Determinant of Intention to Use Search Engine Advertising

Abstract

The innovation of Search Engine Advertising (SEA) acts as a prominent source of revenue for search engine companies, as well as being a solution for businesses to promote their visibility on the Web. However, the underlying factors that contribute to businesses’ decision to adopt SEA have not been well investigated. Building upon known behavioural theories (Theory of Planned Behaviour, Technology Acceptance Model and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) this paper conceptualizes and develops a context-specific model for understanding the factors that influence the decision of businesses to utilize SEA. The conceptual model of the paper proposes that this decision is influenced by four direct factors (attitude toward SEA, subjective norms, perceived control over SEA, perceived benefits of SEA) and ten indirect factors (trust in search engines, perceived risk of SEA, ability to manage keywords and bids, ability to analyse and monitor outcomes, ability to detect click fraud, advertising expertise, using third party tools, using external experts, perceived complexity of SEA tool, commitment to SEA).The study also identifies future research directions.