In addition, this study concerns the ‘‘overall effectiveness’’ of Internet advertisements instead of single or recall effects, and probably contributes to the difference in our results when compared to results obtained by others. It is worth noting that the study shows that the variables‘Internet advertising attitude’ and ‘‘product involvement’’are important intermediary variables; this is an important finding, and further discussions are to be encouraged.
5. Conclusion and implications 5.1. Conclusions
The survey found that contact and attention determined Taiwanese travel agencies’ Internet-based advertisement’s effectiveness. A layered, positive relation ship exists amongst the variables ‘Internet advertising contact and attention’,‘Internet advertising attitude’, and ‘Internet advertising effects’ . Although the level of importance placed on content design by consumers did not produce a significant effect on advertisements’ effectiveness, the two intermediary variables, ‘product involvement degree’ and ‘Internet advertising attitude’ may reinforce its effect on Internet-based advertisements. Thus these two dimensions act as important antecedents determining Internet marketing effectiveness in the tourism industry.
The attitude toward Internet advertising produces relatively greater intermediate effects between Internet advertising contact, attention and Internet advertising effectiveness. The other intermediary variable, product involvement, produces greater intermediate effects in (a) perceptions of content design and (b) the advertisement’s effect. Both ‘Internet advertising attitude’ and ‘product involvement’ are significant mediators. The more positive the attitude towards Internet-based advertising and the higher the product involvement, the more effective the advertising. From previous studies on factors of advertising effects, it has been found that attitudes toward advertisements play the major role of a mediating variable (Brown & Stayman,1992; Homer, 1990; MacKenzie & Lutz, 1989); however, if product involvement is also listed as an intermediary variable, and the dual effect of the mediator is considered, then differences should be noted. This study implies that the degree of product involvement plays an important role in advertising effects, and constitutes an important finding of this study.