CONSUMER RESPONSES TO ONLINE ADVERTISING AND ONLINE REVIEWS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF COGNITIVE RESPONSES AND AFFECTIVE RESPONSES

Scholars and practitioners are increasingly interested in the subject of integrated online marketing communications, i.e., the impacts of the sequence of online product information on customers' persuasion. In this study, we classify online reviews published by online interactive media into two types: online attribute-based review and online experiential-based review, and then examine the synergy caused by online advertising and the sequence of these two types of reviews. The matching of different product types and the sequence of online product information creates synergy based on the media congruence hypothesis and primacy effect. The results of two laboratory experiments (N1 = 160; N2 = 200) show that the matching between the sequence of online advertisement and attributebased review and product category affects message responses through cognitive responses; the matching between the sequence of online advertising and experience-based review and product category affects responses through cognitive responses or affective responses. The results complement and extend the relevant literature on synergy and matching effect and provide practical implications for marketers to develop and implement online communication plans.