Volume 12 - Issue 65
/ May 2023
307
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.65.05.29
How to Cite:
Spasova, L. (2023). Influence of gender and marital status on susceptibility of persuasion strategies in advertisement. Amazonia
Investiga, 12(65), 307-316. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.65.05.29
Influence of gender and marital status on susceptibility of persuasion
strategies in advertisement
Влияние на пола и семейния статус върху податливостта на убеждаващите
стратегии в реклама
Received: February 8, 2023 Accepted: May 1, 2023
Written by:
Lyubomira Spasova1
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1438-9104
Web of Science Researcher ID: GYJ-1692-2022
Abstract
The study has two main objectives: to find out
what is the susceptibility of individuals to the
persuasion strategies of Cialdini 's persuasive
power according to gender and to determine
some characteristics of users with different
marital status in social influence. Cialdini's
(2001-2021) persuasion strategies (principles),
as well as Keptein's STPS (2009), were applied
to measure the susceptibility to persuasion of
individuals of both genders with different marital
status. The results of an analysis of variance
(ANOVA), measuring the influence of gender,
showed that on the criterion of susceptibility to
persuasion, males were more influenced by the
following strategies: liking, reciprocity,
authority, and social proof relative to females
with the exception of the principle of
commitment and consistency, and individuals
who are divorced, separated and widowed
responded positively to strategies such as social
proof, scarcity and authority. Through regression
analysis, social influence was found for
unmarried users with respect to the reciprocity
principle, as well as authority and scarcity when
combining the latter strategies. Individuals who
are cohabiting or married, as well as divorced,
separated, and widowed, gave positive
advertising responses to the scarcity principle,
but cohabiting and married consumers exhibiting
commitment and consistency under the influence
of advertising. Hence, this study can serve
organizations offering products and services
through advertising, and its originality lies in the
1
Senior Lecturer PhD at Faculty of Economics, Department of Social Sciences and Business Language Training, Trakia University,
Bulgaria.
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findings of mixed consumer responses regarding
gender and marital status.
Keywords: persuasive strategies, advertising
response to persuasion, STPS.
Introduction
This article discusses some of the features of
persuasion principles that can be applied in
communication, marketing, political science,
social psychology, journalism, advertising, and
consumer psychology that use persuasion
(Knowles & Linn, 2004). There are many reasons
for the ongoing research on gender as well as
other consumer psycho-demographics regarding
the applicability of persuasive principles in
advertising, but the main one is that gender is the
first most commonly manipulated factor that is
associated with marital status. Furthermore, by
segmenting consumers by gender and marital
status, and understanding the social influence
achieved that alters consumer satisfaction and
behaviour (Peterson & Wilson, 1992), successful
advertising influence is achieved. To be able to
interpret and effectively use persuasion
principles in advertising, it is necessary to
understand what defines them as well as know
which variables or factors relate to them
(Oyewole, Sankaran & Choudhury, 2008).
Typically, socio-demographic factors are well
known in the determinants of persuasive
communication as they demonstrate significant
effects on consumer behaviour, behavioural
psychology, and the establishment of individual
consumer differences in persuasion (Brug,
Oenema & Campbell, 2003). Since there are a lot
of empirical evidences regarding gender in the
persuasion literature, but there is not enough
research to date on whether marital status affects
consumers' susceptibility to persuasive strategies
in advertising, there is a need for new scientific
research.
The paper is organized as follows: the first
section reviews previous literature on the
determinants of persuasive strategies, as well as
some demographic characteristics of advertising
consumers. Consistent with this review,
hypotheses were formed regarding gender and
marital status differences on achieving
advertising effectiveness through the use of
persuasive strategies. The following sections
present the research methodology for measuring
persuasive principles and respondents'
susceptibility to persuasion, as well as some
gender and marital characteristics of consumers.
The last section of the study comments on the
results obtained, as well as generalizations about
the social influence achieved through advertising
among different groups of consumers, and
recommendations for future research on
persuasion principles in advertising.
Literature Review
A number of research studies have found that
gender as well as marital status are positively
associated with individuals' physical and
psychological well-being (Glenn, 1975;
Williams, 1988), and gender differences in well-
being between legally married and unmarried
individuals can largely determine consumer
behavior following the impact of advertising.
Other researchers have pointed out that the
assumption of certain social roles in life (Baber
& Tucker, 2006), as well as the derivation of
benefits from marriage (Williams, 1988),
determines the ways in which information from
an external source is perceived (Kaptein, Aarts,
Ruyter & Markopoulos, 2009; Kaptein & Eckles,
2010a). On the other hand, Fogg and Eckles
(2007) demonstrate that persuasive principles
achieve reliable influence among diverse
individuals, segmented by gender as well as other
demographic characteristics when persuasion is
delivered at the right time, in the right way, with
the right message (Fogg & Eckles, 2007). These
findings identify three important aspects of
persuasive communication: 1) first, the
transmission and reception of information must
take place under appropriate conditions; 2)
second, the advertising message must reach a
group of consumers with specific characteristics:
gender and marital status; 3) third,
the susceptibility to persuasion, which has a
direct relationship to the individual
characteristics of consumers, can largely
determine their final behavior. Although many
researchers in the field of persuasive
communication argue about the number of
persuasive strategies and the conditions for
conducting persuasion, as well as what
determines the construction of persuasion - the
Spasova, L. / Volume 12 - Issue 65: 307-316 / May, 2023
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adaptation of the user's characteristics to the
persuasion or vice versa, it is found to achieve an
effect in all areas of public life. Furthermore,
many researchers in different subject areas have
attempted to apply persuasion strategies to
achieve different outcomes. For example, Fogg
develops a framework to support the design and
evaluation of technological persuasion systems
and proposes 40 strategies (Fogg, 2009);
Kellermann and Cole (1994) collect 64
taxonomies that describe different persuasion
strategies and their operationalization to achieve
social influence (Kellermann & Cole, 1994); but
there are also those researchers who have listed
over 100 strategies for social influence (Rhoads,
2007) and then point out specific ones for use in
practice. The reasons for these differences are the
result of researchers' desire to be comprehensive
or to emphasize different details. More
importantly, influence strategies can be useful in
research to ascertain the individual
characteristics of consumers, as well as to draw
conclusions about consumer behavior.
In this study, persuasion strategies (or persuasion
principles) are applied to social influence R.
Cialdini (2001-2021), with the main objective of
identifying the effects of these persuasive
principles among different advertising
consumers (Cialdini, 2001; Cialdini, 2016;
Cialdini, 2021). Social psychologists are not only
interested in the persuasion achieved, but also
advocate for the outcomes of gender differences
in the perception of well-being among legally
married and their unmarried peers (Aneshensel,
Frerichs, & Clark, 1981; Radloff, 1975; Glenn,
1975) when using products and services from
online commerce. On the other hand,
psychologists attempt to analyze adaptations of
persuasive strategies in identifying individual
differences of personality (Gerber et al., 2009;
Ribeiro et al., 2011), and marketers are interested
in adapting sales tactics to individuals with
certain characteristics (McFarland et al., 2006).
Among other things, there are empirical
evidences that summarizes that with the advent
of mass media and technology, mediated
communication, as well as persuasion attempts
have increased significantly. This is evidenced
by the fact that conversion rates in physical stores
are many times higher than those in e-commerce
(Moe & Fader, 2004). The main contribution of
this thesis to our understanding of human
behavior is to provide a description of one of the
antecedents of persuasive effectiveness in a way
that facilitates large-scale application. To
examine the achieved impact of persuasion, some
individual differences of users by gender and
marital status in responses to persuasive social
influence strategies are found. In another study of
ours, the practical application of persuasive
principles in advertising was shown to be directly
related to gender and age characteristics of target
groups (Spasova, 2022), and a number of causal
relationships between persuasive principles and
advertising recall were also found, where
persuasion is carried out through a peripheral
route (Petty & Wegener, 1999).
In a content analysis on persuasive strategies to
achieve social influence among different
advertising consumers, it is clear that some of the
individual differences of respondents appear to
be stable over time and also across contexts
(Payan & McFarland, 2005). Therefore,
improving understanding of advertising
consumers' responses to persuasive strategies,
and combining them to achieve more effective
impact, is an important research question where
the chances of success in advertising
communication increase in some cases (Kaptein,
Aarts, Ruyter, & Markopoulos, 2009). However,
some theoretical and empirical evidence suggests
that combining persuasive strategies in social
influence does not always achieve success
(Kaptein, et al., 2010b). This is the reason to look
for explanations in another direction, i.e. whether
advertising effectiveness is achieved when
combining persuasive principles (also called
persuasive strategies) against individual
differences of a group of consumers (Kaptein &
van Halteren, 2012a). In addition, there is a need
to explain the achieved influence of certain
demographic characteristics such as gender and
marital status on the achieved social influence.
The findings made by various researchers
regarding the average behavior of groups of
individuals in general towards repetitive
behavior should not be ignored (Perloff, 2003),
because the dynamics in repetitive behavior have
a direct bearing on the adaptation of previous
consumer responses (Payan & McFarland, 2005).
Thus, human behavior appears to be highly
variable with respect to individuals'
characteristics, but consistent within the
persuasion process through different strategies
(Kaptein, Aarts, Ruyter, & Markopoulos, 2009).
Consequently, if advertising and marketing
professionals want to persuade on a large scale,
and through actual impact achieved among a
large number of individuals with common
characteristics, they need to apply combinations
of persuasive strategies that match
personalization with well-defined goals. In order
to establish inferred causal relationships in the
influence of persuasive strategies in different
communication processes, scientific theories
need to be based on some new research on the
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course of certain psychological processes in
consumers (Noar, Benac & Harris, 2007).
This study hypothesizes that persuasion achieves
greater effectiveness among consumers who are
married in both genders relative to consumers of
advertising who are not married or are divorced
and widowed over time. This argument is
consistent with some studies which have found
that gender differences in the effect of marital
status on consumer satisfaction may be due to
different orientations and expectations that men
and women bring to the use of advertised
products and services (Vanfossen, 1981).
Because women are more likely to connect with
the more emotional content of products, they are
also more sensitive to the emotional nuances of
product consumption and have more intimate
connections with others than male consumers
would exhibit (Williams, 1988). In addition, it
has been suggested that consumers' social roles,
i.e. their gender identity, as well as certain
manifested family traits, may determine their
online shopping behavior (Williams, 1988;
Baber & Tucker, 2006). Hence, the findings in
this study on the achievement of persuasion
among different groups of consumers through
persuasive strategies in advertising may
contribute to findings in other studies focusing on
consumers' susceptibility to persuasion and its
determinants as part of demographic variables
(Oyewole, 2001; Ringle, Sarstedt &
Zimmermann, 2011; Kim, Vogt & Knutson,
2015). They are important for existing
advertising professionals, as well as for all
researchers interested in persuasion processes.
According to these previous researches, the
researcher puts forward the following
hypotheses:
Hypothesis 0: There are no gender differences, as
well as differences by marital status, in the
effects of persuasive principles on consumers'
overall persuasiveness;
Hypothesis 1: There are gender differences, as
well as differences by marital status, in the
effects of persuasive principles on consumers'
general persuasiveness;
Hypothesis 2: There are gender differences, as
well as differences by marital status, in the
effects of persuasive principles relative to the
effects of their combined social influence.
In view of previous research that has found a
number of relationships between persuasive
strategies and some individual characteristics of
consumers, this paper seeks to examine the
differential sensitivity of consumers to an
adapted and modified version of the scale
proposed by Kaptein Ruyter, Markopoulos, and
Aarts - Susceptibility to Persuasion Strategies
Scale (STPS) (2009), as well as the application
of some persuasive strategies in advertising
(Kaptein Ruyter, Markopoulos & Aarts, 2009).
The reason for conducting the study is that there
are different perspectives on achieving
advertising effectiveness among consumers with
different demographic characteristics, when
combining strategies, and the strength of impact
achieved when applying one or more strategies.
The results of this study attempt to clarify some
problematic aspects in the persuasion process.
Methodology
The research methodology includes the general
scientific principles for systematization and
generalization of the research results on the
achieved effects of advertising influence through
persuasive social influence strategies. The
purpose of this study is to determine the
influence of gender and marital status on
consumers' susceptibility to the offer of various
persuasive claims in advertising, and the
resulting positive and negative consumer
advertising responses. An adapted and modified
version of the STPS questionnaire or
Susceptibility to Persuasion Strategies Scale,
developed by Kaptein, Ruyter, Markopoulos and
Aarts (Kaptein et al., 2009), is proposed to
measure individual respondents' susceptibility to
persuasion strategies. After establishing some
features of the respondents' susceptibility to
persuasion by gender and marital status, some
individual reactions of the respondents to the
persuasive principles of R. Cialdini (2001-2021)
and their combined influence in advertising are
sought (Cialdini, 2001; Cialdini, 2016; Cialdini,
2021). In this study, a paper-based survey was
implemented with the following modules: 1) first
module - identifying respondents' individual
susceptibility to persuasion principles using an
adapted and modified version of the STPS
questionnaire or Susceptibility to Persuasion
Strategies Scale, developed by Kaptein, Ruyter,
Markopoulos and Aarts (Kaptein, Ruyter,
Markopoulos & Aarts, 2009). 2) second module
- subjective-objective evaluation of consumers of
advertisements containing persuasive strategies;
3) third module - demographic characteristics of
respondents to identify some individual
characteristics in the impact of advertising. The
statements in the advertisements are constructed
to match the persuasion strategies: 1) Statements
containing only one persuasion strategy: Sports
shoe advertisement featuring an authoritative
personality (authority); Internet advertisement
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offering a product for a short period (scarcity);
Cosmetics advertisement featuring a discount
(reciprocity); Cosmetics advertisement featuring
a beautiful woman (liking); Cosmetics
advertisement featuring an online game
(commitment and consistency); 2) Statements
containing two persuasive strategies: Handbag
advertisement featuring a popular influencer and
many likes (unity and social proof); Online
advertising expert recommends a very rare
product for a short period of time (authority and
scarcity); Online food advertisement with many
likes and making purchases (liking and social
proof); Online advertisement featuring a
celebrity and receiving a gift (authority and
reciprocity). Respondents must accept or reject
statements about advertisements with one or two
persuasive strategies. The adapted and modified
version of the STPS questionnaire or
Susceptibility to Persuasion Strategies Scale,
developed by Kaptein, Ruyter, Markopoulos, and
Aarts (Kaptein et al., 2009), contains 35 items
(5 items for one subscale): 26 statements from
Kaptein and 9 author statements. The
respondents answered a total of 35 questions on
a five-point Likert-type scale, which includes
grades from 1 - I do not agree, to 5 - I agree.
Cronbach's alpha was used to test the reliability
of an adapted and modified version of the STPS
questionnaire (Kaptein et al., 2009). The
reliability of Liking Scale is α=0.77, the
reliability of Social Scale is α=0.82, the
reliability of Commitment and Consistency Scale
is α=0.79, the reliability of Scarcity Scale is
α=0.95, the reliability of Reciprocity Scale is
α=0.92, the reliability of Unity Scale is α=0.85,
the reliability of Authority Scale is α=0.78. For
the whole sample, the Cronbach's alpha
coefficient is α=0.803. As the values exceed the
minimum recommended value of α=0.70
(DeVellis, 2012), the internal consistency for the
respective subscales is sufficiently high, i.e. the
items that make them up form a common scale
(Ganeva, 2016).
Results and Discussion
The study was conducted in the period from early
2021 to early 2022. Self-reported data were
collected from a total sample of 300 respondents
distributed across six age groups, ensuring a 95%
representative size (being e = ± 5%; p = q = 0.50).
Each case from the general population was
equally likely to be included in the study. All
respondents filled in the questionnaire on paper
because this ensures the correctness of the
answers. According to these criteria, the total
sample was 52% male (156 people) and 48%
female (144 people), и според семейния статус
– 62,7 % (188 people) – single, 25,7 % (77
people) – cohabiting or married, 11,7 % (35
people) – divorced, separated or widowed. To
determine the influence of persuasion principles
on different groups of respondents formed by
gender, a one-way analysis of variance
(ANOVA) was applied. The hypothesis that the
arithmetic means of the persuasive principles
were different with respect to gender was also
tested, and the results of the one-factor analysis
of variance (ANOVA) are presented in Table 1.
Table 1.
Influence of gender on susceptibility to persuasion principles (ANOVA)
Susceptibility to persuasion principles
F
p
Mean (Male)
Mean
(Female)
Principle of liking
3.24
0.04
3.43
3.19
Principle of reciprocity
2.28
0.02
3.59
3.47
Principle of authority
2.39
0.00
3.57
3.51
Principle of commitment and consistency
2.24
0.00
3.56
3.61
Principle of social proof
4.91
0.00
3.53
3.33
General susceptibility
17.09
0.00
3.38
3.25
A statistically significant difference was found
between study groups by gender for each of the
subscales measuring Kaptein's persuasive
principles - STPS (Kaptein et al., 2009). The
effect size, which ranged from η = 0.39 to η =
0.58 and was calculated using the eta coefficient,
was seen to be large or larger than typical
according to the interpretation made by Cohen
(Cohen, 1988). There is a stronger effect for
males relative to females because the means for
males are higher except for the principle of
commitment and consistency, where F (1,299) =
2.24; p < 0.00; Mean(male)= 3.56 and Mean(female)=
3.61, (Table 1). The highest values of principle
of reciprocity were found in males compared to
females where F (1,299) = 2.28; p < 0.02;
Mean(male)= 3.59 and Mean(female)= 3. 47, also the
principle of authority for males versus females,
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where F (1,299) = 2.39; p < 0.00; Mean(male)= 3.57
and Mean(female)= 3.51 and the principle of social
proof where F (1,299) = 4.91; p < 0.00; Mean(male)=
3.53 and Mean(female)= 3.33. The implementations
of five of the persuasion strategies were
compared and statistically significant results
were found for respondents of different genders.
The achievement of positive social influence
through the principles of reciprocity, of authority
and of social proof is explained by the content
value of these strategies. This process occurs
when individuals are convinced of the rationality
of a proposition (Komorita et al., 1991), and this
proposition is confirmed by an authority figure
(Hazen, Weinstein & Park, 2003). Furthermore,
these strategies can also be effective through
complex application on individuals because
some levels of responsibility and submission to
authority are essential for the existence of any
social community (Cialdini, 2001).
Consequently, people not only tend to return the
favor - reciprocity, but also to conform to
authoritative opinions as well as follow the
behavior of multiple others who exhibit similar
persuasions (Goldstein, Cialdini & Griskevicius,
2008; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).
To determine the influence of persuasion
principles on different groups of respondents
formed by marital status, a one-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) was applied. The hypothesis
that the arithmetic means of persuasion
principles by marital status are different was
tested and the results of the one-factor analysis of
variance (ANOVA) are presented in Table 2.
Table 2.
Influence of marital status on susceptibility to persuasion principles (ANOVA)
Susceptibility to persuasion principles
F
p
Mean (Single)
Mean
(Cohabiting/ Married)
Mean
(Divorced/Separat
ed/Widowed)
Principle of unity
3.06
0.00
3.36
3.19
3.19
Principle of reciprocity
3.49
0.01
3.56
3.45
3.54
Principle of authority
3.56
0.05
3.55
3.43
3.67
Principle of social proof
4.89
0.00
3.50
3.30
3.62
Principle of scarcity
3.69
0.00
3.48
3.34
3.51
General susceptibility
15.49
0.00
3.50
3.45
3.58
When comparing the means of the respondents
by marital status, statistically significant results
were found for the following persuasive
strategies: unity (F (1,299) = 3. 06; p < 0.00),
reciprocity, (F (1,299) = 3.49; p < 0.01), authority
(F (1,299) = 3.56; p < 0.05), social proof (F (1,299) =
4.89; p < 0.00), and scarcity (F (1,299) = 3.69; p <
0.00). Hence, marital status influences the
achievement of social influence through
persuasion, and the mean values of the
reciprocity groups are as follows: Mean (first group)
=3.56, then Mean (second group) =3.45 and Mean (third
group) =3.54, that is, individuals who are not
married or with other family status are the most
susceptible to persuasion. This means that
individuals who have family are least likely to
return the favor (Cialdini, 2004). Other authors
report that this social influence strategy, when
applied correctly and is extremely powerful, even
when it is really unfavorable to the persuaded
(Kaptein & Eckles, 2010a).
The significance level for the social proof
principle is p < 0.00, where F (1,299) = 4.89,
indicating that significant statistical differences
exist between the means of the groups
considered. Tukey's HDS post hoc test was used,
which showed that the arithmetic mean for the
divorced, separated and widowed people group is
Mean (third group) =3.62 and is statistically
significantly different from the means of the
other groups: Mean (first group) =3.50 and Mean
(second group) =3.30. Hence, divorced, separated and
widowed people are most affected by the social
proof effect, and this is most often achieved in
social networks and in advertisements by
displaying other consumers' positive evaluations
of a product (Goldstein, Cialdini & Griskevicius,
2008).
Social influence was also found by the scarcity
principle, where F (1,299) = 3.69; p < 0.00. Tukey's
HDS post hoc test was used and showed that the
arithmetic mean for the divorced, separated and
widowed people group was Mean (third group) =3.51
and was statistically significantly different from
the means of the other groups: Mean (first group)
=3.48 and Mean (second group) =3.34. Hence,
divorced, separated and widowed people are
most affected by the scarcity effect, as perceived
scarcity increases the perceived value of products
and opportunities (Cialdini, 2001). Another
study found that the reason married people, as
well as unmarried people, are stricter in
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consuming online products under the influence
of advertising, is because they have more
pressure in their lives and work, as well as in their
families. Stress and pressure from children and
spouses can adversely affect their online
shopping, for example, rushing the time to shop
and making quick decisions due to their work
responsibilities related to taking care of the home
(Nguyen & Homolka, 2021). On the other hand,
there is much evidence that identifying a product
or service as scarce will favorably influence
consumer attitudes and increase the chance of
purchase (Eisend, 2008), but our study finds that
this is achieved under certain circumstances.
The importance of the authority principle is also
inferred in the present results where F (1,299) =
3.56; p < 0.05. Tukey's HDS post hoc test was
used and showed that the arithmetic mean for the
divorced, separated and widowed people group
was Mean (third group) =3.67 and was statistically
significantly different from the means of the
other groups: Mean (first group) =3.55 and for the
second group Mean (second group) =3.47. What may
enhance the influence of authority, a number of
scholars have pointed out, is endorsement of
products by authorities as "expert reviews"
(Hazen, Weinstein & Park, 2003). In addition, it
has also been found that some levels of
responsibility and subordination fall away when
the opinion of authority figures is adopted
Cialdini, 2001), whereby cognitive dissonance in
the purchase decision is reduced (Festinger,
1957).
By measuring users' sensitivity to particular
influence strategies and adapting strategy choice
accordingly, the effectiveness of persuasion
systems is likely to increase. However, STPS
should be considered as a starting point, not an
end point, in the process of personalizing
persuasion attempts (Kaptein et al., 2009). Table
3 presents the results of the STPS (Kaptein et al.,
2009) regression with the determinants of
persuasion principles based on gender and on the
marital status of the users. Panel A presents the
determinants of SPTS for the group of single
users who have never been legally married. Panel
B presents similar results for the group of
cohabiting and married who are currently legally
married, and Panel C shows the regression results
for the group of divorced, separated and
widowed, (Table 3).
Table 3.
Influence of marital status on susceptibility to persuasion principles in advertising (β, p)
Dependent:
SPTS in
Advertising
Panel A: Single
Panel B: Cohabiting/ Married
Panel C: Others
(Divorced/Separated/ Widowed)
Coefficient
t (p-value)
Coefficient
t (p-value)
Coefficient
t (p-value)
Authority Advertisement
)
1
(β
**
0.2844
4.16 (0.000)
*
0.1577
1.81 (0.072)
0.0346
0.34 (0.733)
Scarcity Advertisement
)
2
(β
-0.038
-0.61 (0.525)
*
0.260
1.56 (0.05)
*
0.122
2.35 (0.00)
Commitment/
consistency
Advertisement
)
3
(β
-0.280
0.80 (0.68)
**
00.35
3.11 (0.00)
0.034
0.371 (0.711)
Reciprocity
Advertisement
)
4
(β
*
0.470
2.56 (0.05)
0.088
0.690 (0.490)
−0.011
−2.15 (0.653)
Authority/Scarcit
y Advertisement
)
5
(β
**
0.570
3.16 (0.00)
0.034
0.37 (0.720)
−0.034
2.15 (0.342)
Unity/Social
proof Advertisement
)
6
β(
-0.560
1.56 (0.344)
0.044
0.38 (0.152)
−0.012
−3.15 (0.652)
)
0
(β Constant
**
2.235
6.78
(0.00)
*
2.243
4.35 (0.05)
*
2.089
3.29 (0.05)
Observations
188
77
35
Adjusted R
Square
0.282
0.288
0.327
314
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From the regression analysis, it is found that for
single consumers of advertising, there are two
factors that affect the susceptibility of
respondents: the principle of reciprocity and the
combined application of authority and scarcity
simultaneously (Coefficient = 0.470; t = 2.56;
p < 0.05); (Coefficient = 0.570; t = 3.16;
p < 0.00). Consequently, non-family consumers
are more likely than other consumer groups to
respond positively to advertisements offering
services or benefits, and to respond positively to
authoritative appeals or those indicating that the
product is scarce, (Table 3). On the other hand,
cohabiting and married consumers were
influenced by advertisements that contained
statements, describing scarcity as well as
commitment and consistency (Coefficient =
0.260; t = 1.56; p < 0.05); (Coefficient = 0.350;
t= 3.11; p < 0.00). The principle of commitment
and consistency explains the strength of
commitment that people make because they
become consistent and strive to fulfill a
commitment (Cialdini, 2001).
All cohabiting and married users have made a
commitment through marriage or commitment in
their lives and treat the commitments made
responsibly. In addition, perceived scarcity
increases the perceived value of products and
opportunities (Cialdini, 2001), so advertisers and
marketers often use phrases that create this sense
of uniqueness (Knowles & Linn, 2004). The
strength of this principle is also found in the final
group of advertising consumers, divorced,
separated and widowed people, who responded
positively only to the scarcity principle
(Coefficient = 0.122; t= 2.35; p < 0.00). There is
much empirical evidence that identifying a
product or service as scarce will favorably
influence consumer attitudes and increase the
chance of purchase (Eisend, 2008). Hence, many
psychological processes take place through
advertising that can explain the effects of
different persuasive strategies. From the results
obtained in our study, it is clear that for the
consumer groups studied, advertisements that
contain only one persuasion strategy achieve
greater effectiveness than advertisements with
two persuasion strategies.
Conclusions
This study aims to investigate whether there are
differences in persuasion susceptibility among
different groups of advertising consumers based
on their gender and marital status. Different
evidence was found regarding the influence
achieved through advertising, firstly identifying
respondents' individual susceptibility to
persuasion in general. A statistically significant
difference was found between the study groups
by gender for each of the subscales measuring
Kaptein's persuasion principles - STPS (Kaptein
et al., 2009), with greater influence observed for
males for following principles: liking,
reciprocity, authority and social proof relative to
females, with the exception of the principle of
commitment and consistency. Our results
reconfirm some empirical evidence regarding the
power of achieving social influence through the
principles of reciprocity, of authority and of
social proof, which was explained by the
substantive value of these strategies. These
processes take place when individuals are
convinced of the rationality of a proposition
(Komorita et al., 1991), and this proposition is
confirmed by an authority figure (Hazen,
Weinstein & Park, 2003).
When comparing and analyzing the three groups
of respondents who have their own specific traits
regarding their involvement with other people,
that is, these are group one-single, group two-
cohabiting, married and group three-divorced,
separated and widowed, it can be seen that
marital status influences the outcomes of social
influence achieved. The main persuasive
principles through which effects are observed
among these groups are the following: unity,
reciprocity, authority, social proof and scarcity,
with individuals belonging to the third group -
divorced, separated and widowed people giving
the most positive responses to the principles of
social proof, scarcity and authority, i.e. the
application of self-influence from these
persuasive strategies could achieve its success
among consumers with the relevant demographic
characteristics.
Finally, our study found differences in the
susceptibility of advertising consumers to one or
to the combined use of two strategies. In the case
of single advertising consumers, there are two
factors that influence respondents' susceptibility:
the principle of reciprocity and the combined
application of authority and scarcity
simultaneously, while cohabiting and married
consumers, respectively, are influenced by
advertising that contains statements, describing
scarcity as well as commitment and consistency.
Hence, the powerful force of scarcity is inferred,
through which advertising effectiveness is
achieved, influencing alone or in combination
with another strategy. This is also explained by
the commodity theory (Brock, 1968), which
states that people desire scarce products more
because the possession of such products creates
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/ May 2023
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feelings of personal distinctiveness or
uniqueness.
The power of commitment that consumers are
willing to make, both in their use of products and
services when influenced by advertising and in
their lives, has also been demonstrated. This
conclusion is drawn on the results of the
combined influence achieved by advertisements
containing persuasive strategies to which
cohabiting and married consumers responded
most positively. Hence, our results contribute to
clarifying some problematic issues regarding
persuasion processes in advertising, as well as to
studies investigating advertising effectiveness.
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