, argued that beliefs are specic statements about the attributes of objects and attitudes are summative evaluations of objects. Emanating from beliefs, attitudes operate at different levels of cognitive abstraction. Specically, ATOA is the aggregation of weighted evaluations of perceived attributes and consequences of products (Brackett and Carr, 2001). Consistently, researchers have argued that ATOA has both cognitive and affective antecedents (Ducoffe, 1996; Shimp, 1981). Belief about advertising, as a result of the benet and cost that consumers derive from advertising, primarily serves as a cognitive predictor of ATOA. Moreover, ones belief plays a more important role in forming ATOA when the person is engaged in central processing (i.e. more deliberate, effortful and thoughtful) of advertising information than in peripheral processing (low involvement, less thoughtful, and more emotional) (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986). Prior studies have demonstrated that ones belief about advertising is a multidimensional construct. For instance, Bauer and Greyser (1968) identied two dimensions underlying consumers beliefs: economic and social. Later on, Pollay and Mittals (1993) model presented seven belief factors underlying consumers beliefs, and classied those factors into two categories. The rst category, labeled as personal use, consists of factors including product information, social role and image, and hedonic/pleasure. The second category, labeled as social effect, includes value corruption, falsity/no sense, good for the economy, and materialism. Among the seven factors, product information describes advertisings role as an important information purveyor, which contributes to marketplace efciencies. Social role and image reects the belief that advertising inuences peoples lifestyle and formation of social status and image. Hedonic/pleasure refers to the view that advertising can be fun, pleasant and entertaining. Good for the economy reects the viewpoint that advertising accelerates consumers adoption of new goods and technologies, fosters full employment, lowers the average cost of production, promotes healthy competition between producers, and raises the average standard of living (Belch and Belch, 2008). Notwithstanding its benets for consumers and the whole society, advertising is often criticized for promoting materialism, corrupting values, and misleading audiences. Particularly, advertising is accused of providing people with unending razzle-dazzle of high-end products and preoccupying consumers with commercial concerns at the expense of social, political, philosophical, and cultural scruples (Belch and Belch, 2008). As a carrier of cultural and social values, advertising can contradict or even compromise the values that a society cherishes. One of the main goals of this study is to explore the beliefs underlying ATOA among Chinese consumers. Therefore, the rst research question asks: RQ1. What are the beliefs about online advertising among Chinese consumers?

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Links among beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors Research on attitudes toward advertising generally falls into two avenues. Along the rst line, scholars examine attitudes toward a particular advertising stimulus, and how they correspondingly inuence consumers brand preferences and ultimately, purchase intention (Gong and Maddox, 2003). Along the second line, scholars investigate the impact of consumers general beliefs and attitudes toward advertising effectiveness (MacKenzie et al., 1986; Muehling, 1987). It is argued that consumer behavior such as advertisement avoidance may be a result of consumers general negative attitudes toward advertising (Li et al., 2002). The present study focuses on consumers general beliefs and ATOA. As discussed before, ones belief about advertising is regarded as an antecedent of ATOA. Ducoffe (1996), for example, found that informativeness and entertainment were positively related to ATOA, whereas irritation was negatively related to advertising value. Karson et al. (2006) segmented consumers into three attitude groups, pro, ambivalent, and critics based on their beliefs about online advertising. They found that critics tended to use the internet less often for information search, and to view the internet as less utilitarian and hedonic than the other two groups did. Furthermore, Wolin et al. (2002) tested Pollay and Mittals (1993) belief model and showed that several belief factors inuenced web users ATOA which in turn had an impact on users behavioral intention. They found belief factors such as product information, hedonic pleasure, and social role and image, were positively related to ATOA, whereas materialism, falsity/no sense and value corruption were negatively associated with ATOA. In sum, past research suggests consumers beliefs about online advertising are positively associated with their ATOA. Accordingly, we propose the following hypotheses: H1. Positive beliefs about online advertising among Chinese consumers will have a positive inuence on their ATOA. H2. Negative beliefs about online advertising among Chinese consumers will have a negative inuence on their ATOA. Lavidge and Steiners (1961) conceptual model of advertising effect suggested that ones belief is a precursor of attitude, which by default is an antecedent of behavior. Past research has supported that beliefs and attitudes are precursors of consumers response toward online advertising, and ultimately their purchase intention. Mehta (2000), for example, examined the relationship between attitudes toward advertising in general and consumer responses in terms of brand recall and buying intention. The researcher found that attitudes toward advertising in general inuenced attitudes toward a specic advertisement. Furthermore, consumers with a more favorable attitude towards advertising were more likely to recall the brand and be persuaded by advertising. However, the attitudes toward advertising in this study were measured with only six items. The reliability and validity of the instrument is seriously doubtful. Recently, this line of research has extended to the internet arena. Research has supported that ATOA is precursor of consumers responses toward online advertising and their online shopping behavior. Stevenson et al. (2000), for example, found that poor ATOA was associated with low attitude toward the web site and weak purchase intention. Similarly, Wolin et al. (2002) found that the more positive attitudes one held towards online advertising, the greater the likelihood that person would respond favorably to web ads. Korgaonkar and Wolin (2002) found that a positive ATOA is more likely to result in frequent online purchasing and high-online spending. However, past research on the

connection between ATOA and consumers behavioral responses is not conclusive. Karson et al. (2006), for example, failed to nd any signicant differences on web purchasing and future purchase intention among three groups with different ATOA. Therefore, the relationship between attitude and behavior warrants further exploration. In this study, two outcome variables were considered including ad clicking and reported online shopping frequency. Shopping frequency has been widely used in traditional advertising research as a measure for the effectiveness of advertising and therefore was extended to the online world. Ad clicking or clickthrough (the number of times that banner is clicked upon) is an important evaluating measure for online advertising in particular (Dreze and Zufryden, 1998). Compared with another commonly used measure of online advertising, ad impression, ad clicking is viewed to be more relevant and performance-based (The Economist, 2001). In Gong and Maddoxs (2003) study, ad clicking was a signicant predictor for advertising recall among Chinese internet users. Wolin et al. (2002) also included ad clicking as one of main online advertising behaviors. Therefore, to explore the relationships between attitudes and behaviors, we propose the following research question: RQ2. What is the relationship between ATOA and consumers responses to online advertising? Methods Procedure and sampling To examine the research questions and hypotheses proposed in this study, a questionnaire was developed rst in English and later translated into Chinese. That version was re-translated back into English by a bilingual third party to ensure that there was no inconsistency between the original questionnaire and the translated English version of the questionnaire. Data were collected from students of a large metropolitan university in China. Using a student sample in this study was justied on two grounds: rst, college students comprise a demographic most likely to be internet users in China. According to CNNIC (2007), in China, young people (25-years old and younger) constitute more than half of the internet population (51.2 percent). Among them, people who are 18-24 account for 33.5 percent of the entire internet population. In addition, internet users also tend to be highly educated. About 43.9 percent of internet users have college and above degrees. Therefore, to some extent, college students are representative for Chinese internet users. Second, compared with the general population, college students are more homogeneous on external factors that may inuence their attitudes and beliefs. A paper and pencil survey was used in this study to achieve a high-response rate of 78 percent. A total of 202 questionnaires provided usable data. The sample was 21.9 percent male and 78.1 percent female. Subjects ranged in age from 17 to 40 years (M 22.19, SD 3.13). There were 49 percent undergraduate students (7.9 percent freshman, 30.7 percent sophomore, 9.9 percent Junior, and 0.5 percent senior) and 51 percent graduate students. In terms of the internet usage pattern, respondents on average had used the internet for 5.84 years. Not including e-mail, 62.9 percent of the respondents reported that they used the world wide web daily. In a typical day, 15.8 percent of respondents used the web less than an hour, 55.9 percent used 1-2 hours, 20.8 percent used 2-3 hours and 6.9 percent used 3-4 hours. No participants reported using the web for more than ve

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hours a day. In terms of the location of accessing the internet, 18.8 percent used the internet at home whereas 75.7 percent access the internet from school. The majority (92 percent) often or always visited sites they know. Many respondents (83 percent) surfed the internet to search for new/better sites sometimes. On average, Chinese internet users reported a moderate level of familiarity with online advertising (M 2.85, SD 0.94). However, 27.7 percent of participants reported that they were not very familiar with online advertising. The ad click rate among Chinese internet users was low (M 1.69, SD 0.77), indicating the majority of respondents usually ignore advertisements on the internet.

Measurement The questionnaire measured internet use patterns, beliefs about online advertising, general ATOA, ad clicking, and online purchasing intention. In addition, demographic data such as age, gender, and class rank were collected to describe the characteristics of the sample. To measure subjects beliefs about online advertising, a 33-item scale was adapted from previous studies (Pollay and Mittal, 1993; Yang, 2004). The scale includes several dimensions of beliefs about online advertising such as informative (e.g. the internet is a valuable source of information), materialistic (e.g. internet advertising promotes a materialistic society), irritating (e.g. annoying), good for consumers (e.g. internet advertising is essential), hedonic (e.g. internet advertising is entertaining and enjoyable), credible (e.g. trustworthy and believable), manipulative (e.g. internet advertising persuades people to buy things they should not buy), distort value (e.g. internet advertising promotes undesirable values in our society). Participants indicated their agreement with the statements about their beliefs about online advertising on a ve-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Factor analysis was used to identify belief factors, which is detailed in the result section. Respondents general attitudes toward advertising were measured using a ve-item scale adapted from Korgaonkar and Wollins (2002) study. Respondents were asked to indicate their agreement on ve-point scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) regarding the following statement: Overall, I consider Internet advertising a good thing. Overall, I like advertising on the Internet. In general, I think that Internet advertising increases the cost of products. Then they were asked to consider the statement I consider Internet advertising. . . , and were asked to respond with a four-point scale ranging from (1) not essential at all to (4) very essential. Finally, the respondents were asked to rate their ATOA on a scale ranging from (1) very unfavorable to (5) very favorable. The reliability coefcient a for the scale was 0.86. Responses of the ve items were summed and averaged to create an overall ATOA index (M 2.64, SD 0.56). Finally, consumer behavioral response toward online advertising was conceptualized as a combination of ad clicking and online shopping frequency. Ad clicking was measured by the frequency of subjects clicking on online advertising. Online shopping frequency was assessed by the question, How often have you bought products or services online from the Internet during the past 12 months?

Results Beliefs about online advertising To address RQ1, principal axis factor analysis with promax rotation was conducted to examine the underlying structure of those 33 items measuring beliefs about advertising. The rules of a minimum Eigenvalue of 1.0 and at least two loadings (60/40 loadings) per factor were referenced for extracting factors. A total of 15 items had signicant loadings on retained factors (Table I). Five factors were retained and 53.5 percent of the total variance was explained (Table II): (1) Entertainment (Eigenvalue 8.84, Cronbach a 0.75). This factor consists of four items and reects individuals belief that advertising can bring fun and enjoyment to their lives. High scores on this factor refer to a strong belief that online advertising is entertaining. (2) Information seeking (Eigenvalue 2.33, Cronbach a 0.80). The factor consists of three items and reects the belief of using online advertising to seek information. High scores on this factor mean that online advertising is informative. (3) Credibility (Eigenvalue 3.12, Cronbach a 0.86). The factor consists of three items and reveals ones view on whether online advertising is believable. High-factor scores refer to high credibility of online advertising. (4) Economy (Eigenvalue 1.72, Cronbach a 0.64). This factor consists of three items and refers to an individuals belief about the inuence of online advertising on the economy. High factor scores indicate a strong belief that online advertising is benecial for the economy. (5) Value corruption (Eigenvalue 1.65, Cronbach a 0.82). This factor consists of two items and reveals ones belief about the impact of advertising on peoples outlook of life. High-factor scores mean that online advertising has a strong negative effect on moral values and social justice. A conrmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the goodness-of-t of the measurement model for belief factors. AMOS Version 5.0 was used for the structural
Items 1. Is a good source of product/service information 2. Supplies relevant information 3. Provides timely information 4. Is entertaining 5. Is enjoyable 6. Is pleasing 7. Is interesting 8. Is credible 9. Is trustworthy 10. Is believable 11. Has positive effects on the economy 12. Raises our standard of living 13. Results in better products for the public 14. Promotes undesirable values in our society 15. Distorts the values of youth M 2.76 3.20 2.97 3.13 2.91 2.26 2.69 2.24 2.14 2.47 3.22 2.78 2.80 3.08 3.03 SD 0.91 0.90 1.02 1.07 1.02 0.95 0.95 0.80 0.78 0.82 0.74 0.76 0.81 0.78 0.77

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Table I. Items of belief factors (online advertising)

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Belief Items Information Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Entertainment Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Credibility Item 8 Item 9 Item 10 Economy Item 11 Item 12 Item 13 Value Item 14 Item 15

INFO 0.55 0.65 0.95 0.20 2 0.19 2 0.03 0.06 0.03 2 0.13 0.04 0.03 2 0.05 2 0.06 2 0.01 2 0.04

ENTE 2 0.10 0.04 0.00 0.73 0.79 0.51 0.76 0.00 0.06 0.13 2 0.10 2 0.02 0.07 2 0.05 2 0.04

Internet movie factors CRED 0.11 0.12 2 0.05 2 0.03 0.09 0.11 2 0.00 0.85 1.02 0.66 0.12 2 0.02 2 0.06 2 0.00 2 0.07

ECON 0.20 2 0.04 2 0.12 2 0.11 0.01 2 0.06 0.10 2 0.05 0.04 0.06 0.56 0.74 0.84 2 0.12 0.03

VALU 0.03 2 0.05 0.06 2 0.07 2 0.08 0.12 0.04 0.02 0.01 2 0.06 2 0.10 2 0.13 2 0.06 0.75 0.91

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Table II. Factor loadings of beliefs

Notes: INFO, information; ENTE, entertainment; CRED, credibility; ECON, economy; VALU, value

modeling analysis. Over the past decades, there has been a large body of research and debate on the cutoff criteria of t indices for assessing model t (Hu and Bentler, 1999; Kline, 2005; Loehlin, 1998). Among a range of t indices, the following were those often reported in published research: the x 2, comparative t index (CFI), the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), the goodness of t index (GFI), and the incremental index of t (IFI). Researchers tend to agree that it is not advisable to rely on one t index to assess the model t. Instead, using a combination of different t indices may be more reliable. Since x 2 is sensitive to sample size, x 2/df is recommended and the ideal cutoff is three (Kaplan, 1990). Kline (2005) recommended the following cutoff criteria for good model t: SRMR , 0.10, CFI . 0.90, GFI . 0.90, IFI . 0.90, RMSEA , 0.08. Hu and Bentler (1999) suggested that a strict rule with SRMR , 0.08 and RMSEA , 0.06 would result in a lower type II error rate of model rejection. Based on the typical cut-off criteria of model t, results indicate that the measurement model of belief factors t the sample satisfactorily (Table III). A graphical measurement model is shown in Figure 1.

Fit index Table III. Measurement model t of belief factors Result Ideal value

x
126.69

df 79

x/df
1.604 ,3

SRMR 0.054 , 0.08

GFI 0.921 . 0.90

IFI 0.964 . 0.90

CFI 0.963 . 0.90

RMSEA 0.063 , 0.08

item1 information item2 item3 item4 item5 entertainment item6 item7 item8 credibility item9 item10 item11 economy item12 item13 item14 value item15

e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 e8 e9 e10 e11 e12 e13 e14 e15

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Figure 1. Measurement model of the belief factors

Links among beliefs, attitudes and behaviors Two structural models were tted to the data. For Model I, the indicator of online behavior was ad clicking, whereas frequency of online buying was the indicator of online behavior for Model II. Hence, in both models, online behavior was treated as a single-indicator construct. Results presented in Table IV show that both structural models tted well. Structural Models I and II are shown in Figures 2 and 3 graphically. Regression coefcients of structural models are presented in Tables V and VI. H1 is partially supported. Two out of four positive belief factors such as information seeking, and economy beliefs signicantly and positively predict ATOA. Between the two, the information seeking belief is the stronger predictor. Credibility and entertainment however, did not emerge as signicant predictors of ATOA. H2 was supported. The only negative belief factor, the value corruption belief negatively inuences ATOA. The results also show that ATOA is a statistically signicant and positive predictor of both online ads clicking and online shopping frequency. In other words, the more positive ATOA one holds, the more likely he or she will click on advertisements and shopping online. Roughly speaking, ATOA mediates the relationship between belief and behavioral responses.
x
Model I Model II Ideal value 453.81 452.73 df 112 112

x/df
1.473 1.470 ,3

SRMR 0.053 0.053 , 0.08

GFI 0.897 0.899 . 0.90

IFI 0.967 0.967 . 0.90

CFI 0.966 0.966 . 0.90

RMSEA 0.035 0.035 , 0.08 Table IV. Structural model t

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D1

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entertainment ATOA

credibility

behavior

D2 economy Ad click

Figure 2. Structural Model I

value

information

D1 entertainment ATOA

credibility

behavior

D2 economy purchase

Figure 3. Structural Model II

value

Discussions and implications Over the past three decades, China has become one of the fastest-growing consumers markets in the world. As advertisers turn their attention to China and incorporate new media such as the internet to reach Chinese consumers, understanding Chinese ATOA has important implications for global businesses.

Exploring Chinese consumers beliefs about online advertising, this study identied ve factors that appear to underlie ATOA, including entertainment, information seeking, credibility, economy, and value corruption. The information-seeking factor is a positive predictor of ATOA. This result conrmed ndings from prior studies. Wolin et al. (2002), for example, found that product information was positively related to ATOA. Ducoffe (1996) also found a strong correlation between informativeness and internet advertising value. It is not surprising that those consumers who perceive that online advertising provide needed information have a more favorable ATOA. For many consumers, one of the most important functions of advertising is to provide information. Internet use motivation research also reveals that looking for information is the primary reason people use the internet (Rubin, 2002). It seems reasonable then to extend this line of reasoning and suggest that satisfying peoples information need may be a primary function of online advertising. Economy is another signicant positive predictor for ATOA. A basic view of advertising proponents is that advertising is the lifeblood of business it provides consumers with information about products and services and encourages them to improve their standard of living (Belch and Belch, 2008). As mentioned before, economic growth has been the number one issue in China. It makes sense that people who believe online advertising contributes to the economic development had a more positive ATOA. Advertising has been linked to producing jobs and helping new rms enter the marketplace. Advertising, therefore, stimulates competition and contributes to economic development. Value corruption is a signicant negative predictor for ATOA. This is consistent with previous studies. Wolin et al. (2002), for example, found that among the negative belief factors correlated with ATOA, value corruption played the most dominant role.
Regression path Information ! ATOA Entertainment ! ATOA Credibility ! ATOA Economy ! ATOA Value ! ATOA ATOA ! ad click B 0.323 0.120 0.120 0.450 2 0.120 0.788 SE B 0.081 0.062 0.065 0.121 0.053 0.098 0.387 * * * 0.152 0.143 0.323 * * * 2 0.153 * 0.599 * * * CR 4.007 1.952 1.832 3.711 2 2.276 7.999

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Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01; * * *p , 0.001

Table V. Regression weights of structural Model I

Regression path Information ! ATOA Entertainment ! ATOA Credibility ! ATOA Economy ! ATOA Value ! ATOA ATOA ! purchasing

B 0.357 0.094 0.117 0.500 2 0.143 0.437

SE B 0.084 0.063 0.068 0.124 0.057 0.102

0.412 * * * 0.114 0.134 0.356 * * * 2 0.168 * 0.322 * * *

CR 4.245 1.486 1.711 4.024 2 2.500 4.261

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01; * * *p , 0.001

Table VI. Regression weights of structural Model II

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They suggested that web users display more negative ATOA when they believe online advertising undermine peoples value system. This factor has special meanings for Chinese consumers. Past literature has established that advertising is not only a marketing tool but also a social actor and a cultural artifact that conveys social and cultural values and beliefs (Dyer, 1982; Frith, 1995). China is in transition from a traditional Chinese culture to a more hybrid culture that features the infusion of western beliefs and values. There is a serious concern that the younger generation is abandoning traditional Chinese values and becoming westernized. The research on cultural/advertising imperialism represents this concern by criticizing western advertising because it undermines the indigenous cultural values. To date, the online world is still dominated by the western countries, so it is natural that people might express concern that online advertising may promote western values and distort/diminish traditional Chinese virtues. In this study, we also found that ATOA positively predicted ad clicking and online shopping frequency. This is consistent with the attitude-behavior link exhibited in the literature. For example, Wolin et al. (2002) found that respondents favoring ATOA signicantly inuenced their web advertising behavior such as clicking online ads. Korgaonkar and Wolin (2002) further observed that heavy internet users with positive ATOA were more likely to purchase online. This study explored the beliefs and attitudes of Chinese consumers toward online advertising and the relationships between different components in consumer response sequence. Findings may deepen our understanding of ATOA in the unique Chinese environment and provide useful implications for global marketers. In particular, results showed that ATOA did have an inuence on consumers behavioral responses. Therefore, a general positive ATOA among Chinese consumers is critical in improving the effectiveness of online advertising. Furthermore, in order to cultivate such an attitude, advertisers need to aggressively position online advertising as an information provider and a contributor to economic prosperity, and not limit effect of online advertising to distorting social values. The ndings also provide guidelines for creating and evaluating online advertisements. For example, when designing or assessing online advertisements, advertisers and agencies could use the criteria such as informativeness, link to economic development, and not offending consumers. There are several limitations associated with the study. First, the student sample used in this study may limit the generalizability of research ndings. Future research could examine a broader prole of online consumers, and compare online advertising across different proles. Second, this study primarily investigated the impact of cultural background on ATOA. Past research has demonstrated a close link between ATOA and other social and individual factors such as economic development level, demographics, lifestyle, and internet experience (Karson et al., 2006; Korgaonkar and Wolin, 2002; Yang, 2004). Future investigation could focus on how the aforementioned factors conspire to inuence online advertising. Lastly, this study only investigated the relationship among beliefs, ATOA, and behaviors among Chinese consumers. A cross-cultural comparative study could enhance our understanding of cultural inuence on consumers ATOA and online shopping behavior (Kwak et al., 2008).
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