Social Media Advertisements and Purchase Intention: Attitude as a Mediator

Abstract

Advertisement expenditures incurred by companies for advertising on social media is seen to be growing rapidly worldwide. Especially, In the middle eastern region where Saudi Arabia is seen witnessing rapid growth in social media users and increased advertising on social media every year. However, despite of growing importance of social media advertising almost negligible studies are seen in the literature dedicated for examining effectiveness of social media advertisements in Saudi Arabian context. This study deeply examines the effectiveness of social media advertisements in terms of its perceived usefulness, entertainment and irritation on purchase intention. The sample of this study comprised of 345 active social media users residing in Saudi Arabia. The results of this study reported significant positive relationship of perceived usefulness of ads and ad entertainment and significant negative relationship of ad irritation with purchase intention. Full mediation of attitude towards social media ads is reported in relationships of perceived usefulness of ads, ad entertainment and ad irritation with purchase intention. Limitations and future research directions are also further discussed in this study.