Perceived Humor and Purchase Intention: Mediating Role of Attitude towards the Advertisement and Brand

Abstract

In order to investigate the purchase intention of the customers, and its relationship with perceived humor, this research analyses different types of humor that have been used in advertising campaigns. In this regard, multi-mediation analysis has been applied keeping in mind the perspective of humor in advertising; moreover, attitudes towards the advertisement, and attitudes towards the brand are used as sequential mediators. In addition, self-monitoring and message arguments have also been included as moderators in order to estimate the interaction effect in the proposed model. The data has been gathered from 617 respondents after showing them relevant advertisements. After checking the normality of the data, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis was applied using AMOS. Also, Simple Linear Regression was used to test simple relationships; however, complex models have also been tested by using the hierarchal regression (to test moderation), and the bootstrapping (to test mediation) methods. A good fit between the data and the tested model was observed. As predicted, the purchase intentions were positively related to perceived humor, and evidence of full mediation effect was found. However, for the moderation of self-monitoring and message arguments, the findings were distinctive. In reality, this research can be used by mature brands which mostly require the use of persuasive advertising. As the results of different types of humor, collectively, are significant, it can be inferred that companies must use a mix method approach in terms of types of humor they might resort to in their advertisement campaigns. Findings are particularly noteworthy for national and multinational media agencies in Pakistan, as well in the other parts of the world.