Factors Influencing Online Advertising: A National Survey Among Small & Medium Enterprises In Australia

This study investigates the current status and factors influencing the adoption of online advertising in Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A model of online advertising adoption arising from the literature was tested. Primary data were collected from a self-administered questionnaire through a mail survey of 1000 Australian SMEs, which eventually led to 249 valid questionnaires. The results of the survey uncover some important information on the current status and understanding of online advertising in Australian SMEs. It is observed that the current status of adoption of online advertising of Australian SMEs can be considered well advanced. Online advertising had been widely adopted by the surveyed organisations (67.9%). And it appeared that most of the surveyed marketing decision-makers were at least to a certain degree aware of online advertising's benefits and its opportunities. In the meantime, relative advantage, cost effectiveness, complexity, compatibility, top management support, organisation innovativeness and customer interaction were found to be significant in the adoption of online advertising of Australian SMEs. Overall, the empirical findings of this research were reasonably consistent with past empirical findings. However business size was not identified to be a critical variable in this research. A compact prediction model of online advertising, only consisting of three factors of relative advantage, cost effectiveness, compatibility, was further developed for forecasting and classifying category of adopter or non-adopter of online advertising. The results provide practical suggestions to those companies who are embarking on the adoption of online advertising in Australia or elsewhere.