Assessment of Consumer Attitude towards Online Advertisement in Uganda: Case Study of Internet Users in Makerere University - CoBAMS (School of Statistics)

Abstract

Companies increasingly see Internet advertising as an important medium in reaching out to consumers in 21st Century. The number of Internet users around the world including Uganda in today’s world are increasing as almost all the transactions can be done through online. Thus, online advertisers need to understand the consumers’ attitude towards online advertising in order to create effective online advertising. The main aim of this research is to study consumers’ attitude towards online advertising and informational responses. This research is to investigate four independent variables which comprise credibility, informative, hedonic, and materialism that have impact on dependent variable of consumers’ attitude toward online advertising such as perception, feeling and behavior towards online advertising. Besides, this research study also investigates informational responses which included awareness, interest, desires and purchase intention towards advertised products. By using the Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 to analyze 80 sets of questionnaires collected from the respondents, researchers found that all the variables are significant related to consumers’ attitude towards online advertising. Among the independent variables, informative has the strongest significant relationship with dependent variable consumers’ attitude towards online advertising. Besides, analysis also shows consumers’ attitude towards online advertising has significant relationship with informational responses. The target population in this research study is internet users at Makerere University who might have possibility exposure to online advertising. The sampling frame comprises internet users who have the criteria of frequency click on internet advertisement is at least one and the hours per week spend online is at least five hours. The limitations and recommendations are discussed with regards to further improvement. As the significant increasing in the number of internet users and usage, thus, it is crucial for advertisers to have a clear picture and understanding of consumers’ attitude towards online advertising in order to attract consumers’ attention which will subsequently impact on their informational responses.