The purpose of this study was twofold: to investigate the structural relationships between patrons’ emotional responses induced by advertising, their perceived value, and their behavioral intentions in the chain restaurant industry; and to investigate which attributes of advertising bear the strongest impact on behavioral intentions. Based on the literature review, six evaluative dimensions of advertising were derived: relevant news, brand reinforcement, stimulation, empathy, familiarity, and confusion. Theoretical relationships between these six evaluative dimensions and patrons’ emotional responses, perceived value, and behavioral intentions were derived based on the literature review. Following the collection and analysis of data obtained from chain restaurant patrons, it was found that four dimensions of advertising in particular (relevant news, stimulation, empathy, and familiarity) have a significant impact on inducing emotional responses in patrons. Among the four dimensions, stimulation was found to bear the most significant effect on patrons’ emotional responses. It can thus be stated that advertising-induced emotional responses positively influence patrons’ perceived value. During this study, it was found that the level of arousal induced by advertising plays a moderating function in the relationship between patrons’ emotional responses and hedonic value. The possible interpretations of these findings and their managerial implications are discussed in the latter part of this article.
Historically, it has been strongly believed that advertising influences customers’ behavioral intensions (Lewis, 1981). For this reason, chain restaurant companies invest tremendous amount of expenditure on advertising. For example, T.G.I. Friday invests $71 million in advertising annually, Red Lobster spends $90 million, and Applebee's invests $126 million (Advertising Age, 2006). As the chain restaurant business environment becomes ever more competitive, advertising expenditures are increasing correspondingly. In this competitive climate, it is critical to understand the ways in which advertising effectiveness can be maximized in order to induce patrons’ positive behavioral intentions. Chain restaurant marketers therefore require a practical model for linking successful advertising attributes and patrons’ behavioral intentions.
However, our understanding of how advertising influences patrons’ behavioral intentions is relatively weak within the chain restaurant industry. A major stream of marketing studies exists that has postulated that advertising induces emotional responses in customers and impacts their behavioral intentions (e.g. Holbrook and O'Shaughnessy, 1984, Olney et al., 1991, Lazarus, 1982, Stout and Leckenby, 1986, Stout and Rust, 1993, Chang, 2006, Geuens and De Pelsmacker, 1998, Duncan and Nelson, 1985, Stern, 1992, Zajonc et al., 1974, Macinnis and Park, 1991 and Ellsworth, 2003). However, advertising is composed of a variety of complex dimensions and attributes, such as information regarding a product, entertainment factors, and elements that induce emotional involvement (Schlinger, 1979a). It is therefore critical to assess which specific attributes of advertising bear the strongest impact on chain restaurant customers’ emotional responses and behaviors, and to maximize advertising effectiveness accordingly. Moreover, it is widely accepted that the impact of emotional responses on behavioral intention is mediated by customers’ perceived value (Finucane et al., 2000, Schwarz, 1990, Bruner, 1957 and Johns and Saks, 2005). Emotional response, then, is the factor that modifies the customer's perceived value, and behavior is largely influenced by the perceived value (Schwarz and Clore, 1988 and Zajonc, 1980).
The purposes of this study were twofold: to investigate the structural relationships between advertising, emotional responses induced by advertising, patrons’ perceived value, and behavioral intentions in the chain restaurant industry; and to investigate which attributes in advertising bear the strongest impact on patrons’ behavioral intentions. Based on the literature review, six evaluative dimensions of advertising were derived: relevant news, brand reinforcement, stimulation, empathy, familiarity, and confusion. Two dimensions of emotional responses were adapted from the existing literature: pleasure and arousal. Two dimensions of perceived value were proposed: utilitarian value and hedonic value. Theoretical relationships between six evaluative dimensions of advertising, two dimensions of emotion, two dimensions of perceived value, and behavioral intentions were derived based on the literature review.
