Graduation Year
2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Marketing
Major Professor
Sajeev Varki, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Anand Kumar, Ph.D.
Committee Member
James Stock, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Jennifer Bosson, Ph.D.
Keywords
Digital consumer vehavior, digital marketing, social media marketing, social media advertising
Abstract
Social media has become an integral part of consumers’ lives and a popular platform for interactive marketing communication. In an age boasting of unprecedented digital connectivity, loneliness (defined as perceived social isolation) has, paradoxically, becoming widespread, affecting consumers’ preferences for products and brands in the marketplace. The present research extends the feelings-as-information theory and develops a conceptual framework in which loneliness modifies people’s cognitive processing style and induces concrete thinking in the context of evaluating social media messages. Using a mixed methods research approach, I first take a close look through the lens of a qualitative study at what it is like for the average consumer to experience loneliness. Additional experiments show that lonely consumers have higher digital engagement with concrete (vs. abstract) social media ads. Broadly, my findings on the effects of loneliness on consumers’ digital engagement with social media ads highlight the fact that loneliness may render different types of social media ads (abstract versus concrete) more or less effective.
Scholar Commons Citation
Qin, Yu, "The Effects of Loneliness on Consumers’ Digital Engagement with Social Media Ads" (2017). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/6931
