Getting Personal in Public!? How Consumers Respond to Public Personalized Advertising in Retail Stores

Nicole J. Hess, Corinne M. Kelley, Maura L. Scott, Martin Mende and Jan H. Schumann

Journal of Retailing, 2020, vol. 96, issue 3, 344-361

Abstract: Retailers are now expanding personalized advertising into consumers’ public life (e.g., via digital in-store displays). Little research has examined how consumers respond to such public personalized advertising (PPA). Grounded in theory on impression management and consumers’ self-concept, three experiments examine when and why social presence and configurations of ad-self-congruity affect consumer responses to PPA negatively or positively. This research reveals that (negative/positive) consumer responses are influenced by a new typology of four distinct ad-self-congruity configurations (i.e., threatening ad-self-(in)congruity vs. bolstering ad-self-(in)congruity). Uncovering contingency factors of the effectiveness of PPAs (i.e., social presence and distinct configurations of ad-self-congruity), the results show that personalization in public diminishes favorable consumer response to threatening self-congruent ads; this effect is driven by consumer-perceived embarrassment. In contrast, bolstering self-congruent ads translate into positive consumer response with social presence; this effect is driven by consumer-perceived flattery. Taken together, the results provide insights into how PPAs influence consumers via the interplay of personalization, social presence, varying advertising appeals and distinct configurations of ad-self-congruity, thus providing meaningful implications on how to effectively implement personalization technologies in retailing.

Keywords: Personalized advertising; Retail technology; Ad-self-congruity; Consumer data; Social presence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jouret:v:96:y:2020:i:3:p:344-361

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2019.11.005

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