How is Smartphone Advertising Important for Consumers’ Purchase Intention in an Emerging Economy? Evidence from Vietnam

This study is conducted to identify how smartphone advertising influences consumers’ purchase intention in Vietnam — an emerging economy — compared with other studies’ findings in developed economies. Ducoffe’s model and flow experience theory are used to answer the following questions: What are the factors that impact advertising value and flow experience? How do advertising value and flow experience affect the customer’s purchase intention? Qualitative and quantitative mixed research methods are used to accomplish the research objectives. Qualitative research aims to adjust the scale of constructs to suit the Vietnamese market and explain the research results through face-to-face discussions with 20 Vietnamese consumers (10 face-to-face discussions to adjust the scale of constructs and 10 face-to-face discussions to explain the research results). A survey is then carried out with 263 Vietnamese consumers. Data collected are processed by Smart PLS software with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Research results show that smartphone advertising in Vietnam — an emerging economy — has much weaker influence compared with those in developed economies. Incentives are the strongest positive factor, followed by entertainment and informativeness which influence advertising value to varying extents, while credibility influences advertising value very weakly and not significantly. Informativeness is the strongest positive influence factor, followed by incentives, credibility, entertainment, and advertising value, which influence flow experience, but irritation is not a statistically significant impact of flow experience. Purchase intention is positively influenced by both advertising value and flow experience, however, advertising value has a stronger influence on purchase intention than flow experience does. The practical implication is that marketers and advertisers can refer to those results to plan suitable marketing strategies for the Vietnamese market and other emerging economies.