An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing Consumer Attitudes towards SMS Advertising

This article examines factors influencing consumer attitudes towards SMS advertising. The study’s research framework was conceptualized using five predictor variables – informativeness, irritation, privacy, credibility, and incentives – and an outcome variable of consumer attitudes towards SMS advertising. The informativeness, irritation, and privacy was labelled as central route constructs and credibility and incentives were labelled as peripheral route constructs. Survey data collected from 251 mobile users selected from a cohort of undergraduates in business management from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, were analyzed using the Structural Equation Method (SEM). Results suggest that the informativeness and incentive variables are positively associated with customer attitudes towards SMS advertising, whereas irritation and privacy are found to be negatively associated with consumer attitudes towards SMS advertising. Surprisingly, credibility was found to be an insignificant factor predicting consumer attitudes towards SMS advertising. Several implications for consumer attitudes towards SMS advertising are discussed.