A comparison of attitudes towards Internet advertising among lifestyle segments in Taiwan

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Journal of Marketing Communications

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A comparison of attitudes towards

Internet advertising among lifestyle

segments in Taiwan

Kenneth C. C. Yang

a Department of Communication , The University of T exas at El

Paso , 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, TX 79968‐0566, USA

Published online: 17 May 2010.

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JOURNAL OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 10 195–212 (September 2004)

Journal of Marketing Communications ISSN 1352–7266 print/ISSN 1466–4445 online

© 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd /journals

DOI:10.1080/1352726042000181657

A comparison of attitudes towards Internet advertising among lifestyle segments in Taiwan

KENNETH C. C. YANG

Department of Communication, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, TX 79968-0566, USA

As the Internet gradually diffuses throughout more sectors in society many advertisers have begun to consider the diversity in various aspects of consumer behaviour among Internet users. As Internet users’ attitudes towards Internet advertising are found to influence their brand attitudes and purchase intentions, the study can contribute to the design and assessment of Internet advertising. The study identified potential lifestyle segments among Internet users and examined the relationships between lif estyle segments and their attitudes towards Internet advertising. This study surveyed 700Internet users and employed a lif estyle segmentation approach f or categorizing consumers into three distinct lifestyle groups: ‘experiencers’, ‘traditionalists’ and ‘self-indulgents’. Statistical analyses pointed out that all three groups dif f ered f rom one another in several demographic characteristics. Moreover, the lifestyle clusters were found partly to predict Internet users’ attitudes towards Internet advertising. The find-ings of the present study provide justifications for marketers to treat Internet users as a heterogeneous group. Furthermore, advertising researchers should be aware of the diversity of the Internet population in order to assess the ef f ectiveness of Internet advertising better.

KEYWORDS: Internet advertising; attitudes towards Internet advertising; lifestyle segmentation;cluster analysis; factor analysis

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Before the bust in late 2000, few had ever pondered whether there was a need for increasing corporate profits by customizing marketing communications for different segments of Internet users (J.W. Kim et al ., 2001). According to the market-tracking firm (2003) at least 4854 Internet companies were either acquired or declared bankruptcy in the three years following the investment boom in the first quarter of 2000. As s accounted for two-thirds of the advertising dollars spent on-line in 2000 in the USA (Rosner, 2002) it is important for advertising practitioners and researchers to identify the factors affecting the effectiveness of Internet advertising.

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