The effects of video storytelling advertising on consumers’ online reactions on Facebook: a cross cultural study

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to understand how digital storytelling advertising impacts online consumers’ responses towards advertisements on Facebook considering the different story features and the different consumers’ cultural backgrounds. Design/methodology/approach The grounded theory approach guided the development of this study that adopts an interpretivist positioning with an abductive approach that links the already existing knowledge on how storytelling affects consumer behaviour to the empirically retrieved data from two qualitative studies between France and Tunisia using a netnographic method to collect consumers’ responses to culturally adapted storytelling advertising. Findings The results reveal similarities and differences between Tunisian and French consumers regarding the effectiveness of digital storytelling advertising in influencing their cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses. Specifically, Tunisian consumers tended to hold more cognitive reactions originating from story plot and characters features as compared to French consumers who performed more affective responses towards the story plot feature. Interestingly, only French consumers performed behavioural reactions aligned with a cognitive and behavioural engagement with the storytelling advertising generated by story plot and verisimilitude elements. Findings also highlight the impact of some cultural influences on consumers’ reactions. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first known study to explore and compare the effects of digital storytelling advertising between Tunisia and France. The major contribution of this study lies in investigating and comparing consumers’ reactions to digital storytelling advertising across countries. This study adds to the body of literature on international marketing communication by offering two frameworks associating story’s elements with their outcomes in their relevant context and providing fruitful insights for future research and for brand managers to design effective storytelling content.