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Testing consumers' motivation and linguistic ability as moderators of advertising readability
Author(s) -
Chebat JeanCharles,
GelinasChebat Claire,
Hombourger Sabrina,
Woodside Arch G.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.10088
Subject(s) - readability , psychology , argument (complex analysis) , literacy , test (biology) , cognition , cognitive psychology , social psychology , advertising , linguistics , paleontology , pedagogy , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , neuroscience , business , biology
The present study focuses on testing rival hypotheses regarding the effects of advertising readability: Are the effects of readability on cognitive responses and attitudes moderated by the readers' motivation or by their linguistic ability? A two (low/high involvement) by two (strong/weak arguments) by two (low/high readability) factorial design was used to test the hypotheses. The findings support the hypothesis that readers' linguistic ability is the dominant influence factor, because low readability significantly reduces the effects of argument strength under both low and high involvement. Psycholinguistic theory provides explanation for the findings. The implications for advertising practice relate to consumers' levels of literacy. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.