An overstimulated consumer in a highly visual world: the moderating effect of the highly sensitive person (hsp) trait on the attitude towards the ad

• Autor(a) principal: Amaro, Ana Cláudia Martins
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/42366
• topic: Online advertising; Highly Sensitive Person (HSP); Visual stimuli; Attitude towards the ad; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

In the digital world, consumers are constantly being exposed to an overwhelming number of visual stimuli. Online advertisements are the big new showroom for brands – all are striving for attention and attracting the right customer. Generally, advertisements combine colored imagery and strong movements to encourage and capture the consumer’s attention, but is this always the right strategy? Literature shows that people could react differently to similar stimuli, depending on their personality traits – specifically, the visual stimuli embedded in online ads are not an exception. Thus, brands could eventually repel (rather than entice) potential customers by using various colors, high dynamism, and information overload. This research aims to assess how people with a higher sensitivity to external stimuli, commonly defined as Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs, Aron & Aron, 1997) react when exposed to ads with excessive visual stimuli (i.e., colors, dynamic imagery, complex layouts). Additionally, the HSP trait will be tested as a moderator in the relationship between visual stimuli and attitude towards the ad. A quantitative methodology will be used, involving an experimental design. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. We seek to shed some light on the literature through the study of this innovative topic that merges the HSP trait and consumer behavior.