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YOUR TRUSTE D ME N TOR SI N CE 2001

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The Internet as Push and Pull Medium for Marketing: Assessing User Perceptions YOUR TRUSTED MENTOR SINCE 2001 T

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ABSTRACT There has been extraordinary growth in use of Internet all over the world. Twenty to fifty percent of the developed country population was found to make use of the internet. Enormous potential exists for the use of the Internet for the purchase of goods and services. A number of novel formats of advertising have developed over the years and the promotion of improved methods would help online advertisers develop better ways of advertising their products to the consumers. However, despite this growing number of online advertising formats the question that arises is: How effective are they? The main aim of this study was to examine how one advertiser-controlled factor (advertising format) and two sets of consumer-related factors (demographic variables and motives for using the Internet) influenced consumers’ perception of Internet advertising,

which

turn

influenced

belief,

attitudes

and

avoidance

intentions/behaviours with regard to Internet advertising. A quantitative method of analysis was adopted. The results of the study indicated that the user demographic profile mainly the education and age has an effect on both the net usage of internet and internet marketing as well as the buying power online. The attitude and belief

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factors considered were found to be momentous in influencing the insight of users with T I

regard to marketing through the internet while avoidance factor was found to have no influence. When the push and pull strategies of marketing were found to have equal influence on user perception of marketing.

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Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION

............................................................................................. 5

1.1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

........................................................................................ 5

1.2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

......................................................................................... 6

1.3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

......................................................................... 8

1.4. RESEARCH QUESTION PROPOSITION AND HYPOTHESES FORMULATION: 1.5. RESEARCH DESIGN

............................................................................................................ 10

1.6. ORGANIZATION OF RESEARCH REPORT: 1.7. CONCLUSION:

....... 9

.................................................................... 11

....................................................................................................................... 12

CHAPTER

THREE: ........................................................................................................................ 34

R ESEARCH

METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................. 34

3.1 I NTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 34 3.2 R ESEARCH

P HILOSOPHY ........................................................................................................... 36

3.3 R ESEARCH

A PPROACH .............................................................................................................. 37

3.4

R ESEARCH

S TRATEGY ......................................................................................................... 39

3.5. DATA COLLECTION METHOD:

.......................................................................................... 40

3.6. SURVEY INSTRUMENT USED:

.......................................................................................... 40

3.7. RESEARCH LOCATION AND SAMPLE SIZE: CHAPTER FOUR:

................................................................. 41

.......................................................................................................................... 44

Findings and discussion: ............................................................................................................... 44 4.1. Introduction: ............................................................................................................................. 44 4.2. Socio-demographic parameters:

.......................................................................................... 44

4.2.1. Preliminary analysis of questionnaires: 4.2.2. Socio-demographic parameters:

........................................................................... 44

....................................................................................... 45

4.2.3. User demographics and user perception of internet marketing:

.................................. 47

4.3. Analysis of validity: ................................................................................................................. 51 © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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Table 3: Reliability and validity ..................................................................................................... 51 4.4. Understanding belief, attitude and avoidance of user perception towards internet marketing: ........................................................................................................................................ 52 4.4.1. Belief towards internet marketing:

.................................................................................... 52

4.4.2. Attitude towards internet marketing: ................................................................................. 55 4.4.3. Avoidance of internet marketing:

...................................................................................... 58

4.5. Push versus Pull factor: Better tool of internet marketing:

............................................... 59

4.6. Conclusion: .............................................................................................................................. 61 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION

............................................................................................................................ 61 ................................................................................................................................ 61

5.1. Introduction: ............................................................................................................................. 61 5.2. Implications of the study: ....................................................................................................... 62 5.3. Limitations of the study: ......................................................................................................... 64 5.3. Recommendations for the future:

......................................................................................... 65

5.4. Conclusion: .............................................................................................................................. 65

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CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION 1.1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The internet has been referred to as the fifth medium of communication, given this illustrious status alongside newspaper, journals and magazines, television and the radio (Cutler, 1990, p. 25). It has been considered as a very effective and easy medium of communication which helps in rapid transfer of information between individuals, businesses and a very effective medium of contacting consumers for marketers (Townsend, 2001). Internet has also been looked upon as the most popular medium of interaction where there is the development of a one on one environment (Anderson, 2000). Over the years a number of websites like Youtube.com and social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have some of the maximum hits over the internet. They have created specific trends which have resulted in the use of social spaces for advertising (Kozinets, 1999). Solomon (1983) has indicated that when there is the presence of specific workplaces it can be seen that there is a social meaning attributed to a product and the user perception of the manner in which a product is presented contributes to the sales of the product. Therefore this increasing tendency to adopt online social spaces indicates that there is a lot more activity happening online and marketers make use of this trend to influence consumer behaviour using advertisements. There have been studies which have studied the attitudinal factors influencing user behaviour online. Sin and Tse (2002) studied the behaviour of internet users from Hong Kong. Similarly Schlosser, Shavitt and Kanfer (1999) studied user attitude of participants from the United States. However these studies do not deal with the belief factor of the users and the perception © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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of internet advertising from a push or pull marketing point of view. This dissertation thus hopes to fill in the gaps of user perception of internet advertising.

1.2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: There has been extraordinary growth in the use of Internet all over the world. Twenty to fifty percent of the developed country population was found to make use of the internet (Neilson 2001). In the United States alone it is viewed that by the year 2000 there was a total of 136 million people who had access to the internet (Nielson, 2000) and the yearly growth rate remains high. The purchase of goods and services is found to be provided with a wonderful base in the form of the Internet. It is viewed that shopping market opened up widely in the form of the internet. But there have been questionnaires and surveys provided to people which have indicated that people are reluctant to buy online due to a number of reasons including lack of trust (Gay et al., 2007). Every single retailer right from a store for electronics to a large and well established supply chain have attempted to make their presence made in the virtual world. However even the most well oiled and established machinery have been found to run into problems in this virtual world. The most important question to be posed involves measures to enable proper investment online to increase the profit of the company (Epstein 2004). There are different reasons as to why retailer would profit if they move to internet marketing. It has been noted that the establishment of online markets is a step towards betterment for companies promoting reduction on cost of determining information as well as transactions. Internet marketing has helped in improving efficiency of operations. This has enabled a decrease in the overall time undertaken for enabling payment as well as credit processing to occur. These small sized firms can thus reduce overhead costs and other expenses if they consider moving the internet sector (Rosen 2000). However, Rosen has also noted that the success of any marketer online is dependent on how well their product is received by the consumers. He indicates that advertising of the product in a particular way as promoted above ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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would make cause a positive effect on the users and would be considered as the best method of promoting a product. Despite this enormous growth in advertising online it is to be viewed that there is a large amount of clutter. The study by Katz (2002) indicates that there is excessive clutter of advertisements online and had predicted that by the year 2007 there would be at least eight hundred impressions of advertisements pushed on the users every single day. The winner of Nobel Prize in 1978 Herbert Simon had noted that, "What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it." (p.25) Therefore, there is a need to attract the attention of the consumer to bring about the success of any business. Users online give very little attention to the advertisements they view. Therefore, there is a need for the retailer to make their way through the excessive advertisements available online and present their product to the users. In order to promote their product ahead of the clutter, there is a need to devise novel measures of advertising. A number of novel formats of advertising have developed over the years, and the promotion of improved methods would help online advertisers develop better ways of advertising their products to the consumers. However, despite this growing number of online advertising formats, the question that arises is: How effective are they? Understanding the needs and perceptions of the users towards internet marketing will promote the development of new strategies and thereby increase the efficiency of online marketing methods.

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1.3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The main aim of this study is to be conducted from the consumers’ perspective and examine how one advertiser-controlled factor (advertising format) and two sets of consumer-related factors (demographic variables and motives for using the Internet) influenced consumers’ beliefs about (perceptions of) Internet advertising, which in turn influenced attitudes and avoidance intentions/behaviours with regard to Internet advertising. Therefore, the objective of the study is to enable the identification of the attitude as well as factors of belief of the users of the internet as an effective means of marketing. This objective of the study can be met by determining the perception of the user towards internet advertising. The study, therefore, may enable prediction of the user attitude towards internet marketing by using belief and avoidance factors focusing on the ever-present marketing strategy of “push and pull factors”. Globalization may be a vogue made possible by the growth of the internet and its ability to penetrate a number of countries including emerging economies. The internet, therefore, plays a very important role in drawing the world closer. However, it can also be said that the internet also provides room for establishing individuality. This study being conducted in UK & India which is one of the world’s largest emerging economy may serve as a platform for similar studies conducted in the Indian subcontinent and Asia in general. The objectives of the study can be listed as follows: 1. To examined the effectiveness of online advertising from the consumer's perspective and explored how advertiser-controlled and consumer-related factors would influence the consumer's choice and use of Internet advertising. © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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2. To evaluate how one advertiser-controlled factor (advertising format) and two sets of consumer-related factors (demographics and motives for using the Internet) would influence an integrated set of interrelated variables, including beliefs about, attitudes toward, intentions to avoid, and actual avoidance of Internet advertising. 3. To focus on paid placement and disregarded paid inclusion 4. To examine how advertising format could make a difference in Internet users’ perceptions, attitudes, avoidance intentions and behaviors with regard to Internet advertising.

1.4.

RESEARCH

QUESTION

PROPOSITION

AND

HYPOTHESES

FORMULATION: The following research questions can be formulated in to determine answers to the above-posed questions of research. These questions mainly focus on the investigating internet users’ perception about marketing through the internet by determination of user attitude, user belief and user avoidance factors. The questions also help in determining which type of advertising format is the most effective in promoting a product online. Research Questions: Do the demographic variables of the user influence their perception of internet advertising? What are the factors influencing user attitude, user belief and user avoidance towards internet advertising? Which is the most effective marketing strategy over the internet – the push or pull factor? © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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From the above research questions, the following hypotheses are postulated towards determination of consumer-oriented factors: H1: User demographic profile influences user perception of internet advertising. H2: The perception towards advertising of the user is influenced by the presence of attitude factors. H3: The perception towards advertising of the user is influenced by the presence of belief factors. H4: The perception towards advertising of the user is influenced by the presence of avoidance factors. The examination of these research questions and hypotheses helps both internet marketers focus on internet advertising from a consumer-centric manner. These research questions also help in the focusing internet advertising in an accurate fashion to encompass all the needs of the consumers.

1.5. RESEARCH DESIGN A plan or step by step approach in order to arrive at the answers posed towards the question is precisely what is dealt with when a research design is considered. It is important to note that this design enables arriving at the solution to a problem but at the same time ensures that the validity and objectivity of the research are maintained. The research design should also go through a measure of conditions to satisfy a proper research report. This would enable the establishment of a relevance of the study of research for the purpose of study (Miles and Huberman, 1994). ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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This shows that two important issues are covered in this design of research. The first issue is to identify and develop specific protocols in order to ensure there is no interruption in the manner in which study is conducted. The second issue is that there is a very logistic arrangement of data in order to ensure that there are proper validation and objectification of research. Therefore, the conceptualization of this kind of plan of operation would enable the development of a design of the survey and a schedule to be prepared to hand out the questionnaire.

The types of research question validation would provide more

acceptable answers towards the answering of the research question. The field study was conducted in Derby, Burton on Trent (UK) and New Delhi, India and the majority of research population chosen was university students in different colleges. The reason behind choosing the students to form colleges are much more familiar with modern technology and would be more approachable for answers to our questions. The research was carried out requesting students of university of Derby, Burton College (UK) & Kamla Nagar college New Delhi (India) to fill a questionnaire. Similar questionnaires were also distributed to the general public at the entry and exit points of Westfield shopping centre derby providing them with prepaid envelopes so that they could fill out and return at their own convenience.

1.6. ORGANIZATION OF RESEARCH REPORT: The present research report is organized in to five major chapters. In Chapter one, the concise background of the analytical problem and the need for new strategies of internet advertising is discussed. There is also a basic discussion of the background behind the growth of internet marketing practices in play, and the statement of the problem is given. In addition, the chapter also sets the aims and objectives, outlines research questions which are discussed through the course of the dissertation presentation. ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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Chapter two reviews the literature by presenting data in three sections. The first section deals with the theories of user perception inclusive of attitude, belief, and avoidance factors. The second section deals with internet advertising and its impact on user perception. The final section deals with different types of internet media advertising considered as a push or pulls medium towards consumers. In chapter three the research methodology is discussed. It gives the justification of the research methods adopted and sample population and size discussion. There is also a discussion of ethics involved. Chapter four gives the results of the study and also helps provide answers to the questions posed in chapter one. Chapter five of the report is the final chapter, and it gives the executive summary of the study, implications and further recommendation for future study. Chapter six of the report contains the bibliography section that is used in the study.

1.7. CONCLUSION: As explained in this chapter, the study shall now focus on the user perception factors on internet marketing. The next chapter presents the literature reviewed for this study.

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Chapter Two: Literature Review 2.1. Introduction: Literature review has been defined by Hart (1998) as: “The selection of available documents (both published and unpublished) on the topic, which contain information, ideas, data and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfil certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of these documents in the relation to the research being proposed”

In this chapter, the researcher will discuss the findings derived from extensive secondary research that has been undertaken. The findings are primarily gathered © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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from journals, textbooks, websites and academic literature. The literature review has been classified under three different sections. Section I: Theories of user perception – Attitude, belief, and avoidance. Section II: Internet advertising and its impact on user perception Section III: Different types of internet media advertising considered as a push or pull medium towards consumers. The literature review provides a solid basis for further discussion of the research problem and the set objectives. Section I: Theories of user perception – Attitude, belief, and avoidance. 2.1. Conceptualising perception The discovery of an interesting phenomenon is considered as the starting point of a study ensuring that it requires further examination. The topic under examination in this dissertation is the perception of any user towards the internet as a tool for marketing. The concept of perception should be and often is approached from a multidisciplinary view. This particular concept over the years has been studied from the point of view of psychology, philosophy, social psychology, biology including neurosciences, anthropology, and artificial intelligence. However, this study of the concept of perception has been limited to the point of view of social psychometrics. It is based on behavioural research of consumer on topics related to perception. 2.1.1 Perception from psychological and social psychological perspectives The fundamental analysis of perception and its roots can be traced back to social psychology. When one considers perception in terms of cognitive psychology, it is important to note that this concept is based on fundamental analysis of the experience of the individual. The actor undergoing the “perception” consciously and

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unconsciously learns, recognizes, ponders and commits to memory the issues in his environment (Atkinson et al. 2000). Anderson (1995) has provided a definition of perception from a cognitive point of view, according to him “The term perception refers to the means by which information acquired from the environment via the sense organs is transformed into experiences of objects, events, sounds, tastes, etc.” Therefore, the inclusion of thoughts and behaviour of any individual is subjected to processing of specific sensory information resultant of a directly detected stimulus (Stuart- Hamilton, 1996). Perception may be obtained from any of the five senses, but it is important to note that visual perception is one of the most important measures which is most investigated (Atkinson et al. 2000; Anderson, 1995) as well as one which has maximum effect on the individual (Gold, 2004). According to Hatfield (2004), it is important to note that the concept of perception is studied as a source of information along with looking at the phenomenon related to the mental awareness of individual pertaining to and restricted by the thoughts of every individual. However, Hatfield also shows that biological research in terms of neurobiology look at perception as an action which is carried out by millions of nerve cells. Most of the scientists of biology explain perception as something which is formed as a result of a direct stimulus which is then organized by the importance of experience. This is to indicate that the overall psychological experience leaves an impression rather than simple actions. There is the analysis of mental processes which helps in the advancement of cognitive perspectives. The humanistic and phenomenological view extends a look into the opposition and reduction of behavioural processes (Atkinson et al. 2000). To understand individual perception, it is important that every human being is treated uniquely and interpret the influence of external events as well as personal achievements (Hatfield 2004). The perception of a user in a particular marketing © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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environment can be assessed by the adoption of comprehensive and expressive ways to enable conceptualization of perception. The contribution of social sciences towards understanding perception is to ensure that social dimensions are emphasized and study the psychological process from a sociological point of view (Atkinson et al., 2000).

2.1.3. User-centered approach in internet marketing: Researchers in Web advertising have employed a user-centered approach to investigating issues related to effectiveness. Most recently, Macias (2003) defined interactivity as having “dimensions of range (number of possibilities for action at any given time"), machine interactions ("features which allowed the individual to interact with the Website"), connectedness ("hypertext links") and reciprocal/recursive communication ("email, chat rooms, comment forms")” and measured consumer's perceived interactivity as a Web site's interactivity”. A positive influence on consumer's comprehension of and attitudes toward Web advertising has been observed by her. However, she did not provide further discussion on how these two measures the interactivity defined by researchers and the one perceived by consumers are different. Perception of the message of an individual effectiveness does not always coincide with the objective effectiveness of messages as defined by marketers or researchers was maintained by Friestad and Wright (1994). An individual's use and perception of the Web as a tool would result in different online behaviours was shown in the studies on demographic and psychological profiles of users and shoppers on the Web further suggest that differences in (Stellin 2001). Notwithstanding the lack of consensus as to what constitutes design in Web advertising, practitioners make recommendations on the use of color, shape, and

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typography while delineating users' psychological responses to these elements (Bacheldor 2000). 2.2. Section II: Internet advertising and its impact on consumer attitude: 2.2.1. Defining Internet advertising: Robert Kuttner’s quote in Business Week (1998), “The Internet is a nearly perfect market because information is instantaneous and buyers can compare the offerings of sellers worldwide. The result is fierce price competition, dwindling product differentiation, and vanishing brand loyalty which changes the face of those attributes associated with the conventional retail market.”

The above quote clearly demonstrates the fact that there are a number of challenges which have presented it as a result of using the internet as a medium for marketing. In order to understand the paradigms of internet marketing there have been modifications of the existing theories of marketing (Hoffman and Novak, 1996). This has been done in order to build an understanding of the implications of using the internet as a medium for reaching different consumers (Hoffman, Novak, and Chatterjee, 1995). A number of different surveys have been carried on over the years in order understand measures of using the internet as a commercial possibility the earliest of them including GVU 1999, Gupta 1995. These surveys have studied the implications of using the internet as a medium for advertising and the perception of a consumer towards understanding the conceptualization of internet marketing and advertising Ducoffe (1996) has indicated that internet advertising is claimed by consumers to contain different forms of commercial content including advertisements of electronic © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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forms similar to traditional methods of advertising. These include billboards, banner advertisements to other formats like corporate websites. Berthon, Pill, and Watson (1996) have indicated that while defining the commercial effectiveness of using the Internet as a medium of advertising needs to be looked at from both the consumer as well as company’s point of view. Therefore, it is important to discuss internet advertising because there are going to be specific differences when it comes to studying the idiosyncratic variations in the perceptions of users while determining the idea of what exactly constitutes “Internet Advertising.” There are two distinct meanings when it comes to modern marketing practices especially when it comes to relating electronic marketing to the views of the consumers:

1. The range of different specialist marketing functions. This is carried out by many retail organizations. These functions include market research, brand promotion, product management, public relations and customer service (Berthon et al., 1998). 2. A newly developed concept that can be used as the guiding philosophy for all functions and activities with regard to the promotion of marketing in an organization. This philosophy includes business strategies guided by an organization’s market and competitor focus which indirectly reflects on the marketing practice of the organization (Berthon et al., 1998).

The aim and objective of this research are to carry out an assessment of perception of the user towards the different factors of internet marketing acting either as a push or pull medium. Therefore, these factors of internet marketing can be discussed under the different methods of internet advertising. Therefore, in this dissertation internet advertising is considered as a broad term which covers any marketable subject on the internet, designed by different industries in order to provide information about a given product or service to the prospective consumers. © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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Therefore, internet marketing or advertising would include different formats like emails, interactive games, videos, audio or posters. They can provide information about any depth including details of products, links to the official website or simply the brand logo ( Schlosser 2003) .

2.2.2. Background of internet advertising: The advertising of products online has growth tremendously by changing patterns of advertising. The first research on the impact of the internet on advertising was carried out by Jupiter Communications in 1997. They reported that there was revenue of three hundred million USD in 1996 with a projected overall income of up to seven billion dollars by the year 2002. There was increased expenditure on internet advertising with an estimated one hundred and fifty million dollars in just the first quarter of 1997 (Cyberatlas 1997). A survey by Grant Thornton (1997) indicated that Internet was a medium of advertising which was to stay, and most businessmen believe that it would generate more income in the future. Therefore, internet advertising is still to be considered as a very important phenomenon in the future success of any retail market.

2.2.3. User attitude towards advertising: Attitude is considered to be something which has been learnt by any individual, and it cannot be considered to be something present instinctively. It cannot be considered as a previously present behaviour, but can be proposed as a developed behaviour. Thus attitude is caused due to the development of attachment to a particular object and can establish a particular link between an individual and an entity (Blythe 1997). There has a long history about definition and study of attitude. A number of theories of persuasion have been focussed on the attitude as a measuring

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factor. A direct influence on the behaviour of the individual is ruled by the attitude according to the different scientists. It is also seen that the attitude of the consumer is found to affect the effective nature of advertising, and this concept is validated by research (Stiff and Mongeau 2003). The Consumer-related factors are important when evaluating how persuasive the advertising is [Stiff and Mongeau 2003]. When an advertisement is well liked it can be linked to the type of attitude presented by an individual. The appreciation of an advertisement promotes a positive attitude in the mindset of the viewers (Fill 2006). A number of authors including Mittal (1994) have published some of the earliest studies on the attitude of public towards advertising. The main aim of advertising is to reach a large number of audiences with simple information about the product. This information helps in the user assimilation of details of the product including, the name of the product, its function, the requirement of product and the improvement of the product over other similar substances present in the market (Fill 2006). The different studies on the attitude of the public towards advertising have been classified differently based on the sample type, size as well as the type of survey instrument that was used to collect the information. There have been varying results when the advertising attitude of the individuals was studied. The earliest survey on the effectiveness and likeability of advertisements has provided positive results. This result also showed that participants found advertisements informative (Li et al. 2004). They also found that a majority of respondents preferred advertised products over unadvertised products, although most also felt that advertising increased the cost of things they buy. Persuasive communication research has shown that attitude is an important aspect of consumer research since the sixty years. It is characterized that advertising attitude is a predisposition which is often learnt. This disposition can be either favourable or unfavourable when advertising is considered as a general attitude (Liu 2001).

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There has been the development of specific belief items which have been found to influence advertising in terms of both economics as well as social studies. These set of belief items can be classified as positive as well as negative [Belch and Belch 2001] . There is a direct influence on the perception of a brand by the likeable nature of the advertisement [Bruner and Kumar 2007]. There is found to be distinctive variation in the attitude of the consumer towards the different forms of advertising media (Belch and Belch 2001). They have shown that the reach of an advertisement online to its consumers is found to be dependent on the attitude of the viewers preferably positive. It is found to have an influence on recall of a particular brand as well as the generation of interest towards the brand. The factors which are found to influence the consumer likeability of an ad is directly related to the attitude of the user [Bruner and Kumar 2007]. The study by Shergill and Chen (2005) has been on the attitude of consumers towards online marketing especially in the cities of New Zealand. Other studies include ‘Exploring the effectiveness of taxis as an advertising medium’ [Veloutsou and O’Donnell 2005] and ‘Attitude toward LocationBased Advertising’[Bruner and Kumar 2007]. The comparison of traditional advertising with internet advertising has been carried out, and this has resulted in the growth a new model of advertising called as new media advertising [Sissors and Baron 2002]. In order to understand the differences in the perception of the user towards internet based advertising, it is important to perceive the basic differences in consumer attitude towards traditional and internet based advertising. This difference would enable building of brand, identification of personality of a brand as well as development of purpose directionality. Therefore, the best use of the internet as a medium of marketing may be targeted towards goaloriented consumers. This provides quite a great potential for a mixed directional internet based advertising [Wang et al. 2002].

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2.2.4. Dimensions of internet advertising as an instrument in determination of user belief and requirement: Beliefs with regard to advertising as an instrument involve the manner in which advertising’s characteristics, personal benefits or costs of advertising, etc. is viewed. James and Kover (2002) concluded that although the studies on outlook toward advertising have differed a great deal in sample selection and data collection methods, they have focused on many of the same attributes of judgment, such as informativeness, entertainment value, trustworthiness, and offensiveness. There is an alteration of the perception of the consumer when it comes to marketing through the internet especially when it is compared to marketing through conventional measures. The main difference could be attributed to the use of the internet as an effective digital medium. The use of the internet to promote the retail market is often attributed to the use of television digitally, use of satellites as well as the use of mobile phones. This, therefore, helps in building information exchange between the buyer and the seller (Ghosh, 1998). There have been 6 “I”s promoted in the e-marketing sector by McDonald and Wilson (1999). The importance of six important factors is that they deal with the real time issues of internet marketing. These six factors thus influence the direct marketing of the product to the user. The factors included are the personalization of the product, taking down direct response from the buyers and conducting thorough research on the different aspects of marketing through the internet. There is restructuring as well as the integration of the communication channels in order to promote discussion of strategic issues in the internet marketing sector. These facets ought to be considered independently in order to develop newer plans of marketing (McDonald and Wilson 1999). The five factors influencing this decision include: 2.2.4.1. Interactivity: © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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The level in which interactivity of the internet influences the perception of the consumer is the first I of internet marketing (Deighton, 1996). The characteristics of the internet in terms of interactivity of any digital medium include, Initiation of contact with the consumer Sharing of information with the consumer Provision of a high-intensity medium in order to attract full attention of the users when a particular website is used. Gathering the response of the consumer towards a particular product. This enables the development of a database in order to deal with future issues. Taking into consideration the individual needs of a consumer. This is done often by personalization. (Deighton, 1996). 2.2.4.2.

Intelligence

The collection of material towards research in terms of marketing is found to be quite cheap when carried out through the internet. It is seen that the most common measure of online research to understand consumer perception is conducting surveys. The internet can be used as an effective medium of creating feedback in a two-way manner. There can be effective communication between the consumers and the buyers (Chaffey 2002). A large amount of information pertinent to marketing is also found to available over the internet. The number of users accessing the website, the number of users preferring to browse through a product and other such issues can be recorded in terms of a log file. Therefore the behaviour of the users in terms of their likes and dislikes can be easily arrived at. This also enables the response of a retailer to the consumers in real time (Chaffey 2001). ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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2.2.4.3.

Individualization

A very important and well-appreciated aspect of marketing through the internet includes interactive marketing feature of individualization. The requirements, the likes, the dislikes of individuals as well as demographic profiles can be noted down effectively and provide a sense of individuality. The requirement of the individuals can be tailored by the marketer, and this can be recorded for future use. This process of honing in on the specific interests of individuals is a concept of personalization (Lichtenthal and Eliaz 2003). Dependent on the product of interest expressed by the individual and a collective range of products accessed by the same individual the consumer use can be profiled. It is also important to note that this would ensure the seller to understand the “buying block” (Lichtenthal and Eliaz 2003). This block would ensure that the consequent visit of the individual would be influenced and made more pertinent. The next time the user visits he would be given information on product sales or new products in his area of interest. This has promoted a concept in marketing called as mass customization (Varadarajan and Yadav, 2009). 2.2.4.4.

Integration:

Integration of communication has been made possible due to the internet. It is important to note that the Internet can be used as a response tool directly enabling the individuals to access a real store where the product is available along with the virtual information provided (Seybold 1999). A number of websites have a facility of call back where the seller gets back to the users, or they have a direct chat function. This enables the consumers to reach the marketer and provide pertinent information like name, contact number as well as their query. This query is then answered.

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It has been noted by Seybold (1999) that the information available on the internet to the consumers should be integrated to the information available to the consumer directly. This includes personally identifiable information of the consumer. The internet also has been considered as the best medium to deal with the issues of the consumer and provide excellent consumer service. The provision of information like frequently asked question would be a wealth of information provision (Seybold 1999). 2.2.4.5.

Independence of location:

Arguably the most important influence of the electronic media in terms of improving marketing of a product is the globalization of the market. It is important to note that there have been different opportunities provided to even small sellers to make their wares available to people all over the world. This is something which was not possible earlier (Chaffey 2001). There is no need for sales personnel or for a local sales shop. There has been restructuring of the concept of intermediation in terms of geographical location of goods that may arise (Chaffey 2001). 2.2.5. Consumer Attitude towards Internet advertising: It is important to notice that consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; attitudes towards advertising and the potential impact of it towards consumer behaviour upon decision-making shall not be underestimated. It is generally believed that those who hold positive attitudes on the advertising would be more likely to be persuaded for a behavioural response (Brown and Stayman 1992). However, studies have also discovered that consumers (of the United States and the West Germany) attitudes towards advertising could be complex and might encompass a variety of social and economics related factors. These factors include consumer manipulation and the role of advertising in an economy (Brown and Stayman 1992). ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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With the emergence of the Internet and Internet advertising wherein Internet advertising encompasses a number of advertising formats, including pop-up ads, pop-under ads, email, forum and newsgroup ads, banner ads, interstitials, superstitious, podcast, webisodes, etc. has brought marketers and researchers a new horizon. They started to explore the factors affecting the success of the Internet advertising (Oliveira, 2001). The Internet the main function of providing information for consumers. It has been suggested by authors like Schlosser, Shavitt and Kanfer (1999) there are two different aspects including cognitive and affective issues. The affective issues include shock and entertainment values as well as cognitive issues in terms of informational elements. The factors of Internet advertising shall not be sufficient in understanding and explaining the complexity of Internet users’ attitudes towards online advertising. It was further argued by Schlosser and Kanfer (1999) that the underlying factors of the attitude of a consumer in terms of understanding the advertising measures online was found to be quite different from the traditional advertising pattern. There has been the negative attitude of consumers towards forms of advertisements online including spam emails and pop advertisements as indicated by Mehta and Sivadas (1995). A study by Ducoffe (1996) on the attitude of New York consumer showed both positive and negative attitude towards Internet advertising. A lot of participants of the survey indicated that there was both interactiveness as well as entertainment. The result gained in the above studies may be due to the novelty of the Internet and the relatively self-disciplined industry practice at that time. The research by Pollay and Mittal’s (1993) has been indicative of belief of the users of the internet as well as their attitude towards marketing online. Their research has been multi-dimensional and has examined the best measures of comparison of user belief and attitude.

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Section III: Push and pull factors of internet marketing: 2.3.1. Push versus pull approach: There is the considerable influence of advertising on consumer attitude in terms of exposure, attention as well as reaction to specific advertisements online ( Alwitt and Prabhakar, 1992). This is often found to influence certain pathways in the brain including cognitive as well as affective processes (Lutz, 1985). A best-promoted model of internet marketing would be the push and pull method. This method has been guaranteed to be the best market-oriented model. The advertising measures are an effective pull medium. The push measure in terms of price was also promoted. However, Peter (2003) has determined that this type of push-pull model has been one-sided in nature in terms of hidden costs to avail the seller a much higher profit. However, he has also indicated that the younger generation is more aware of these types of traps and pitfalls and chose those internet websites which are genuine. The greater influx information available to the consumer has also promoted effective push of information to the prospective client. Those factors which are extremely critical of this type of measures of marketing include the skeptic attitude of the consumer, the pressure of modern lifestyle, the growing change in trends in every single retail sector. This makes reaching the consumer online more and more difficult (John 2003). The push-pull categorization is a way to describe people's interaction with their media experience, including advertising exposure. Depending on the extent of the consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s control over advertising exposure, advertising, and advertising media may be placed either near the push end or the pull end or somewhere in between. The basic difference in terms of traditional and internet advertising includes the control of exposure to the advertisement available. It is important to note that there is an uphill battle of who has the upper hand the consumer or the company. In

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traditional advertisements, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to understand that the consumer has negligible influence. The company decides on the type of advertisement, and there is interruption as well as interception of the consumer attention to other subjects (Ephron 1997). There have been numerous forms of advertising promoted online. However, in this measure, it is important to note that the consumer has the upper hand. The consumer gets to decide which measure of advertising is the most effective. The company may provide an advertisement and ask for the attention of the consumer however it is impossible for them to push the content of the advertisement of the consumers (Ephron 1997). Pull advertising gives individuals more control over what information they access, for how long and how many times, and in what order. It is often designed to help the individual who already has certain goals in mind to find relevant information about suppliers of desired products or services. The advertising information is pulled by the individual. Such a classification is a matter of convenience and access by the individuals (Ephron 1997). The Internet as a mass medium performs many different functions and integrates the characteristics of many traditional media. Ephron (1997) commented that depending on its specific functions, the Internet can be regarded as analogous to different traditional advertising media. It resembles a magazine as it has pages. Banners resemble outdoor signs. Search engines are like Yellow Pages. Because the Web enables a transaction, it resembles direct-response advertising. Web sites selling goods are like catalogs. Although whether these analogies are accurate or not is open to debate, it is the consensus that the Internet is a multifaceted advertising medium. Therefore, the Internet cannot be simply grouped into either the push or pull group. It is at the same time a push-and-pull advertising medium, with some formats of Internet advertising being more push oriented while some being more pull oriented.

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2.3.2. New media advertising: Push and pull approach: There have been five different formats of advertisements which have been identified by Rodgers and Thorson (2000) online. These include the following: 1. Banner ads 2. Pop-up advertisements 3. Listings of search â&#x20AC;&#x201C; paid 4. Commercial websites 5. Advergames There can be a number of formats which develop over the years. The following section discusses these formats in terms of pull or push approach. 2.3.3. Pull approaches: 2.3.3.1.

Banner ads:

Those advertisements which are made available on an HTML page in terms of graphic images are classified as banner advertisements (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 2002). These advertisements are found to appear anywhere in the web page including the top, side or bottom and are usually rectangular in shape attracting the attention of the user of a website. These advertisements serve the purpose of building traffic to a particular website. This is carried out by ensuring that consumers can click the banner ad. This ad is then hyperlinked to some other Website to obtain more information. It is seen that this is one of the most common forms of advertisement online, and they are found to represent a majority of 55% of the total advertisements provided (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 1999). It also serves to give at least thirty percent of the income obtained from such new media (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 2002). ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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However, an important point to note is that there is a decrease in the number of users accessing these websites. In the year 2000 itself, there was a decrease to 0.3% (Nielsen/Netratings, 2000). However authors Briggs & Hollis (1997) like have noted that it is not right to study if a banner advertisement is effective by judging their click through rates. They consider these banner ads to be similar to the billboards used in traditional advertisements. They also indicate that the small amount of information that is provided on the banner advertisement like the name of the brand or the slogan of the brand would lead to an increase in brand positioning as well as brand awareness. These authors conducted a study. They questioned 500 respondents on the effectiveness of banner advertisements and had noted that these advertisements resulted in increased awareness of brands, strengthening of the image and perceived loyalty to the brand. It has also been discovered by certain researchers that some efforts can be made in order to promote the effectiveness of banner advertisements. Li & Bukovac (1999) have indicated that the size and colour of the advertisement have the maximum effect on the consumer. They have also shown that there is a better response to a banner ad when there is animation involved. This also involves better recollection of the ad. The study by Brown (2002) shows that most users of internet websites are drawn to pull down menus rather than simple banner ads. These are effective in promoting attention, liking and click throughs. This is attributed to the better quality of information available in these ads. 2.3.3.2.

Paid keyword search listing.

The study by London (2000) and Overture (2003) has shown that most of the web users use a specific search engine. Therefore, a number of advertisers make use of these search engines in order to promote their product. There is the usage of specific and clear cut keywords by the advertisers to identify potential buyers. ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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Whenever a particular term is entered into a particular search engine, it is noted that there is checking with the paid listing provider’s database and provides a list of Web sites related to keywords (Overture, 2003). Search engine advertising emerged under this background and had demonstrated robust growth in recent years. Search engine advertising spending more than doubled in 2001 and again in 2002 (Hyland, 2004). Search engine advertising accounted for 15% of total online advertising revenues in 2002, and 35% in 2003 (Hyland, 2004). IAB (2006) reported that search engine advertising remains the format that draws the largest revenue, accounting for 43% of 2005 fourth-quarter revenues, up from the 40% for the same period in 2004. Ramsey (2004) estimated that by 2008 search engine advertising would reach over $6.7 billion. There are mainly two forms of search engine advertising. These include the placement through payment and inclusion through payment (Bannan, 2003). The forms of placement through payment include links which are sponsored and listings which are paid. Other forms include payment for performance or placement. There is bidding of keywords by advertisers. The one that provides the highest rate for a certain string of key words gets his advertisement placed highest. And it is often seen that these areas are demarcated from the remaining areas to provide information on the product but also ensures that it does not interfere with the searching function of the user Bannan, 2003). In the form of paid inclusion, advertisers pay to guarantee that their websites or pages will be indexed by a search engine’s crawler and therefore included in the listings. The advertiser’s website will not get a prominent listing or rank boost. The ranking of the returned search results is still based on relevancy. This option is thus much less popular with advertisers (Bannan, 2003).

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2.3.4. Push approaches: 2.3.4.1.

Pop-up advertisements:

One good example of an Internet advertising format that adopts the push approach is pop-up advertisements. Those advertisements which appear separately and not on the browser window are pop-up advertisements. These often appear as a separate window on top of the previously used window. The user must close or minimize the window to get it out of sight. A pop-up may appear anytime in the process of the user's Web viewing: while the homepage of a website is loading while transitioning between two Web pages, or while leaving a website ( Rodgers and Thorson 2000). According to Olsen (2004), pop-up advertisements started to come out in force since the dot-com bust, when Web publishers were craving for advertising revenue. It was seen that only two percent of web advertisements were pop up adverts in the year of 2001 (Olsen, 2004). However, before the end of 2002, there was the appearance of over eleven billion pop up advertisements (Martin & Ryan, 2002). By July 2003, popups and pop-unders accounted for 8.7% of all online advertisements. According to a study conducted by Advertising.com in 2003, pop-ups are 13 times more effective at generating click-throughs than standard banners (Cassavoy, 2004). The pop-up is a controversial advertising format. Research has shown that pop-ups are very unpopular with Internet users (Chan, Dodd, & Stevens, 2004). Responding to the negative public attitude, in August 2002, EarthLink started to give its customers a software to block these ads. Free toolbars that block pop-ups can be obtained for free from major search engines. In 2004, Microsoft built in a blocker in their operating system to ensure that it doesn’t affect their consumers and which can be switched on anytime the user wants.

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It was also noted by Cho, Lee, and Tharp (2001) that the presence of these advertisements was looked upon favourably when compared to a banner advertisement. It was also seen that certain other researchers indicated these to be extremely disturbing and annoying in nature (Edwards, Li, & Lee, 2002). Thus both positive and negative aspects have been attributed to advertising measures online through pop-up ads, and it is to be observed that the negative aspects seem to be more as many people found it to be interrupting their schedule (Dillabough, 2002). 2.3.4.2.

Advergames:

Another important push factor is the advergames. This industry has been promoted effectively over the years, and a number of consumers enjoy the games (Interactive Digital Software Association, 2000). As a game playing online has become a vital aspect of the recreational life of the users. Therefore, advertisers came up with the concept of using these games as effective methods of promoting the brand message. It is also seen that these tools of advertising are found to have several good aspects which are beneficial to the consumer. These tools have promoted the concept of awareness of a brand. A survey of the game players in the MSN gaming zone by Marriot et al. (2001) revealed that “A survey of game players at MSN Gaming Zone taken before Toyota’s Adrenaline game went online found that Toyota’s brand awareness ranked 6th among major car companies. A second survey of game players, taken 3 months after the game went online, found that Toyota’s brand awareness had risen to 2

nd. ”

Conclusion: Marketing managers know that consumer perception can be built using a variety of mediums. However, not everyone is clear about what exactly consumer perception is all about. A tongue in cheek thing would be that mobile marketing is considered one

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of the best alternatives for building consumer perception of a brand. Gemma Roach. (2009) found out through statistical methods that a

consumer's perceptions of

two of the three innovation attribute tested (relative advantage and compatibility) were significantly associated with their acceptance (or adoption) of marketing messages used through internet marketing. The attribute of complexity was not really influenced by the marketing messages sent through this medium.

CHAPTER

R ESEARCH

THREE:

M ETHODOLOGY

3.1 I NTRODUCTION The validity and the reliability of research are one of the two main things which are to be looked at in order to substantiate the credibility of any research study (Saunder et al., 2003). The rationale behind the different methodologies adopted in order to analyse the proposed research question is called as the methodology of the study. The intention of the study, as well as rationale behind the study, is the two vital intents of any research process (Calder, 1998). This study was conducted from the consumers’ perspective and examined how one advertiser-controlled factor and two sets of consumer-related factors influenced consumers’ beliefs about Internet advertising. To obtain pertinent information and to arrive at conclusive results empirical analysis has been carried out using quantitative measures of analysis. The rationale and philosophy of the research methodology is studied using the onion approach. There is usage of the ‘onion’ model of research promoted by Saunder et al (2007). Answers to the research question are provided by a layer by layer approach to the

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proposed question. Uncovering of every layer explains the reason behind the particular approach and the reason behind the uncovering of the design.

Figure: 1

On next page

Interpretivism Research philosophy Deductive approach Quantitative analysis

Research approach

Primary data collection Data Collection

Research strategy Questionnaire method Survey instrument

Source: Adopted from Research Methods for Business Studied, Saunder, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003, Chapter 4, p.83 ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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The layers of the research onion represent the following aspects, as adopted by the researcher 1. Research philosophy 2. Research Approach 3. Research strategy 4. Data Collection methods used 5. Survey instrument was chosen

3.2 R ESEARCH

P HILOSOPHY

The thought process behind the analysis of the study from the researcher’s point of view is used to decide the investigate viewpoint involved in the analysis. The three main schools of thought behind determination of a research philosophy include the following: 1. Positivism 2. Interpretivism 3. Realism (Saunders et al. 2003). In order to understand the idealistic point of view, it is important to operate within the realms of operating research, and this leads to positivism. This type of approach while extremely effective in a scientific background of study has given mixed results when approached from a business or marketing point of view. This often seen in the social world of business due to the complexity of the situation (Remenyi et al., 1998). Interpretivism is often completely opposite to positivism. According to this research philosophy, no specific model can be used to study a research question when applied to a social world. This type of research philosophy is more useful when one considers the actual reality in a research environment. However, the interpretive method has its © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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drawbacks as result comparisons cannot be drawn from an interpretive analysis. A political or analytical framework cannot be established as any one particular model of study is approached in this method (McAnulla, 2006). Final research analysis is realism. According to this philosophy existence of reality is independent of thoughts or beliefs and this reality can often by extended to similar situations. Therefore, this research method is found to draw parallels from the previous two methods and arrive at an amalgamation of both the processes. However, this method indicates that there is independence between social forces involved and the factors influencing individual perception (Saunders

et al. , 2003).

This research analysis is focused from a realistic point of view. The findings of this study, therefore, have a structured framework and present an objective reality. This reality can be extended to similar social constructs. However, there is no influence on the results by the belief and attitude of the researcher (Remenyi

3.3 R ESEARCH

et al. , 1998).

A PPROACH

There are two different research approaches while looking at determining the research methodology. A first method is a deductive approach while the other is an inductive approach. The testing of different theories to arrive at a solution for the proposed question is called as the deductive method of analysis. A set of theories behind this particular research method is analyzed from previous research. This is the best method to come up with the hypothesis. This formulation helps in establishing the base for the hypothesis. Once this is carried out the testing of the hypotheses to arrive at a conclusion is used (Marcoulides 1998). In comparison, an inductive research approach starts from the observation of the provided data to arrive at research hypotheses. This hypothesis then helps in the ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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formulation of a theory. Therefore, this method involves the determination of concepts and theories from previously collected empirical data (Marcoulides, 1998). These approaches are fundamentally different; one is the top down while other is the bottom-up analysis. The research approach used here involves a top-down approach, i.e. it involves a deductive approach for two main reasons. 1. It is beyond the academic scope of the researcher to arrive at conclusive theories. 2. It is easier to collect empirical data once a set of hypotheses are formulated.

Figure: Deductive Versus Inductive Approach

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Source: adapted from Trochim (2001) 3.4 R

ESEARCH

S TRATEGY

A generic plan adopted by the researcher in order to answer a question is the best method of describing a strategy of research. “The research strategies will be a general plan of how you will go about answering the research question(s) you have set” (Saunders et al. 2000, p.92). Two different strategies are discussed: quantitative and qualitative. Empirical analysis of the variables as well determination of properties and relationships between them can be carried out by using quantitative approach. This type of analysis makes use of mathematical hypotheses as well models. Determination of connections between the empirical observations and the mathematical expectation of these observations in the form of proposed hypotheses can be carried out (Myers, 2000). Determinants of a particular variable without making use of mathematical models or hypotheses can be carried out by using qualitative measures of analysis. Qualitative analysis helps in presenting the study in an accessible manner and uses specific skills to present the details of the study in a descriptive manner (Creswell 2003). This research uses a quantitative measure of research strategy. Objectivity, generalization © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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as well as the reliability of the chosen research strategy can be arrived at by using quantitative tools of data analysis (Creswell 2003). However, when looks at qualitative tools of analysis are based on analyzing the available content presented in a nonnumerical format. Therefore, it is often generalized that quantitative study is objective in nature while the qualitative study is subjective in nature.

3.5. DATA COLLECTION METHOD: The research can be conducted properly only when the methods of data collection have been established and used correctly. There are two methods of data collection. These include secondary and primary data as discussed by Jackson (1994). Secondary data:

This is an inconspicuous method of collection of data. This data is

collected completely from academic theories and studies which are published and are made available to other researchers and scholars. This data is very important because it helps in building the review of the literature. In this study, the researcher has used both electronic database and libraries to obtain information from peerreviewed journals, books, and websites to understand the topic of study. It also helps in creating the framework for research. Primary data:

This is used for the quantitative study. It helps is arriving at a solution

to the proposed questions. It also helps in the provision of access to the participants of the study directly by the author. Therefore, there are no mistakes involved, and this helps in ensuring that no delay occurs in terms of analysis of data.

3.6. SURVEY INSTRUMENT USED:

The survey instrument was a questionnaire. In the questionnaire simple and rigid questions which were closed were proposed. This method helps in accessing a large number of respondents in a very short time (Creswell,2003). An average time of fifteen ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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minutes was required for the participants to complete the study. The first section of the questionnaire presented basic socio-demographic questions. The second part of the questionnaire determined the attitude of the participants towards the use of Internet for marketing purposes. The third section studied the attitude and beliefs of the participants thereby showing the user perception of internet marketing. The final section of this questionnaire deals with the determination of whether the push or pull factor is more effective as a tool for marketing. In some questions, a Likert scale was adopted. The Likert scale was adopted in order to ensure that a uniform scaling procedure could be adopted. There was a score given from 5 to 1 with people who agreed completely and strongly given a score of five while those who completely disagreed were given a score of 1. The other measures in between include agree, neutral and disagree. 3.7. RESEARCH LOCATION AND SAMPLE SIZE: The selection of a sample is dependent on the nature of the study, the study of the universe and size of the sample used. Miles and Huberman (1994) indicated that the purpose of the study is the most important to determine the sample as well as the size of the sample. The field study was conducted in Derby, Burton on Trent (United Kingdom) and in New Delhi, (India) . The study was conducted with college students. These students were found to have more exposure, and the younger population is generally more attuned to using digital technology. and the majority of research population chosen was university and college students. Also, the key reason behind choosing the university students was that they get free access to the internet, including free emailing and web surfing in their colleges. They are also frequently required to search online for information related to their coursework, and to submit assignments online. Furthermore, free internet MSN and Skype services are popular university student communication platforms. Therefore, use of the internet for university students is ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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relatively high in comparison to other segments. All of this justifies the need for the study being conducted on university students. Similar questionnaires were also distributed to the general public at the entry and exit points of Westfield shopping centre Derby providing them with prepaid envelopes so that they could fill out and return at their own convenience. The validation of the questionnaire was carried out using experts in the field. The participants in this study belonged to both sexes and different ethnic origins. The research was carried out at University of Derby Kedleston road, Burton College (UK). and Kamla Nagar College in New Delhi (India). These colleges were chosen in such a manner that they represented the entire population of New Delhi. There was the adoption of a specific measure of sampling. Everyone in ten students was asked to answer the survey. These students were approached at the main entrances of each of the universities in November 2010. An initial verbal filtering question of selected participants was used to ensure no duplication of responses. A total of 100 completed questionnaires were collected, and the number of questionnaires collected from each college was weighted based on the proportion of the student population at each College. 3.8. Ethical issues: Data collection, data analysis as well as data publication are the different aspects of research design which have ethical concerns (Burton 2000). The researcher has therefore considered the ethical implications in every step of the research. Anonymity has been promised to every participant of the research. Any willing participant of the research was treated with complete confidentiality. No personally identifiable information was demanded from the participants like name, phone number, address or email. Informed consent : The practice of informed consent was also diligently pursued. The reason why the research was conducted and the implications of it were disclosed to every participant ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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of the research. Such complete information at the beginning of the research helps in validating the research instrument. Dignity: The participants of the study were treated with at most respect and dignity. It has been indicated that sometimes participants viewed themselves as objects of the study and were forced to give answers to the questions. It was made absolutely clear to the participants that the study was completely voluntary in nature. Any questions raised by the volunteers were also dealt with immediately. Ethnicity: Care was taken not to offend the sensibilities of any one participant. The caste, ethnicity, creed and other factors were taken into consideration, and the questionnaire was framed in such a manner that it was completely neutral. The author made sure that no particular attention was given to one person, a group of people or one particular organization.

3.9. Data analysis: The data collected was the organized by entering it into the Microsoft Excel Software. The mean, percentage, cumulative percentage and variance were calculated. 3.10. Conclusions: A quantitative methodology was used to arrive at a specific method of research. This method has employed a questionnaire survey instrument to collect primary data. The following chapter gives information on the results of the survey instrument.

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CHAPTER FOUR: Findings and discussion: 4.1. Introduction: This chapter gives the results of the quantitative analysis. It is seen that the chapter has dealt with the user perception of internet marketing in terms of attitude, belief, and avoidance. It has also strived to understand if push or pull factors can be used as tools in marketing through the internet. The results are given are in the form of tables as well as graphs to promote easy discussion.

4.2. Socio-demographic parameters: 4.2.1. Preliminary analysis of questionnaires: A total number of 250 students were approached to fill the questionnaire. The following figure denotes the total number of questionnaires which were completed fully (88% complete, 12% incomplete) and retrieved as illustrated in figure 3. ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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Figure 3: Preliminary analysis if questionnaires

Number Of Respondents 100

50 Percentage 0 Retrieved questionnaires

Not Retrieved questionnaires

4.2.2. Socio-demographic parameters: The sex, age and educational qualification of the students were noted down as sociodemographic parameters. When the sex of the participants was considered, it is seen that there was gender equality. There were male (53%) and female participants (47%) as seen in the following figure 4. Figure 4: Gender of participants

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Gender of participants

Female 47%

Male 53%

The age parameters of the respondents are depicted in the following table 1, Table 1: Age of respondents Age F re que nc y

Percent

Cumulative Percent

15 - 19

28.1818

28.18182

2 20 - 24

43.6363

48.01653

6 25 – 29

21.3636

57.72727

4 30 and above

Total

220

6.818182

100.0

It is observed that most of the participants are between the age group of 20 -24 (43%) followed by those in age group 15-19 (28.1%) as shown in table 2. This is found to

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correlate to education parameters of the participants wherein it is observed the most of the participants were undergraduate students (63%) within the age group of 15-24. Table 2: Education of participants

Education Level

Postgraduate level

F re que n

Percen

Cumulative

Percent

26.363

26.36

64 UG

Under graduate level

140

63.636

36 MP

Master of philosophy/

hil/P

Doctor of philosophy

220

100

hD TOTAL

4.2.3. User demographics and user perception of internet marketing:

The user perception with relation to user demographic was studied from the point of view of a number of years of usage of the internet as a place for retail shopping by the respondents. From the following figure, it is clear that most of the students between the age group of 20- 24 have been using the internet for the last 2-3 years. The number of students using the internet less than 2 years has been high in the 15- 19 category. The students who have used the internet for 3-4 years and above are mostly 24 and above as depicted in the figure 5.

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Figure 5: Demographic profile – internet usage

Applying this to the education of the students, most postgraduate students and undergraduate students (3 or 4

year) use the internet more when compared to 1

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and 2 nd-year students. The students who have been utilized the internet for more than three years are students pursuing their doctorate or master of philosophy. When the students were questioned about their buying power, it was seen that most students above the age of 24 were able to buy products worth £100 or above as seen in the figure 6. The students between the ages of 15-19 and 19-24 were able to buy products less than £20 or £20 - £100. This shows that as the students became older, they had better purchasing power, especially the older doctoral and master of philosophy candidates who were likely to receive more amount as stipend hence may have a better source of income.

Figure 6: Demographic profile – Spending power

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The study by Moschis et al. 2004, has also shown that older consumers are more likely to shop online as they have greater spending power as well as brand or store loyalty. The study by Fox (2004) showed that while examining the role of the internet in promoting services in the health retail industry older consumers were more benefited, however, this study when attributed to the fashion or the food industry younger consumers were benefited. Therefore since this study was with regard to general internet advertising without taking into account, the specific industry may not be able to provide a clear picture. The study by Madden (2003) has shown that people with lesser education were less likely to pursue online ventures due to their lowered buying power. Similarly, the study by Venkatesh and Brown (2001) shows that people with lesser education often perceive the cost is high when compared to the relative usefulness of the product. ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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The user demographic profile clearly shows categorization in both usage of internet for the rationale of shopping as well as the spending power in these online markets. Therefore, H1: User demographic profile influences user perception of internet marketing. Is accepted.

4.3. Analysis of validity: The analysis of validity was carried out using the Cronbach’s alpha test. The satisfactory parameter for Cronbach’s alpha test is found to be 0.7. The validity parameters for the different variables was found to belief factors (0.94), attitude factors (0.97) and avoidance factors (0.97). This, therefore, is found to point out that the survey conducted had a lot of stability. The values obtained are observed in table 3.

Table 3: Reliability and validity

Cronbach's Variables

Alpha

Belief

0.948

Attitude

0.988

Avoidance

0.986

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4.4. Understanding belief, attitude and avoidance of user perception towards internet marketing: The participants were asked to rate their response on the basis of Likert Scale. Their responses were ten classified under three different sections. 1. Belief 2. Attitude 3. Avoidance The mean and standard deviation of the scores of the different responses were determined and proposed.

4.4.1. Belief towards internet marketing: The level of agreement of the participants of the study taking care of five points Likert scales to determines the belief towards internet advertising. The average response score was considered to be 3. Among the responses, it was determined that majority of the respondents strongly agreed with the idea of internet marketing being a source of latest fashion (Mean=4.54, SD= 1.3). This is in accordance with the observations made by Hines and Bruce (2004). They have noted that the increase in technological innovations has resulted in greater access to information via the internet. Internet shopping has become a global appeal. The internet offers important attributes to the retailers of fashion as well as luxury brands. They observe that the internet marketing makes international brands made available to people in any part of the world. It was also observed that most of the respondents felt that internet marketing gave the latest information about a product or service (Mean=4.32, SD= 1.03). This is again in accordance with the previously observed literature. The study by Breitenbach and Doren (1998) has shown that the current methods of internet marketing serve to provide better access to up to date information on existing and new products. Their study also showed that this was one

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a factor which helped attract the attention of increasingly sophisticated internet consumers. Participants of the study viewed that internet marketing is a vital source of details with regard to neighborhood sales and discounts (Means= 3.55 , SD= 1.29) and provides better information for the public (Mean= 3.51, SD= 1.30). However the study by Kannan and Koppale (2001) has shown that despite dynamic pricing measures for goods to promote better sales, often spurred on by consumer use of price comparison in websites, local sales and discount methods of marketing are more applicable to traditional marketing methods. Consumers are influenced by advertisement on sales on television and newspapers more than on the internet. The outlook of the participants of our study was found to be completely different. Table 4: User Belief towards internet marketing: Belief N

Minim

Maxi

Mea

Std.

mum

Devia tion

Internet marketing is a precious

220

3.55

1.294

220

3.51

1.302

220

4.32

1.238

foundation of information about neighbourhood

sales

and

discounts. Internet

marketing

enhanced

products

results

for

the

community Internet marketing helps me keep up-to-date

about

products/services available in the marketplaces.

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Internet

marketing

indispensable

supply

220

4.54

1.304

220

2.54

0.273

220

2.50

0.266

220

3.55

1.250

220

3.56

1.272

information about newest style. Internet marketing helps to raise our standard of living. In general, Internet marketing helps our nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy In general, Internet marketing promotes

competition,

which

benefits the consumer Internet accurate

marketing information

provides about

products/services.

Respondents viewed that marketing measures through the internet promotes competition (Mean = 3.55, SD=1.25), and provides accurate information about different services (Mean= 3.56, SD= 1.27). In support of the dissertation results, the study by Degeratu et al. (1998) has shown that sensitivity towards price has been better online thereby provoking competition among retailers. In contrast to the observations of this report, the study by Lynch and Dan (2000) on the sale of wine online has shown that the consumers were not satisfied with the information available about the product and services. The two factors which were not supported by the consumers, especially in India, was that internet marketing improved the standards of living (Mean = 2.54, SD= 0.27) and boosted the national economy (Mean= 2.50, SD= 0.26). This is agreement with the current retail trends in India. Despite the growing rate of retail business in India the report by Indian Brand Equity Foundation has shown that in the year 2010 when ÂŠ 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

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compared to the year 2009, there was a decrease in internet retailing by 6.73%. This shows that internet retailing despite the growth of internet and computer penetration in India contributes a very small amount to the overall sales of the retail industry (IBEF, 2010). Overall it is seen that most of the factors discussed under the belief towards internet marketing by users had an above average mean (>3). Therefore, H3: The user belief towards internet advertising influences user perception of internet marketing. Can be accepted.

4.4.2. Attitude towards internet marketing: The level of agreement of the participants of the study taking care of five points Likert scales to determines their attitude towards internet advertising. The average response score was considered to be 3. The results are portrayed in table 4:

The respondents strongly viewed that internet marketing promoted a materialistic society (Mean= 4.55, SD=1.28) and most people purchased online to impress their peers (Mean= 4.2, SD=1.23). The views of the participants are in accordance with previously published studies. The report by Shaughnessy and Shaughnessy (2002) shows that increasing globalization has led to the evolution of hedonistic consumer society. They attribute this to the evolution of modern day marketing practices including internet marketing. The study by Wang and Sun (2010) was to conduct an investigation of the differences in the impact of internet advertising across different cultures such as Romania and USA. The study report has shown that consumers in both countries viewed internet marketing as tools to accessorize in order to impress their peers.

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Table 4: User attitude towards internet advertising Attitude N

Minim

Maxi

Std.

mum

Devia tion

Internet marketing encourages folks to

buy something to make an impact on

4.5

1.287

others Internet marketing promotes a money-

orientated society.

In general, Internet marketing does not

provide a true representation of the

4.2

1.237

0 1

3.6

1.218

product advertised. Because

Internet

marketing,

individuals buy a lot of belongings that

3.5

1.236

they do not really necessitate The government does not regulate

Internet marketing.

Sometimes, I enjoy thinking about what I

perceive on Internet marketing.

Sometimes Internet advertisements are

even more pleasurable than other media

3.5 9

3.5

1.250

5 1

3.5 6

contents.

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1.243

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The respondents also believed that they were satisfied with the marketing techniques pursued online (Mean= 3.55, SD=1.25) and viewed internet marketing measures are more enjoyable compared to other methods (Mean= 3.56, SD=1.24). The paper by (Pavlou and Stewart 2000) has shown that internet marketing heralds the growth of the new marketing concept of interactive advertising, thereby promoting the role of the clientele in the

resolution of the efficacy of advertising. This challenges the

conventional concepts and supposition with regard to advertising. The respondents of the study thus were of the attitude that internet marketing was an evolving and new concept in advertising. The respondents have also recognized the unconstructive bearing of internet advertising. They solidly approved that internet marketing does not provide a spot on view of the product advertised (Mean= 3.6, SD= 1.2). The study by Tsikriktsis (2002) has shown that many consumers are of the opinion that the product once shipped to them are not of the exact specifications provided on the website. This opinion, however, is found to vary across different countries and cultures. The respondents also felt that internet marketing enables people to buy what they do not need (Mean= 3.5, SD= 1.2). The respondents also viewed that the regulations put forth by the government were not very stringent when it comes to internet marketing (Mean= 3.59, SD= 1.26). In India despite Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) bringing forth rules with regard to internet advertising there, there is a need for the Government of India to bring forth a law to ensure that the the regulations are followed (Media Sarkar 2010). Overall it is that all the factors discussed under the attitude section towards internet marketing by users had an above average mean (>3).

Therefore,

H2: The user attitude towards internet advertising influences user perception of internet marketing.

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Can be accepted.

4.4.3. Avoidance of internet marketing: The level of agreement of the participants of the study taking care of five points Likert scales to determines their avoidance of internet advertising. The average response score was considered to be 3. The results are viewed in the following table 5. The participants were mostly against those attributes which would encourage user avoidance of internet. The only aspect which had an above average score was that internet advertising would promote certain undesirable aspects and values in the community (Mean = 3.05). It is to be seen that most of them did not consider internet advertising as an insult to the intelligence (1.7) or promotion of negative factors (Mean = 2.7). A study by Cho and Cheon (2004) has shown that most reasons for avoidance of online advertising include slow information retrieval, advertising clutter, and relevance. The consumers avoid internet advertising only because of the following factors and not because of its impact on the society.

Table 5: User avoidance towards internet marketing .Avoidance N

Minim

Maxi

Mea

Std.

mum

Devia tion

Most Internet advertising distorts the

220

1.44

0.268

220

1.40

0.305

values of our youth. Most Internet advertising insults the intelligence of the average consumer.

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Internet

advertising

promotes

220

3.05

0.290

220

2.73

0.258

undesirable values in our society. Some products in Internet advertising have negative effects on our society.

Overall it is that all the factors discussed under the attitude section towards internet marketing by users had a less than average mean (<3). Therefore, H4: The user avoidance towards internet advertising influences user perception of internet marketing. Cannot be accepted.

4.5. Push versus Pull factor: Better tool of internet marketing:

In order to analyze if push or pull approach was a better tool for internet marketing, the paired t test was conducted. The responses of the participants were measured for pop ads as a push tool and sponsored links as a pull tool and the average score and standard deviation in both the cases was determined as shown in the following table 6. Table 6: Paired sample statistics Paired Samples Statistics Me a n Pair