Examining the factors of influence on avoiding personalized ads on Facebook

Abstract

Ad personalization is becoming the dominant promotional tactic, further enhanced by new technologies applications. Greater efficiency is the main goal of such an advertising approach, but it can cause the appearance of the so-called “privacy paradox” that can induce negative consumer reactions in terms of avoiding such ads. This paper investigates the factors influencing the avoidance of personalized ads communicated through the social network Facebook. Part of the research model deals with the impact of perceived personalization, perceived irritation, and perceived privacy concerns on skepticism towards advertising and advertising avoidance. Furthermore, the empirical research was conducted on data collected through the Facebook and WhatsApp mobile applications. Following the obtained results, there is no negative effect of perceived personalization to skepticism towards advertising while it exists toward advertising avoidance. Furthermore, a positive effect of perceived irritation to skepticism towards advertising does not exist, but positive effects to ad avoidance do. The direct positive effect of perceived privacy concerns to skepticism and ad avoidance was not found. Also, skepticism about personalized ads was found not to be positively associated with avoiding personalized ads. In addition to new insights, the results can help design and implement promotional campaigns through social media technologies.