Actions speak louder than words : how social influence affects gen Z's attitude toward personalized marketing, brand loyalty, ad avoidance, and brand avoidance behaviors

Abstract

Advertising on the internet is growing at the fastest rate of any medium today (Internet Advertising Bureau & PwC Advisory Services LLC, 2018, 2019). However, advertisers are struggling with understanding consumers’ preferences and how to effectively reach and relate to them. There is conflicting evidence on the effectiveness and preference of consumers when it comes to personalized marketing. Generation Z is the newest adult cohort and is estimated to account for 40 percent of all consumers in the United States (Perlstein, 2017). However, marketers have not started to focus efforts on understanding this cohort’s preferences for online advertising in general, and specifically personalized marketing efforts. Social influence and the theory of planned behavior provide insight into how a consumer’s attitudes influence behaviors. The research model was tested using a survey of 471 Generation Z students. This research study contributes to the limited knowledge on the preferences of Generation Z consumers for personalized marketing, how non-personalized advertising leads to advertising avoidance and brand avoidance, and the resulting effects on brand loyalty, while expanding on existing theories of social influence and the theory of planned behavior.