The interaction effects of congruence type, assessment perspective and social distance on visit intention
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 17 May 2022
Issue publication date: 26 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the three-way interaction effects among congruence type (proximal vs distal) of nonverbal ad messages, assessment perspective (internal vs external) of verbal ad messages and social distance (close vs faraway) on consumers’ visit intention.
Design/methodology/approach
After developing the four categories of restaurant advertisements and scenarios for each type of social distance, the authors used 780 observations collected from Chinese consumers via the online survey platform Sojump and WeChat. The authors conducted ANOVA to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results reveal that in proximal congruence situations, consumers who feel a close social distance between themselves and their companions report higher visit intentions when exposed to internal versus external perspective-oriented ad messages; in distal congruence situations, external perspective-oriented ad messages elicit higher intention to visit advertised restaurant when consumers feel a far social distance between themselves and their companions.
Research limitations/implications
Future research can focus on the different categories of messages, such as functional and experiential messages, to find whether similar interaction effects are explored or not.
Practical implications
This paper suggests some practical implications for advertisers to maximize the impact of advertisements on consumers’ behavioral outcomes via combining the different characteristics of nonverbal and verbal messages effectively, especially according to their target consumers’ characteristics.
Originality/value
In the view of the three-way interaction effects, this paper offers a new lens on understanding how advertisements influence consumers’ behavioral outcomes, which could contribute to the advancement of advertisement theories.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Jiangsu Social Science Foundation Project (Grant number: 21GLC016) and the general project of University Philosophy and Social Science Research Project (Grant Number: 2020SJA1408).
Citation
Wang, L., Shen, X., Yan, L. and Li, P. (2022), "The interaction effects of congruence type, assessment perspective and social distance on visit intention", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 34 No. 10, pp. 3743-3763. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2021-1240
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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